BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 291
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
AB
291 (Medina) - As Amended April 15, 2015
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Natural Resources |Vote:|9 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable:
SUMMARY:
This bill establishes an alternative procedure for the filing of
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) notices for
multi-county water transfer projects. Specifically, within five
working days of approval or determination, this bill allows the
AB 291
Page 2
local agency meet the requirement by:
1)Filing the notice with the clerk of the county in which the
agency office is located.
2)Filing notice with the Office of Planning and Research (OPR).
3)Mailing notices to the clerks of all the affected counties,
with specified posting requirements.
This bill specifies the filing date and the statute of
limitations begins on the date the notice is filed with OPR.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Absorbable costs for OPR to post local agency notices on its
internet website (CEQAnet).
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, CEQA notices for water
projects may have to be filed in five or more counties, or
wherever the project may have some impact - essentially, those
counties through which the project's water flows. If the
water project involves the State Water Project (SWP) or the
Central Valley Project (CVP), notices may have to be filed in
dozens of counties. In some instances, technical errors in a
county clerk's posting process have resulted in additional
CEQA litigation, even when the errors were not caused by the
local agency that adopted the initial CEQA notice.
AB 291
Page 3
The purpose of this bill is to avoid having the statute of
limitations for an Environmental Impact Report (EIR), or other
notice of approval or determination under CEQA, contingent on
the timely filing in each and every county.
2)Background. CEQA provides a process for evaluating the
environmental effects of applicable projects undertaken or
approved by public agencies. If a project is not exempt from
CEQA, an initial study is prepared to determine whether the
project may have a significant effect on the environment. If
the initial study shows that there would not be a significant
effect on the environment, the lead agency must prepare a
negative declaration. If the initial study shows that the
project may have a significant effect on the environment, the
lead agency must prepare an EIR. Once a lead agency has
approved a project, the agency must file a notice of
determination.
State agencies are required to file notice with OPR, which is
then posted on OPR's CEQAnet website. Local agencies are
required to file notice within five working days with the
county clerk of each county in which the project will be
located. These notices may be posted on the county's website,
but this is not required. Depending on the county's
practices, the notice may simply be posted on a bulletin board
in the clerk's office. CEQA also requires notices to be sent,
upon request, to any interested person.
Generally, CEQA actions taken by local public agencies can be
challenged in Superior Court once the agency approves or
determines to carry out the project. CEQA appeals are subject
to unusually short statutes of limitations, which are tied to
AB 291
Page 4
the date the notice was filed. Under current law, court
challenges of CEQA decisions generally must be filed within
30-35 days, depending on the type of decision. Failure to
file a notice in time may increase the statute of limitations
to 180 days.
3)Technical Amendents. The author is proposing technical
amendments to reflect the amendments agreed upon in the
Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081