BILL NUMBER: AB 291 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Medina
FEBRUARY 11, 2015
An act to amend Section 21152 of, and to add Section 21152.2 to,
the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 291, as amended, Medina. California Environmental Quality Act:
local agencies: notice of determination: water.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead
agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify
the completion of, of an environmental
impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve
that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a
negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that
effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated
negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect
on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or
mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the
project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the
environment.
CEQA requires a local agency that approves or determines to carry
out a project subject to CEQA to file a notice of the approval or
determination with the county clerk of each county in which the
project will be located and requires the county clerk to make the
notice available for public inspection.
This bill would authorize a local agency, for certain water
projects, to file the notice with the county clerk of the county in
which the local agency's principal office is located in
and with the Office of Planning and Research, and to mail a
copy of the notice to the county clerks of the counties in which the
water project is located, as specified. The bill would require the
notices to be available for public inspection or posted, as provided.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21152 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
21152. (a) Except as provided in Section 21152.2, if a local
agency approves or determines to carry out a project that is subject
to this division, the local agency shall file notice of the approval
or the determination within five working days after the approval or
determination becomes final, with the county clerk of each county in
which the project will be located. The notice shall identify the
person or persons in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 21065, as
reflected in the agency's record of proceedings, and indicate the
determination of the local agency whether the project will, or will
not, have a significant effect on the environment and shall indicate
whether an environmental impact report has been prepared pursuant to
this division. The notice shall also include certification that the
final environmental impact report, if one was prepared, together with
comments and responses, is available to the general public.
(b) If a local agency determines that a project is not subject to
this division pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 21080 and the
local agency approves or determines to carry out the project, the
local agency or the person specified in subdivision (b) or (c) of
Section 21065 may file a notice of the determination with the county
clerk of each county in which the project will be located. A notice
filed pursuant to this subdivision shall identify the person or
persons in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 21065, as reflected in
the agency's record of proceedings. A notice filed pursuant to this
subdivision by a person specified in subdivision (b) or (c) of
Section 21065 shall have a certificate of determination attached to
it issued by the local agency responsible for making the
determination that the project is not subject to this division
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 21080. The certificate of
determination may be in the form of a certified copy of an existing
document or record of the local agency.
(c) A notice filed pursuant to this section shall be available for
public inspection, and shall be posted within 24 hours of receipt in
the office of the county clerk. A notice shall remain posted for a
period of 30 days. Thereafter, the clerk shall return the notice to
the local agency with a notation of the period it was posted. The
local agency shall retain the notice for not less than 12 months.
SEC. 2. Section 21152.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
21152.2. (a) For purposes of this section, "water project" means
an activity undertaken pursuant to Sections 1011, 1011.5, and 1211
of, Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1250), Chapter 6.6 (commencing
with Section 1435), Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1700), and
Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 1725) of Part 2 of Division 2
of, the Water Code.
(b) Within five working days after a local agency has approved or
made a determination to carry out a water project, a local agency, in
lieu of the notice filing requirements of subdivision (a) of Section
21152 for that water project, may take all of the following actions:
(1) File the notice in the form required by subdivision (a) of
Section 21152 with the county clerk of the county in which the local
agency's principal office is located.
(2) File the notice with the Office of Planning and Research.
(3) Mail copies a copy of the notice
through the United States mail, first-class postage prepaid with
return receipt requested, to the county clerk of all the
counties each county in which the water project
will be located.
(c) (1) The county clerk receiving a notice pursuant to paragraph
(1) of subdivision (b) shall comply with subdivision (c) of Section
21152.
(2) All notices filed pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b)
shall be available for public inspection, and a list of those
notices shall be posted on a weekly basis in the Office of Planning
and Research. Each list shall remain posted for a period of 30 days.
(3) As promptly as possible, a county clerk that receives a copy
of a notice pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) shall post
that copy and shall not require an original of that notice or any
additional information from the local agency.
(d) The filing date of the notice specified in subdivisions (b) to
(e), inclusive, of Section 21167, Section 21167.10, and Section
21177 shall be the date on which the notice is filed with the Office
of Planning and Research pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision
(b).
(e) Nothing in this section affects the application of Section
21092.2.