BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  AB 1665
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 9, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  AB 1665 (Galgiani) - As Amended:  April 18, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              Natural 
          ResourcesVote:5-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill exempts from the requirements of the California 
          Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) the closure of a railroad grade 
          crossing ordered by the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) for 
          public safety reasons.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          No state costs.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  .  The author seeks to correct what she describes as 
            an unintended result of past legislation she authored (AB 660 
            (Galgiani), Chapter 315, Statutes of 2008), which eliminated a 
            statutory provision that described a grade separation project 
            as including removal or relocation of highways or tracks to 
            eliminate existing at-grade crossings.  The PUC (sponsor) 
            reports the effect of this statutory elimination was to 
            prevent PUC from exercising a preexisting CEQA exemption for 
            closing of railroad crossing for public safety reasons, which 
            the PUC contends should be implemented quickly.

           2)Background.   CEQA obligates public officials to consider the 
            environmental effects of their decisions. The lead agency that 
            proposes to approve a project must conduct an initial study to 
            determine if the project may have significant, adverse 
            environmental effects. If not, the lead agency issues a 
            negative declaration and, after a 30-day review period, 
            proceeds with its review and decision. If the lead agency 
            finds minor effects that can be mitigated, it issues a 








                                                                  AB 1665
                                                                  Page  2

            mitigated negative declaration and then proceeds. If the lead 
            agency finds that the effects of the project may be 
            significant, it prepares an environmental impact report (EIR), 
            a document that show public officials how to avoid or mitigate 
            the project's environmental effects. 

            Current statute exempts from CEQA any railroad grade 
            separation project which eliminates an existing grade crossing 
            or which reconstructs an existing grade separation.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081