BILL ANALYSIS Ó AB 2438 Page 1 Date of Hearing: April 20, 2016 ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS Lorena Gonzalez, Chair AB 2438 (Waldron) - As Introduced February 19, 2016 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Policy |Natural Resources |Vote:|8 - 1 | |Committee: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |-------------+-------------------------------+-----+-------------| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable: No SUMMARY: This bill exempts, until January 1, 2020, the installation and maintenance of existing recycled water pipelines less than eight miles in length from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) but requires a lead agency to file a Notice of Exemption (NOE) with the Office of Planning and Research. This bill prohibits specified projects from qualifying for the exemption. AB 2438 Page 2 Before determining if a project is eligible for exemption, this bill requires a lead agency to hold a noticed public hearing to consider and adopt mitigation measures for potential traffic impacts. FISCAL EFFECT: No additional state costs. COMMENTS: 1)Purpose. According to the author, in most cases the recycled water pipelines are going in the ground next to existing water pipelines, which are found on streets and roadways in public right-of-ways. However, the CEQA process requires a project to comply with numerous potential impacts creating extensive time delays and costs. This bill provides a short-term, narrow CEQA exemption to help expedite projects. 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 environmental AB 2438 Page 3 impact report (EIR). There is currently a CEQA exemption for relatively small-scale pipeline maintenance and installation projects less than one mile in length. A more specific exemption is available for projects up to eight miles in length involving maintenance and replacement, but not expansion, of pipelines, such as petroleum pipelines regulated under the Pipeline Safety Act. 3)Prior legislation. This bill is identical to AB 2417 (Nazarian) of 2014 which was held in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. Analysis Prepared by: Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916) 319-2081 AB 2438 Page 4