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