BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2565
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2565 (Ammiano)
As Amended June 17, 2010
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |74-0 |(April 29, |SENATE: |33-0 |(August 5, |
| | |2010) | | |2010) |
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Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES.
SUMMARY : Authorizes public agencies to charge and collect a
reasonable fee from members of the public for a copy of an
environmental document not to exceed the cost of reproducing the
environmental document. The document may be provided in an
electronic format as provided under the Public Records Act.
Defines "environmental document" to include an initial study,
negative declaration, draft and final environmental impact
report (EIR), among others.
The Senate amendments change the Assembly version of the bill
to:
1)Authorize a public agency to charge and collect reasonable
fees for environmental documents upon request from a member of
the public.
2)Define "environmental document" to include an initial study,
negative declaration, draft and final environmental impact
report (EIR), among others.
EXISTING LAW , pursuant to the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA), 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 for this action,
unless the project is exempt from CEQA. CEQA requires lead
agencies to make these documents, and other documents, including
notices, comments, and responses, available to the public,
including specified individuals and agencies, such as residents
adjacent to a proposed project, and the State Clearinghouse for
projects reviewed by state agencies, and provide documents
directly to individuals upon request.
AB 2565
Page 2
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill authorized a lead agency to
publish on its Web site any documents required under CEQA.
Required the lead agency to provide a copy of a CEQA document to
any member of the public or a public agency upon request.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, this bill has
negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : While hardcopies of CEQA documents are certainly
necessary for Planning Departments to review and mark-up
documents, as well as for members of the public who do not have
access to a computer, under some circumstances, digital copies
of CEQA documents would be appropriate to save paper and the
cost of implementing CEQA reporting. The San Francisco Planning
Department processed 41 major area Environmental Impact Reports
in 2009.
There are more than 300 city planning agencies throughout
California reviewing environmental impact reports every year.
Allowing a portion of CEQA reports to be administered digitally
would eliminate significant paper waste in California. For
example, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission could
reduce roughly 20% of the paper used for EIRs by submitting
digital copies in lieu of hardcopies.
This legislation provides the option for lead agencies required
to comply with CEQA regulation to make CEQA documents available
to interested and responsible parties. Publication of documents
via website, email, and other digital media is recognized
currently under CEQA statute and guidelines. CEQA does not
specifically require lead agencies to produce an unreasonable
number of paper documents. This bill clarifies that lead
agencies may charge and collect reasonable fees in order to
cover the cost of providing these documents to interested
parties.
Analysis Prepared by : Jessica Westbrook / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0005690