BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 734
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Date of Hearing: June 22, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
SB 734
(Galgiani) - As Amended June 21, 2016
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Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program: YesReimbursable:
No
SUMMARY:
This bill extends the expedited California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) judicial review procedures established by the Jobs
and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act
(AB 900, Chapter 345, Statutes of 2011) by two years.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Extends the operation of AB 900 by two years, so that the
Governor must certify a project prior to January 1, 2018 and
the project must be approved prior to January 1, 2019, when
the bill sunsets.
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2)Requires contractors and subcontractors to pay at least the
general prevailing rate of per diem wages to all construction
workers employed in the execution of the project.
3)Allows the Labor Commissioner to enforce prevailing wage
requirements through the issuance of a civil wage and penalty
assessment unless all contractors and subcontractors
performing work on the project are subject to a project labor
agreement, as specified.
4)Requires multifamily residential projects to provide vehicle
parking spaces priced, rented or purchased separately, unless
the housing units are subject to affordability restrictions.
FISCAL EFFECT:
Absorbable state costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, litigation for large
projects is currently taking up to three years, not including
appeals. The author further states that the associated jobs
and housing are not being created or are being delayed. By
extending the expedited judicial review procedures, this bill
will help large projects avoid significant delays.
2)Background. In 2011, AB 900 (Buchanan) and SB 292 (Padilla)
established expedited CEQA judicial review procedures for a
limited number of projects. AB 900 applied to large-scale
projects meeting certain environmental standards and providing
significant jobs and investment. SB 292 applied to a proposed
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downtown Los Angeles football stadium and convention center
project achieving specified traffic and air quality
mitigations.
For eligible projects, both bills designated the Court of
Appeal with original jurisdiction and required the Court to
render a decision on any lawsuit within 175 days. This
compressed schedule was intended to reduce the existing
judicial review timeline by 100 days or more.
The provision in AB 900 granting original jurisdiction to the
Court of Appeal was invalidated in 2013 by a decision in
Alameda Superior Court in Planning and Conservation League v.
State of California. The stadium project subject to SB 292
has not proceeded.
To date, six projects have been certified under AB 900. Only
one, the proposed Golden State Warriors arena and related
development at Mission Bay in San Francisco, has been
challenged under CEQA. The case, Mission Bay Alliance et al.
v Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, was filed
March 11, 2016. A hearing is scheduled June 17, 2016, in
San Francisco Superior Court.
In 2013, SB 743 (Steinberg) established special CEQA
procedures modeled after SB 292 for the Sacramento Kings arena
project. Like SB 292, SB 743 applied to a single project and
included specified traffic and air quality mitigations. CEQA
lawsuits were filed against the Kings arena, and the lawsuits,
including appeals, were resolved 267 days after certification
of the record.
3)Potential Projects. Although this bill provides a blanket
extension of AB 900 and is not specific to any particular
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project, proponents have identified four projects that would
likely apply for AB 900 certification if the bill is enacted:
a) 6701 Sunset/Crossroads in Hollywood - Nine new mixed-use
buildings including up to 308 hotel rooms and 950
residential units, 84 of which will be affordable to
low-income households (to replace 84 rent-controlled units
the project will demolish).
b) Yucca-Argyle Project in Hollywood - Mixed-use project
with hotel, residential, and commercial uses, including 260
hotel rooms and 191 residential units, 39 of which will be
affordable to low-income households.
c) Barlow Hospital Project in Echo Park - Hospital
replacement and residential development on a 25-acre site
near Dodgers Stadium, including 400 new single-family
homes.
d) Hollywood Central Park - A 38-acre regional street level
park created by capping US 101 between Hollywood and Santa
Monica Boulevards.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
SB 734
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