BILL NUMBER: SB 1248 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Moorlach
FEBRUARY 18, 2016
An act to add Section 21175 to the Public Resources Code, relating
to environmental quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1248, as introduced, Moorlach. Environmental quality: judicial
challenge: identification of contributors.
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 specified entities to file and maintain with a
court an action or proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or
annul an act of a public agency on grounds of noncompliance with the
requirements of CEQA.
Existing law authorizes a court, upon motion, to award attorneys'
fees to a successful party in an action that resulted in the
enforcement of an important right affecting the public interest under
specified conditions.
This bill would require a plaintiff or petitioner, in an action
brought pursuant to the provisions of CEQA, to disclose specified
information regarding the plaintiff or petitioner in the complaint or
petition or in a subsequent notice. The bill would require
disclosure of the identity of a person or entity that contributes in
excess of $100 dollars, as specified, toward the plaintiff's or
petitioner's costs of an action. The bill would provide that a
failure to provide this disclosure shall be grounds for dismissal of
the action by the court or, if the failure occurs during a
postjudgment proceeding, the denial of attorneys' fees for a
successful plaintiff or petitioner. The bill also would require the
plaintiff or petitioner to identify any pecuniary or business
interest related to the project or issues involved in the action of
any person or entity named as a plaintiff or petitioner or that
contributes in excess of $100 to the costs of the action, as
specified.
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 21175 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
21175. (a) In any action or proceeding to attack, review, set
aside, void, or annul any act or decision of a public agency on the
grounds of noncompliance with this division, the following
information shall be disclosed in the complaint or petition:
(1) If an individual or group of individuals is the named
plaintiff or petitioner, the name and city of legal residence, or
county of legal residence if legal residence is in an unincorporated
area, of each individual.
(2) If a business entity, labor organization, environmental
entity, trade association entity, or other entity that has a
registered tax identification number with the federal government as
either a for-profit or nonprofit entity is the named plaintiff or
petitioner, the legal name of each entity and, if applicable, the
name under which each entity is operating in California.
(3) If an ad hoc group, or a collection of those groups, is the
named plaintiff or petitioner, the identity and the amount of the
contribution of each member of the group who has contributed or
committed to contribute, including any contingent contribution
agreement, an amount in excess of one hundred dollars ($100) toward
the cost of the action or proceeding in either a cash contribution or
services in lieu of a cash contribution.
(b) (1) If at any time during the course of an action or
proceeding under this division any person or entity contributes in
excess of one hundred dollars ($100) toward a plaintiff's or
petitioner's costs of the action or proceeding in a cash
contribution, services in lieu of a cash contribution, or contingent
contribution agreement, a notice of contribution shall be filed with
the court and disclosed to the respondent public agency and real
party in interest.
(2) The plaintiff or petitioner may request the court to prohibit
the disclosure of one or more financial contributors in a public
pleading. The court may grant the request after weighing all relevant
factors, including the inherent public interest and private attorney
general principles, which serve as the policy and legal rationale
for allowing private enforcement of this division.
(c) Failure to comply with this section shall be grounds for
dismissal of the action or proceeding on the court's own motion or on
the motion of any party to the action or proceeding. Failure to
comply with this section during a postjudgment proceeding shall
result in any motion of the noncompliant party for attorneys' fees
being denied on the court's own motion or on the motion of any party
to the action or proceeding.
(d) To enable a court to assess whether the financial burden of
private enforcement supports the award of attorneys' fees pursuant to
Section 1021.5 of the Code of Civil Procedure in actions or
proceedings brought pursuant to Section 21167, the complaint or
petition shall identify any pecuniary or business interest related to
the project or issues involved in the action or proceeding of any
party identified pursuant to subdivision (a).
(e) Enforcement of this division by private, nongovernmental
parties is intended to further the goals of this division, and, in
furtherance of the public disclosure goals of this division, the
Legislature declares that it is in the public's interest to know the
identity and any financial or pecuniary interest of any private,
nongovernmental party seeking to enforce this division.