BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 972
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator S. Joseph Simitian, Chairman
2011-2012 Regular Session
BILL NO: SB 972
AUTHOR: Simitian
AMENDED: March 8, 2012
FISCAL: Yes HEARING DATE: March 19, 2012
URGENCY: No CONSULTANT: Randy Pestor
SUBJECT : CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT
SUMMARY :
Existing law , under the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA):
1) 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. (Public
Resources Code �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
having transportation facilities within the
jurisdiction.
e) An organization or individual who has filed a written
request for notice.
2) Sets various notice requirements and requires an agency to
mail specified notices to any person who has filed a
SB 972
Page 2
written request for notices with either the governing body
clerk or the agency director. The agency may require
requests for notices to be annually renewed and may charge
a fee for providing the service. Notices to be provided
include the notice of preparation (NOP) of an EIR, scoping
meeting notice, and a notice of determination (NOD).
(�21092.2).
3) Requires a copy of a notice of completion of an EIR (NOC)
to be provided by the State Clearinghouse to any legislator
in whose district the project has an environmental impact
if the legislator requests the notice and the State
Clearinghouse has received it. (�21162).
This bill :
1) Requires a scoping meeting notice to also be provided to
any entity that has filed a written request for the notice.
(�21083.9).
2) Requires an NOC to also be mailed to any person who has
filed a written request for notices. (�21092.2).
3) Repeals the legislator NOC notice requirement, adds this
requirement under �21092.2, and also requires an NOP to be
provided to a legislator under the same conditions as for
receipt of an NOC.
COMMENTS :
1) Purpose of Bill . Under current law, a person may file a
written request with an agency to receive certain CEQA
notices. However, this provision does not reference the
NOC. Current law also enables a legislator to receive an
NOC for a project in their district that has an
environmental impact, but there is no reference to the NOP.
According to the author, SB 972 "ensures that a person
requesting CEQA notices from public agencies also receives
NOCs, along with other notices required under current law."
The author also notes that SB 972 "enables legislators to
SB 972
Page 3
be aware of proposed projects in their district early in
the CEQA process - when there is an NOP for an EIR, rather
than later when the NOC is filed." SB 972 also revises
scoping meeting notice requirements.
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
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 scoping . 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
SB 972
Page 4
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."
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. SB 972 provides an
opportunity for these entities to file a written request to
receive the scoping meeting notice.
4) Related legislation . SB 226 (Simitian) Chapter 469,
Statutes of 2011, contained various amendments to CEQA,
including streamlined procedures for certain infill areas,
as well as an amendment to �21083.9 allowing public
agencies to comment on planning and zoning matters
(required under Planning and Zoning Law) concurrently with
project scoping meetings under CEQA. Provisions in SB 972
relating to scoping meeting notice to other entities were
addressed in a similar fashion in AB 1581 (Carter) of 2010
(that died on the Senate Inactive File) and SB 620 (Correa)
of 2011 (where Senate Environmental Quality Committee
hearings were cancelled at the author's request).
Provisions in SB 972 relating to NOPs and NOCs were contained
in the March 21, 2011, version of SB 880 (Corbett) Chapter
6, Statutes of 2012, but were subsequently stricken when
the bill was amended to address another issue.
5) Encouraging early comments . SB 226 also contained
provisions to address late comments on environmental
documents that were stricken due to opposition from many
interest groups. While the notice and scoping provisions
in SB 972 encourage earlier comments, and thereby help to
SB 972
Page 5
avoid the need for late comments, the author is continuing
to meet with various interest groups to further address
late comment concerns.
SOURCE : Senator Simitian
SUPPORT : None on file
OPPOSITION : None on file