BILL NUMBER: AB 2452	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Quirk

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2016

   An act to add Section 21168.15 to the Public Resources Code,
relating to environmental quality.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2452, as introduced, Quirk. California Environmental Quality
Act: judicial remedies: emissions of greenhouse gases.
   The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) 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 or to adopt a negative declaration if it
finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires
a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a
project that may have a significant effect on the environment if
revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and
there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would
have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA authorizes a
court, in an action or proceeding brought challenging the decision of
a public agency on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA, to enter
an order to suspend any specific project activity if the court finds
that the activity will prejudice the consideration and implementation
of particular mitigation measures or alternatives to the project.
   This bill would, in an action or proceeding under CEQA, prohibit a
court from staying or enjoining transportation infrastructure
projects, as defined, based solely on the project's potential
contribution to the emissions of greenhouse gases.
   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 21168.15 is added to the Public Resources Code,
to read:
   21168.15.  (a) For purposes of this section, "transportation
infrastructure project" means a project consisting of a new
construction of transportation infrastructure, or the relocation,
replacement, or removal of existing transportation infrastructure,
that is included in a sustainable communities strategy or an
alternative planning strategy approved by a metropolitan planning
organization pursuant to Section 65080 of the Government Code for
which a program environmental impact report has been certified.
   (b) In an action or proceeding brought pursuant to this division,
a court shall not stay or enjoin the construction or operation of a
transportation infrastructure project based solely on the project's
potential contribution to the emissions of greenhouse gases.