Amended in Senate April 20, 2015

Senate Bill No. 584

Introduced by Senator Nguyen

February 26, 2015

An act to begin delete amend end delete begin insert add end insert Section begin delete 21061 end delete begin insert 21080.06 end insert of the Public Resources Code, relating to the environment.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 584, as amended, Nguyen. California Environmental Quality begin delete Act. end delete begin insert Act: exemption. end insert

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report, as defined, on a project 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. begin insert The act 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 exempts specified projects from its provisions. end insert

This bill would begin delete make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the definition of “environmental impact report.” end delete begin insert exempt from the requirements of CEQA a project for the resurfacing of a city or county park, as specified. end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

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begin insert Section 21080.06 is added to the end insert begin insert Public Resources
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 21080.06. end insert   

This division does not apply to a project for the
resurfacing of a city or county park. For purposes of this section,
“resurfacing” means changing the surface of a field while
retaining the original purpose of the park as a recreational facility,
including, but not limited to, changing a grass field to a baseball
field or an artificial turf field.

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 21061 of the Public Resources Code is
amended to read:

21061.  

(a) “Environmental impact report” means a detailed
statement setting forth the matters specified in Sections 21100 and
21100.1. The information or data that is relevant to the statement
and is a matter of public record, or is generally available to the
public need not be repeated in its entirety in the statement, but may
be specifically cited as the source for conclusions stated in the
statement. The information or data shall be briefly described in
the statement. The relationship between the information or data to
the environmental impact report shall be indicated in the statement.
The source of the information and data shall be reasonably
available for inspection at a public place or public building. An
environmental impact report also includes any comments that are
obtained pursuant to Section 21104 or 21153, or that are required
to be obtained pursuant to this division.

(b) An environmental impact report is an informational
document that, when its preparation is required by this division,
shall be considered by every public agency before its approval or
disapproval of a project. The purpose of an environmental impact
report is to provide public agencies and the public in general with
detailed information about the effect that a proposed project is
likely to have on the environment, to list ways in which the
significant effects of the proposed project might be minimized,
and to indicate alternatives to the proposed project.

(c) In order to facilitate the use of environmental impact reports,
public agencies shall require that the reports contain an index or
table of contents and a summary. Failure to include the index, table
of contents, or summary shall not constitute a cause of action
pursuant to Section 21167.

end delete