BILL ANALYSIS
AB 1581
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2009-2010 Regular Session
BILL NO: AB 1581
AUTHOR: Torres
AMENDED: June 23, 2010
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: June 28, 2010
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUBJECT : CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA):
1) Requires lead agencies with the principal responsibility
for carrying out or approving a proposed project to prepare
a negative declaration, mitigated 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). (Public Resources Code 21000).
2) Requires a lead agency to call at least one scoping meeting
for a proposed project that may affect highways or other
facilities under Department of Transportation (Caltrans)
jurisdiction, if requested by Caltrans, or for a project of
statewide, regional, or areawide significance. (21083.9).
Notice of at least one scoping meeting must be provided to
the following:
a) A county or city that borders on the county or city
within which the project is located, unless otherwise
designated annually by agreement.
b) A responsible agency.
c) A public agency that has jurisdiction by law with
respect to the project.
d) A transportation planning agency and public agencies
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having transportation facilities within the
jurisdiction.
e) An organization or individual who has filed a written
request for notice.
This bill also requires a scoping meeting notice to be
provided to any entity that has filed a written request for
the notice and is not otherwise required to receive notice
(under a) to d) above).
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . Under CEQA, a scoping meeting notice must
be provided to certain public agencies. An organization or
individual may file a written request to receive the
notice, but there is no provision allowing an entity to
receive a scoping meeting notice upon request if that
entity is not otherwise required to receive notice - such
as a special district or nearby city that does not border
the county or city within which the project is located. AB
1581 provides an opportunity for these entities to file a
written request to receive the scoping meeting notice.
2) Brief background on CEQA . CEQA provides a process for
evaluating the environmental effects of a project, and
includes statutory exemptions, as well as categorical
exemptions in the CEQA guidelines. If a project is not
exempt from CEQA, an initial study is prepared to determine
whether a project may have a significant effect on the
environment. If the initial study shows that there would
not be a significant effect on the environment, the lead
agency must prepare a negative declaration. If the initial
study shows that the project may have a significant effect
on the environment, the lead agency must prepare an EIR.
Generally, an EIR must accurately describe the proposed
project, identify and analyze each significant
environmental impact expected to result from the proposed
project, identify mitigation measures to reduce those
impacts to the extent feasible, and evaluate a range of
reasonable alternatives to the proposed project. Prior to
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approving any project that has received environmental
review, an agency must make certain findings. If
mitigation measures are required or incorporated into a
project, the agency must adopt a reporting or monitoring
program to ensure compliance with those measures.
If a mitigation measure would cause one or more significant
effects in addition to those that would be caused by the
proposed project, the effects of the mitigation measure
must be discussed but in less detail than the significant
effects of the proposed project.
3) Improving agency involvement in CEQA process . According to
the CEQA guidelines, early consultation "solves many
potential problems that would arise in more serious forms
later in the review process." The guidelines also provide
that scoping "has been helpful to agencies in identifying
the range of actions, alternatives, mitigation measures,
and significant effects to be analyzed in depth in an EIR
and in eliminating from detailed study issues found not to
be important." The guidelines further note that scoping
"has been found to be an effective way to bring together
and resolve the concerns of affected federal, state, and
local agencies, the proponent of the action, and other
interested persons including those who might not be in
accord with the action on environmental grounds."
As noted above, AB 1581 enables an entity to file a written
request for a scoping meeting notice if that entity is not
otherwise required to receive the notice.
If AB 1581 is amended to address other CEQA issues, then this
bill will need to be reheard by the Environmental Quality
Committee.
SOURCE : Assemblymember Torres
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file