BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 984
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Date of Hearing: June 18, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Wesley Chesbro, Chair
SB 984 (Simitian) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
SENATE VOTE : 37-0
SUBJECT : California Environmental Quality Act: record of
proceedings
SUMMARY : Requires the lead agency for a project reviewed under
CEQA to prepare and certify the record of proceedings
concurrently with the administrative process for certain
environmental documents.
EXISTING LAW :
1) Requires lead agencies with the principal responsibility for
carrying out or approving a proposed discretionary 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).
2) Establishes requirements relating to preparation, review,
comment, approval and certification of environmental
documents, as well as procedures relating to an action or
proceeding to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul
various actions of a public agency on the grounds of
noncompliance with CEQA. At the time an action or proceeding
is filed in court, the plaintiff must file a request that the
respondent public agency prepare the record of proceedings,
which must be served personally upon the public agency no
later than 10 business days from the date the action or
proceeding was filed. The public agency must prepare and
certify the record no later than 60 days from the date the
request was made by the plaintiff. Upon certification the
public agency must lodge a copy of the record with the court.
The plaintiff may elect to prepare the record of proceedings
or the parties may agree to an alternative method of
preparation of the record.
3) Establishes special procedures relating to an "environmental
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leadership" project under the Jobs and Economic Improvement
Through Environmental Leadership Act (AB 900), which includes
requirements for preparation and certification of the
administrative record concurrently with the administrative
process and certain related requirements.
THIS BILL :
1) Provides procedures for a lead agency to prepare and certify
the record of proceedings concurrently with the
administrative process for environmental documents, and to
promptly post all documents on the Internet.
a) Requires these procedures for any project of statewide,
regional or area-wide environmental significance (those
projects where the draft EIR, proposed negative
declaration or proposed mitigated negative declaration
must be submitted to appropriate state agencies for review
and comment) and certain other infill development
projects.
b) Permits these procedures for other projects upon the
request of the project applicant and consent of the lead
agency, provided the project applicant agrees to pay the
lead agency's costs of preparation.
2) Sunsets January 1, 2016.
3) Contains an urgency clause.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
1)Background. 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.
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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. 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.
Generally, CEQA actions taken by local public agencies can be
challenged in Superior Court once the agency approves or
determines to carry out the project. CEQA appeals are subject
to unusually short statutes of limitations. Under current
law, court challenges of CEQA decisions generally must be
filed within 30-35 days, depending on the type of decision.
The courts are required to give CEQA actions preference over
all other civil actions. However, the schedules for briefing,
hearing, and decision are less definite. The petitioner must
request a hearing within 90 days of filing the petition and,
generally, briefing must be completed within 90 days of the
request for hearing. There is no deadline specified for the
court to render a decision.
In 2011, AB 900 and its companion measure, SB 292, established
expedited judicial review procedures for a limited number of
projects. For AB 900, it was large-scale projects meeting
extraordinary environmental standards and providing
significant jobs and investment. For SB 292, it was a
proposed downtown Los Angeles football stadium and convention
center project achieving specified traffic and air quality
mitigations. For these eligible projects, the bills provided
for original jurisdiction by the Court of Appeal and a
compressed schedule requiring the court to render a decision
on any lawsuit within 175 days. As part of their expedited
judicial review procedures, these bills required the lead
agency to prepare and certify the record of proceedings
concurrently with the administrative process and required the
applicant to pay for it. It was commonly agreed that this
would expedite preparation of the record for trial. This bill
applies that concurrent record preparation process broadly to
any project under CEQA.
2)Related legislation . This bill is nearly identical to AB 1570
(Perea), which was approved by this committee on April 16,
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2012 and now is pending in the Senate Environmental Quality
Committee.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092