BILL NUMBER: AB 2356	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 29, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gomez

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2016

   An act to  amend Section 21159.26 of   add
Section 21081.3 to  the Public Resources Code, relating to
environmental quality.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2356, as amended, Gomez. California Environmental Quality Act:
 housing projects.   infill planning projects.

   Existing law, the California Environmental Quality Act, 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, as defined, or to adopt a negative
declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect,
unless the project is exempt from the act. 
    The act prohibits a public agency, for a project that includes a
housing development, from reducing the proposed number of housing
units as a mitigation measure or project alternative for a particular
significant effect on the environment if the public agency
determines there is another feasible specific mitigation measure or
project alternative that would provide a comparable level of
mitigation.  
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to those
provisions.  
   This bill would authorize the lead agency to determine whether an
infill planning project, as defined, has a significant impact on the
environment based on a comparison of the potential change in physical
conditions resulting from the infill planning project with the
change in physical conditions that would reasonably be expected at
build-out under the general plan or zoning designation existing at
the time of the lead agency's determination. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 21081.3 is added to the 
 Public Resources Code   , to read:  
   21081.3.  (a) For the purposes of this section, "infill planning
project" means any activity related to, or approval by a local
government of, amendments to the general plan or changes in zone
designation that meet all of the following criteria:
   (1) The proposed amendments or changes collectively increase
planned or zoned housing capacity or jobs capacity within areas
already designated for residential or commercial use.
   (2) The area of change proposed by the project occurs within city
limits and is substantially surrounded by urban uses.
   (3) Approval of the project does not affect or otherwise modify
the preexisting thresholds for environmental review for subsequent
projects that are within the scope of the project.
   (b) The lead agency, in determining whether the infill planning
project has a significant impact on the environment, may base that
determination on a comparison of the potential change in physical
conditions resulting from the infill planning project with the change
in physical conditions that would reasonably be expected at
build-out under the general plan or zoning designation existing at
the time of the lead agency's determination.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 21159.26 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
   21159.26.  With respect to a project that includes a housing
development, a public agency shall not reduce the proposed number of
housing units as a mitigation measure or project alternative for a
particular significant effect on the environment if the public agency
determines that there is another feasible specific mitigation
measure or project alternative that would provide a comparable level
of mitigation. This section does not affect any other requirement
regarding the residential density of that project.