BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 1008
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Date of Hearing: June 29, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Susan Talamantes Eggman, Chair
SB
1008 (Lara) - As Amended April 27, 2016
SENATE VOTE: 34-0
SUBJECT: California Environmental Quality Act: Los Angeles
Regional Interoperable Communications System: exemption.
SUMMARY: Extends the current California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) exemption deadline for the Los Angeles Interoperable
Regional Communication System (LA-RICS) project for three
additional years, from January 1, 2017, to January 1, 2020.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Extends until January 1, 2020, the CEQA exemption for the
design, site acquisition, construction, operation or
maintenance of certain structures and equipment of the
LA-RICS.
2)Excludes from the exemption projects at fire stations, school
sites, and cultural or sacred sites.
3)Requires, prior to determining whether this exemption may
apply to a project, the LA-RICS Joint Powers Authority
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(Authority) to a) hold noticed public hearings in areas
affected by the project to hear and respond to public
comments; and, b) provide public notice in a newspaper of
general circulation in the area affected by the project.
4)Requires, for an exempted project, the Authority to file a
notice of exemption (NOE) with the Office of Planning and
Research and the county clerk in the county in which the
project is located, as well as post the NOE on its Web site.
5)Requires the Authority to post on its Web site information
related to environmental reviews of LA-RICS projects.
6)Requires the Authority and its member agencies to approve use
agreements for the LA-RICS in an open and noticed public
meeting.
7)Extends the sunset for this exemption from January 1, 2017, to
January 1, 2020.
8)Declares that no reimbursement is required because a local
agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the
program or level of serviced mandated by this act, as
specified.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Requires lead agencies with the principal responsibility for
carrying out or approving a proposed project to prepare a
negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or
environmental impact report (EIR) for this action, unless the
project is exempt from CEQA (CEQA includes various statutory
exemptions, as well as categorical exemptions in the CEQA
Guidelines).
2)Exempts from CEQA the design, site acquisition, construction,
operation or maintenance
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of specified LA-RICS equipment and structures, including
antennas, support structures, equipment enclosures, switch
facilities, associated foundations and equipment, at existing
publicly-owned sites that include public safety radio
facilities.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS:
1)Bill Summary. This bill extends until January 1, 2020, the
CEQA exemption for the design, site acquisition, construction,
operation or maintenance of certain structures and equipment
of the LA-RICS, which was enacted in 2012 and sunsets in 2017.
This bill excludes from the exemption projects at fire
stations, school sites, and cultural or sacred sites, and
imposes new hearing and notice requirements for the Authority
to meet.
This bill is sponsored by the County of Los Angeles and the
County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department.
2)Background. In 2009, LA-RICS was established as a joint
powers authority specifically to create the Los Angeles
Regional Tactical Communications Subsystem - a network that
would unite the region's 34,000 first responders through voice
and data communications. The need for emergency
communications interoperability is especially great in the Los
Angeles region with over 50 law enforcement agencies and 31
fire departments serving a 4,084 square mile region and 10
million county residents.
AB 1486 (Lara), Chapter 690, Statutes of 2012, provided the
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LA-RICS Authority with a CEQA exemption, until January 1,
2017. The bill exempted the design, site acquisition,
construction, operation, or maintenance of certain elements of
the LA-RICS structures from CEQA if certain conditions were
met (e.g., project would not have a substantial adverse impact
on wetlands, riparian areas, or historical areas; operation of
the project would not exceed certain Federal Communications
Commission exposure standards).
3)Author's Statement. According to the author, "The Los Angeles
Regional Interoperable Communications System (LA-RICS) is the
single greatest emergency preparedness and homeland security
need in the Los Angeles region. The system will provide direct
communication interoperability between law enforcement, fire,
Federal, State and military agencies in major disasters, such
as floods, fires, earthquakes and terrorist incidents.
The LA-RICS Project is especially critical given the tragic
event of September 11th, which demonstrated the necessity of
an interoperable communications system that would assist
first-responders in saving lives. SB 1008 would extend the
current CEQA exemption deadline for the LA-RICS project for
three additional years, from January 1, 2017, to
January 1, 2020.
"The extension of the current CEQA exemption is needed to
continue to build out the LA-RICS LTE [long-term evolution]
broadband system and LMR [land mobile radio] system, and would
facilitate the timely environmental review and construction of
sites that would be used for this important project. The
Federal environmental review process, under the National
Environmental Policy Act, for the LA-RICS Project sites, which
is still required for the CEQA-exempt sites, has taken longer
than previously anticipated.
"The proposed extension is especially essential for the
continued build out of the LA-RICS LTE system which is funded
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by the critical Federal Broadband Technology Opportunities
Program (BTOP) grant awarded to the LA-RICS Authority by the
U.S. Department of Commerce. Recently enacted Federal
legislation provided a five-year extension for BTOP grant
recipients, including LA-RICS, through Federal Fiscal Year
2020. The extension would allow much-needed additional time
for LA-RICS to construct additional sites to increase coverage
and capacity of the LTE broadband system, and ensure that
these sites are streamlined for environmental review,
constructed and completed on time to enable first responders
to communicate in all emergencies and major disasters.
"The exemption will not apply to undeveloped land or privately
owned land. It will only apply to sites on publicly owned
land where telecommunication infrastructure is already located
such as on existing police, sheriff or fire station sites
which already contain existing antenna support structure.
Sites will not be located in environmentally sensitive areas,
such as wetlands, riparian areas, or habitat of significant
value, and would not adversely affect historical resources."
4)Arguments in Support. Supporters argue that this bill is
important to continue to build out the project to provide
direct communication interoperability between law enforcement,
fire, federal, state, and military agencies in major
disasters, such as floods, fires, earthquakes and terrorist
incidents.
5)Arguments in Opposition. Opponents argue that by not
complying with CEQA, the public loses out on information about
projects around them and lacks assurances that negative
impacts in their communities will be mitigated.
6)Double-Referral. This bill was heard by the Natural Resources
Committee on June 13, 2016 and passed with an 8-1 vote.
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REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
County of Los Angeles [SPONSOR]
County of Los Angeles Sherriff's Department [SPONSOR]
CalChamber
California Ambulance Association
California State Firefighters' Association
California State Sheriff's Association
Department of Health Services, Los Angeles County
Mayor Eric Garcetti, City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office
LA RICS JPA
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Opposition
California League of Conservation Voters
Sierra Club California
Analysis Prepared by:Debbie Michel / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958