BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 2180
Page 1
Date of Hearing: May 18, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
2180 (Ting) - As Amended March 31, 2016
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|Policy |Local Government |Vote:|9 - 0 |
|Committee: | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------|
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY: This bill expedites, pursuant to the Permit
Streamlining Act, the timelines for review of a development
project by a public agency. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a public agency that is a responsible agency for a
AB 2180
Page 2
development project that has been approved by the lead agency
to approve or disapprove the development project within
whichever of the following periods of time is longer:
a) Within 90 days from the date on which the lead agency
has approved the project; or,
b) Within 90 days of the date on which the completed
application for the development project has been received
and accepted as complete by that responsible agency.
Requires any public agency that is the lead agency for a
development project to approve or disapprove the project
within 120 days from the date of certification by the lead
agency of the environmental impact report (EIR), if an EIR is
prepared for a development project, and specified conditions
are met.
FISCAL EFFECT:
No state fiscal impact. Local agencies have the authority to
levy fees for related costs and thus, any local costs are not
reimbursable.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. This bill seeks to ensure that housing projects move
through the building approval process faster. According to
the author, "California is in the midst of an unprecedented
housing crisis caused by a severe lack of new housing
construction, both market rate and affordable. Unfortunately,
the local and state approval processes for new housing
AB 2180
Page 3
construction are frequently slow and cumbersome. This bill
seeks to expedite the housing construction permit approval
process by reducing the time for a lead agency to approve a
housing project from 180 to 120 days. The bill still ensures
that purely affordable housing projects continue to get the
same 90 day approval process. In addition, this bill reduces
the approval process for any other responsible public agencies
from 180 days to 90 days for all types of housing
developments."
2)Background. The Permit Streamlining Act applies to all public
agencies, including charter cities, and was adopted to ensure
that permit applicants for projects are not subjected to
protracted and unjustified governmental delays in the
processing of the applications for development projects.
Within 30 calendar days of receiving an application, a city is
required to respond to the applicant in writing with the
determination of whether the application is complete and
accepted for filing. If the application is deemed complete,
the city proceeds with the evaluation of the project, but if
the application is incomplete, the city is required to
indicate in detail the deficiencies in the application.
All deadlines under the Permit Streamlining Act begin from the
day the application is accepted as complete or deemed
complete. The completion date also starts the clock running
on processing the application. If a city is acting as the
lead agency for a project for which an EIR is prepared, then
the city must approve or disapprove the project within 180
days from the date of the EIR's certification. The Act
specifies other time lines for approval or disapproval by the
public agency, in coordination with specific CEQA actions,
like whether a project is exempt from CEQA, the adoption of a
negative declaration, or the certification of an EIR. The Act
also contains timelines for approval of a development project
AB 2180
Page 4
for a responsible agency, once the project has been approved
by the lead agency. "Development project" is defined as
either a) residential units only; or, b) mixed-use
developments consisting of residential and nonresidential uses
in which the nonresidential uses are less than 50% of the
total square footage of the development and are limited to
neighborhood commercial uses and to the first floor of
buildings that are two or more stories.
If approval or disapproval of a project does not occur within
these deadlines, the project is deemed approved provided the
prescribed public notice requirements have been met.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Swenson / APPR. / (916)
319-2081