BILL NUMBER: AB 291 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 10, 2015
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 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. CEQA requires a person
challenging a public agency's action on the ground of noncompliance
with CEQA to file an action or proceeding with the court within a
specified time period that commences on the date of the filing of the
notice of approval or determination.
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
located, along with any required payment to the
Department of Fish and Wildlife, and with the Office
of Planning and Research, and to mail
transmit 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 notice and the
copies of the notice to be available for public inspection
or posted, and posted by the respective
county clerks, as provided. The bill would specify that
the time period for filing an action or proceeding challenging a
local agency's action on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA
commences on the date on which the notice is filed with the Office of
Planning and Research.
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 and make any payment to the
Department of Fish and Wildlife required by Section 711.4 of the
Fish and Game Code to that clerk .
(2) File the notice with the Office of Planning and Research
without a further payment to the Department of Fish and Wildlife
.
(3) Mail Transmit a copy of the
notice through the via the United
States mail, first-class postage prepaid with return receipt
requested, Postal Service's Express Mail, postage
prepaid, or via another method of delivery providing for prepaid
overnight delivery , to the county clerk of each
county in which the water project will be located. The copy of
the notice, or an attachment to the copy of the notice, shall state
the date on which the notice was filed with the Office of Planning
and Research pursuant to paragraph (2).
(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 A
county clerk that receives a copy of a notice pursuant to paragraph
(3) of subdivision (b) shall post that copy
comply with subdivision (c) of Section 21152 and shall not
require an original of that notice notice,
any information regarding the filing of the notice with the Office of
Planning and Research other than the statement described in
paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), or any additional information
from the local agency agency, but may charge
a single fee of seventy-five dollars ($75) for handling
the posting of the notice pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section
21152, notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 711.4 of the Fish
and Game Code .
(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.