BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 984
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 8, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 984 (Simitian) - As Amended: April 9, 2012
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:8-0
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill requires the lead agency for certain types of projects
subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to
prepare and certify the record of proceedings concurrent with
the administrative process. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires a lead CEQA agency for the following types of
projects, upon written request of a project applicant, to
prepare and certify the record of proceedings concurrently
with the administrative process:
a) Projects of statewide, regional, or areawide
significance.
b) Infill projects.
c) Transit priority projects consistent with a sustainable
communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy
accepted by the Air Resources Board (ARB).
2)Authorizes a project applicant to request a lead CEQA agency
for a project of a type other than those described above to
request the lead agency to prepare and certify the record of
proceedings concurrently with the administrative process.
3)Requires a project applicant to reimburse a lead agency for
the cost to prepare and certify the record of proceedings
concurrently with the administrative process.
4)Generally requires a lead agency to make CEQA permitting
documents available online and in electronic format.
5)Sunsets the bill's requirements as of January 1, 2016.
SB 984
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FISCAL EFFECT
1)Unknown costs to state agencies, to the extent they are lead
CEQA permitting agencies for projects for which the lead
agency must, or agrees to, concurrently prepare the record of
proceeding (various funds). These costs should be fully
reimbursed by project applicants who request the record of
proceedings to be prepared concurrently with the
administrative process.
2)Unknown, potentially significant one-time GF and special fund
costs to state agencies, to the extent they are lead CEQA
permitting agencies for projects, to upgrade electronic data
management capabilities to allow for the functionality
required by this bill, such as posting downloadable forms
online and making draft environmental documents available
electronically. For example, the Department of Fish and Game
estimates costs well over $150,000 to upgrade its information
technology system, which the department describes as
antiquated.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author intends to apply to additional projects
an expedited CEQA procedure included for a limited set of
projects in other recently enacted statutes.
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
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.
Preparing the EIR begins when the lead agency sends notice of
preparation to other public agencies, soliciting advice on the
EIR's scope. If the project is of statewide, regional, or
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area-wide significance, the lead agency holds a scoping
meeting with the other agencies. The lead agency circulates
its draft EIR and invites public comments during a 45-day
review period.
After this public review, the lead agency issues a final EIR
that responds to the comments that it received. After
certifying the final EIR, the lead agency files notice to
allow the project to proceed.
Challenges of CEQA decisions generally must be filed within
30-35 days and be heard by the Superior Court. The courts are
required to give CEQA actions preference over all other civil
actions. However, statute provides no timeline within which
the court must decide upon a CEQA case.
Current law requires a lead agency to prepare a CEQA record of
proceeding-typically including all documents relevant to the
agency's CEAQ action-within 60 days of receiving a plaintiff's
request to do so. Last fall, the Legislature passed two
bills-AB 900, Buchannan (Chapter 354) and AB 292
(Simitian)-which provided expedited judicial procedures for a
limited set of large scale projects meeting certain criteria
for environmental protection or enhancements. Among those
expedited procedures was the requirement that the lead agency
concurrently prepare the record of proceeding and the
administrative process.
3)Related Legislation. This bill is similar to AB 1444 (Feuer)
and AB 1570 (Perea), both of which affect the same statutory
code as this bill. AB 1444 was held on suspense by this
committee. AB 1570 passed the Assembly 78-0 and is pending
before the Senate Committee on Environmental Quality.
4)There is neither support nor opposition formally registered
for or against this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081