BILL ANALYSIS
AB 231
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 231 (Huber)
As Amended August 20, 2010
2/3 vote. Urgency
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|ASSEMBLY: |45-31|(June 2, 2009) |SENATE: |28-1 |(August 24, |
| | | | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES.
SUMMARY : Authorizes a lead agency under the California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), when using a tiered
environmental impact report (EIR) based on a prior EIR that used
a finding of overriding consideration, to use the prior finding
of overriding consideration in the new EIR if specified
conditions are met.
The Senate amendments delete the Assembly version of this bill,
and instead:
1)Permit a lead agency to incorporate, by reference, a finding
of overriding consideration from a previous EIR if all of the
following conditions are met:
a) The lead agency determines that the project's
significant impacts on the environment are not greater than
or different from those identified in the prior EIR;
b) The lead agency incorporates into the later project all
the applicable mitigation measures identified by the prior
EIR;
c) The prior finding of overriding consideration was not
based on a determination that mitigation measures should be
identified and approved in a subsequent environmental
review;
d) The prior EIR was certified not more than three years
before the date the finding of overriding consideration is
made for the later project; and,
e) The lead agency has determined that the mitigation
measures or alternatives found to be infeasible in the
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prior EIR remain infeasible.
2)Sunset the above provision January 1, 2016.
3)Add a section incorporating amendments made by SB 1456
(Simitian) to resolve a potential chaptering conflict.|
4)Add an urgency clause allowing this bill to take effect
immediately upon enactment.
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 EIR
for this action, unless the project is exempt from CEQA.
2)Authorizes a lead agency to use a tiered EIR (based on a prior
EIR) for a project when the prior EIR has been prepared for a
program, plan, policy or ordinance and the project is
consistent. Provides that the tiered EIR is not required to
examine effects that were examined at a sufficient level of
detail in the prior EIR.
3)Permits a lead agency to approve a project with one or more
significant effects on the environment if it finds specific
economic, legal, social, technological, or other
considerations make infeasible the mitigation measures or
alternatives identified in the EIR, and the public agency also
finds that specific overriding economic, legal, social,
technological, or other benefits outweigh the significant
environmental effects.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill required the Air Resources
Board to adopt fees on sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions
and required the fees to be designed to allocate the costs of
implementing AB 32 based on the contribution of the source to
statewide emissions of GHGs.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "If a lead agency adopts a
statement of overriding consideration for an environmental
impact when it does an EIR on a General Plan (or other plan,
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policy or ordinance), that same finding of overriding
consideration may be used for any specific project that creates
the same adverse environmental impact, provided the impact is
not greater or different at the project level than at the plan
level. In other words, the project may tier off the statement
of overriding consideration at the plan level."
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0006688