BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 890
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 890 (Olsen and Perea)
As Amended August 24, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |54-9 |(January 26, |SENATE: |33-2 |(August 29, |
| | |2012) | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: NAT. RES.
SUMMARY : Exempts from the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA) repair, maintenance, and minor alterations of existing
roadways, provided the project is carried out by a city or
county to improve public safety, does not cross a waterway, and
involves negligible or no expansion of an existing use. The
exemption sunsets January 1, 2016.
The Senate amendments :
1)Limit the size of cities and counties eligible to claim the
exemption to those with a population under 100,000.
2)Define "waterway" to mean a bay, estuary, lake, pond, river,
slough, or a perennial, intermittent, or ephemeral stream,
lake, or estuarine-marine shoreline.
3)Exclude projects:
a) On state roadways.
b) On sites containing wetlands, riparian areas, and
significant wildlife habitat value.
c) That harm any protected species, impact cultural
resources, or affect scenic resources.
4)Require the lead agency to:
a) Mitigate potential vehicular traffic and safety impacts,
and bicycle and pedestrian safety impacts.
b) Hold a noticed public hearing on the project to hear and
respond to public comments.
AB 890
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5)Require any state or local agency claiming an exemption
pursuant to the bill to file a notice with the Office of
Planning and Research.
EXISTING LAW 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).
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill exempted from CEQA repair,
maintenance, and minor alterations of existing roadways,
provided the project is initiated by a city or county to improve
public safety, does not cross a waterway, and involves
negligible or no expansion of an existing use. The exemption
sunsets January 1, 2016.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS : CEQA provides a process for evaluating the
environmental effects of applicable projects undertaken or
approved by public agencies. If a project is not exempt from
CEQA, an initial study is prepared to determine whether the
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 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.
AB 890
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According to the author:
In recent years, CEQA has slowed or halted many
public and private projects. It is important to
understand the environmental impacts of a public
works project, but to slow or halt a public
roadway project that improves public safety is
illogical. Cities and counties need to be able to
quickly perform some public works projects.
Public safety must be the number one priority of
the state, and CEQA has hindered cities and
counties from performing their basic duty?AB 890
streamlines the process for minor roadway
improvements for cities and counties to improve
road safety.
It should be noted that CEQA already provides alternatives to
comprehensive environmental review for minor projects. First,
the CEQA Guidelines provide a categorical exemption for work on
existing facilities where there is negligible expansion of an
existing use, specifically including "(e)xisting highways and
streets, sidewalks, gutters, bicycle and pedestrian trails, and
similar facilities," (CEQA Guidelines, Section 15301(c)).
Second, if the project is not exempt from CEQA, but the initial
study shows that it would not result in a significant effect on
the environment, the lead agency must prepare a negative
declaration, and no EIR is required. According to statistics
compiled by the Governor's Office of Planning and Research, the
vast majority of projects subject to CEQA review result in a
negative declaration. As amended, this bill is consistent with
the existing categorical exemption for minor work on existing
roads.
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0005797