BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 122
Page 1
Date of Hearing: July 15, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Jimmy Gomez, Chair
SB 122
(Jackson) - As Amended June 1, 2015
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Governor's Office of Planning and
Research (OPR) to implement a public database of all
environmental documents and notices required by the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
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This bill also requires a CEQA lead agency, upon request of the
project applicant and with consent of the lead agency, to
prepare the record of proceeding concurrently with the
administrative process and certify the record of proceeding
within 30 days after filing notice of determination or approval.
Additionally, this bill:
1)Requires the applicant to pay for the lead agency's cost of
concurrently preparing and certifying the record of
proceedings.
2)Requires OPR to submit a report describing the implementation
of the database to the Legislature by July 1, 2016, and update
the report by July 1, 2018.
FISCAL EFFECT:
1)One-time GF costs of $200,000 to establish the database at the
Office of Technology, including necessary training.
2)Ongoing GF costs of $54,000 for the Office of Technology to
host and update the database. These costs may be offset by
savings to GF and various special funds for reduced
administrative costs to state lead agencies.
3)One-time GF costs of $20,000 for OPR to provide training for
lead agencies on the new database.
4)Unknown costs to state agencies, to the extent they are lead
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agency under CEQA, to concurrently prepare the record of
proceedings (GF and various special funds), These costs should
be fully reimbursed by project applicants who request the
record of proceedings to be prepared concurrently with the
administrative process.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, CEQA stakeholders have
voiced concerns that the current CEQA process can be
cumbersome and inefficient. In May 2014, the Senate Judiciary
and Environmental Quality Committees sent a joint letter to a
broad range of CEQA stakeholders asking for input on how to
improve the process without undercutting the statute's goal of
fostering informed environmental decisionmaking.
Drawing upon stakeholder responses, this bill provides changes
to CEQA that will help expedite the process while protecting
the integrity of the act.
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 Impact Report (EIR).
Generally, CEQA actions taken by public agencies may be
challenged in Superior Court once the agency approves or
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determines to carry out the project. CEQA appeals are subject
to unusually short statutes of limitations. Under current
law, court challenges of CEQA decisions generally must be
filed within 30-35 days, depending on the type of decision.
The courts are required to give CEQA actions preference over
all other civil actions. However, the schedules for briefing,
hearing, and decision are less defined. The petitioner must
request a hearing within 90 days of filing the petition and,
generally, briefing must be completed within 90 days of the
request for hearing. There is no deadline specified for the
court to render a decision.
3)Expedited Judicial Review. In 2011, AB 900 and SB 292
established expedited judicial review procedures for a limited
number of projects. For AB 900, it was large-scale projects
meeting extraordinary environmental standards and providing
significant jobs and investments. For SB 292, it was a
proposed downtown Los Angeles football stadium and convention
center project achieving specified traffic and air quality
mitigations. As part of their expedited judicial review
procedures, these bills required the lead agency to prepare
and certify the record of proceedings concurrently with the
administrative process and required the applicant to pay for
it. It was commonly agreed that this would expedite
preparation of the record for trial.
4)Concurrent preparation. This bill provides the option of
preparing the record of proceedings during the CEQA
environmental review process, to save time and effort in the
event of a post-decision CEQA challenge. Depending on
factors, such as the complexity and length of the
environmental review, preparation of the record can take
multiple months. However, in situations where an agency
believes a project is likely to be challenged, it is more
efficient and expeditious if the record is prepared
concurrently with the preparation of other project-specific
environmental documents.
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Concurrent preparation is not specifically prohibited under
existing law, but it has only been expressly authorized for
certain projects. Providing public agencies a general
authorization to engage in concurrent preparation may take
away any uncertainty on the matter and make a public agency
more likely to adopt the practice for appropriate projects.
5)Expanding electronic access to CEQA documents. OPR operates a
limited online CEQA repository (called "CEQAnet") as part of
the State Clearinghouse used for state-level review of
environmental documents. This bill directs OPR to expand its
online CEQA repository to include copies of all CEQA documents
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081