BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 226
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 25, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
Cathleen Galgiani, Chair
SB 226 (Simitian) - As Amended: August 23, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 36-0
NATURAL RESOURCES (6-1)
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Brownley, |Noes:|Halderman |
| |Dickinson, Huffman, | | |
| |Monning, Skinner | | |
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SUBJECT : Environmental quality.
SUMMARY : This bill streamlines the California Environmental
Quality Act (CEQA) and adds exemptions from CEQA for specific
types of projects, including solar projecs on Agriculture land.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes referral of a proposed action to adopt or
substantially amend a general plan to an adjacent city or
county to be conducted concurrently with the scoping meeting
required by CEQA for a project of statewide, regional or
area-wide significance, and authorizes the city or county to
submit its comments on the proposed general plan action at the
CEQA scoping meeting.
2)Exempts from CEQA review the installation of a solar energy
system on the roof of an existing building.
a) Defines a solar energy system to include solar electric
(photovoltaic) and solar hot water projects, and associated
equipment not located on the roof, including connections to
the electric grid adjacent to the parcel, but excludes a
substation.
3)Provides that a project's greenhouse gas emissions (GHE) shall
not by itself cause the project to be ineligible for a
categorical exemption from CEQA review if the project complies
with regulations adopted to implement related statewide,
regional, or local plans as provided in the CEQA guidelines.
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4)Requires the Natural Resources Secretary (Secretary), by March
1, 2012, to amend the CEQA guidelines to exempt from CEQA
review solar photovoltaic projects not more than 10
megawatts/100 acres located on disturbed agricultural lands,
as defined. This provision sunsets January 1, 2015.
a) Requires eligible land to have been used for
agricultural production for at least five years and has
been mechanically disturbed or converted from native
vegetation as specified.
b) Requires eligible land to be determined by a qualified
biologist to have no significant habitat value.
c) Requires projects to not be located on prime farmland or
other farmland designated as important or unique farmlands
by the Department of Conservation (DOC).
i) Requires lands designated as important farmland not
to be reclassified due to irrigation status.
d) Requires the Secretary's amendments to take into
consideration potential for impacts on agricultural and
natural resources.
e) Allows the Secretary to impose additional conditions on
CEQA exemptions to avoid significant impacts on the
environment, including effects associated with the
decommissioning of the solar project.
f) Requires the Secretary to prevent the repeated use on
exemptions in the same vicinity or ownership.
5)Establishes interim abbreviated CEQA review procedures for
specified transit proximity projects, as specified.
6)Provides that CEQA does not require a public agency to
consider written materials submitted after the close of the
public comment period, with specified exceptions for materials
addressing new information released after the close of the
public comment period, and permits a lead agency to elect to
ignore written materials submitted after the close of the
public comment period, and provides that such material shall
not be raised in judicial review. This provision sunsets
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January 1, 2016.
7)Contains an urgency clause allowing the 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
environmental impact report (EIR) for this action, unless the
project is exempt from CEQA.
2)Requires the Office of Planning and Research and the Natural
Resources Agency to prepare, adopt and periodically update
CEQA guidelines, including identifying classes of projects
determined to have no significant effect on the environment
and therefore eligible for a categorical exemption, as well as
guidelines for the mitigation of greenhouse gas (GHG)
emissions.
3)Exempts from CEQA specified residential housing projects which
meet criteria established to ensure the project does not have
a significant effect on the environment, including urban
infill housing projects of not more than 100 units on a site
not more than four acres in size which is within one-half mile
of a major transit stop.
4)Requires a lead agency to have at least one scoping meeting
for a proposed project of statewide, regional, or area-wide
significance with public notice as specified. Requires a
planning agency to refer a proposed action to adopt or
substantially amend a general plan to other entities for
comment as specified, prior to action on that general plan.
FISCAL EFFECT : This bill has been keyed fiscal by Legislative
Counsel.
COMMENTS : CEQA provides a process for evaluating the
environmental effects of projects undertaken or approved by
public agencies. Projects not exempt from CEQA undergo an
initial study to determine whether the project may have a
significant effect on the environment. Depending on if the
initial study shows that there would or would not be a
significant effect on the environment, the lead agency must
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prepare an EIR or a negative declaration. A lead agency must
base its determination of significant effects on substantial
evidence.
According to the author, SB 226 responds to concerns relating to
scoping meetings for certain projects, use of categorical
exemptions for projects resulting in GHE, environmental review
for infill and solar projects, and late public comments on
environmental documents.
According to the DOC's Farmland Mapping & Monitoring Program,
one of the criteria for land to be designated prime or
important, the land must have been used for irrigated
agricultural production at some time during the four years prior
to the mapping date. Mapping cycles take place every two years,
thus creating an up to 6 year cycle that lands might not be
irrigated and still be considered prime or important. The most
recent amendment address a concern that an entity might adjust
irrigation and farming practices to force land out of the prime
or important classification for the purpose of obtaining a CEQA
exemption for a solar project.
The CEQA exemptions for solar projects on agricultural land, as
defined in this bill, are pointedly narrow. To qualify for a
CEQA exemption, the land needs to have been previously used for
agriculture production for five years and needs to have been
mechanically disturbed or converted from native vegetation.
Furthermore, it cannot be land that is designated by DOC as
prime, important, unique or locally important.
One portion of the definition for disturbed agriculture land,
lands previously used for agricultural production for at least
five years that have been mechanically disturbed or converted
from native vegetation through plowing, bulldozing, or other
similar means, raises two questions:
1) The requirement that the lands be previously used for
agricultural production for at least five years raises the
question of how far to go back and what if the land is
currently used for a different purpose. Technically, this
could include agricultural land converted to other purposes
such as housing.
2) The requirement of mechanically disturbed or converted
from native vegetation by mechanical means, raises
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questions for range/grazing lands. Does this definition
exclude range/grazing land from the CEQA exemptions? What
kind of mechanically disturbances would qualify
range/grazing land for the CEQA exemptions for solar
projects?
The committee may wish to consider if the definition of
disturbed agricultural land is adequate to pursue the stated
purpose of creating CEQA exemptions for solar projects on
agricultural land.
If range/grazing land does not qualify for a CEQA exemption in
this bill, it raises the question of what land does qualify.
According to the DOC's 2008 map of Important Farmland in
California, which includes prime, important, unique and grazing
farm land, at least 31,564,315 acres of useable agricultural
land in California will not qualify for the CEQA solar exemption
allowed under this bill. Furthermore, any land that might be
allowed has the added restriction of having no significant value
as habitat for sensitive species and provides no significant
habitat/wildlife corridors. This begs the question of what
agricultural land would benefit from a CEQA exemption for solar
projects envisioned by this bill.
Qualified support and opposition : There are several
organizations that have expressed a support if the bill is
amended status and oppose unless the bill amended.
1)The California Chamber of Commerce, California Building
Industry Association, California Business Properties
Association and the American Council of Engineering Companies
have an oppose unless amends position. These organizations
objected to provisions of the bill dealing with late documents
and infill projects, both of which are policy areas out of the
purview of this committee.
2)The American Planning Association - California Chapter, League
of California Cities and Regional Council of Rural Counties
have a support if amended position. These organizations
support amendments to clarify where the "disturbed agriculture
land" would typically be located and a balance of agricultural
land and urban environments acquiring CEQA exemptions for
solar projects.
3)The Association of Environmental Professional (AEP) has a
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support in principle with suggested amendments position. AEP
would like to see amendments that remove the portion of this
bill that deal with CEQA exemptions for solar projects on
agricultural land and replace it with directing the Office of
Planning and Research to make new guidelines for the Natural
Resources Agency to improve the CEQA review process for
renewable energy projects, including the possibility of
categorical exemptions.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
Center for Biological Diversity
Analysis Prepared by : Victor Francovich / AGRI. / (916)
319-2084