Bill Text: CA SB241 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Environment: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2012-01-31 - Returned to Secretary of Senate pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [SB241 Detail]
Download: California-2011-SB241-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SB 241 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Cannella
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
An act to add and repeal Section 21099 of the Public Resources
Code.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 241, as introduced, Cannella. Environment: California
Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead
agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify
the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project
that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant
effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it
finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires
a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a
project that may have a significant effect on the environment if
revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and
there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would
have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA provides for the
judicial review of a lead agency's decision to certify an EIR.
The bill would enact the CEQA Litigation Protection Pilot Program
of 2011 and would require the Business, Transportation and Housing
Agency to select projects that meet specified requirements from
specified regions for each calendar year between 2012 and 2016. The
bill would exempt from judicial review, pursuant to CEQA, a lead
agency's decision to certify the EIR of, or to adopt a mitigated
negative declaration based on an initial study for, the selected
projects, a lead agency's and responsible agency's approval of the
selected project, and the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency'
s selection of the projects. The bill would require the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency, by December 31 of each year, to
submit an annual report to the Governor and to the Legislature
summarizing the designation of projects, and the job creation and
investment attributable to the designated projects.
The bill would repeal the pilot program as of January 1, 2017.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 21099 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
21099. (a) This section shall be known as the CEQA Litigation
Protection Pilot Program of 2011.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding other law, a lead agency's decision to
certify an environmental impact report or to adopt a mitigated
negative declaration based on an initial study for a project selected
by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency pursuant to this
section is not subject to review by a court pursuant to this
division.
(2) A lead or responsible agency's decision to approve a project
selected by the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency pursuant
to this section is not subject to review by a court pursuant to this
division.
(3) The selection or designation of a project by the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency pursuant to this section is not
subject to review by a court pursuant to this division.
(c) On or before March 1, 2012, the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency shall solicit applications for an exemption provided
pursuant to this section.
(d) On or before June 1, 2012, the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency shall select 25 projects for the purposes of
subdivision (b) as follows:
(1) Ten projects located in the Counties of Imperial, Los Angeles,
Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego.
(2) Five projects located in the Counties of Alameda, Contra
Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma.
(3) Five projects located in the Counties of Fresno, Kern, Kings,
Madera, Merced, Monterey, Sacramento, San Benito, San Joaquin,
Stanislaus, and Tulare.
(4) Five projects located in the rest of the state.
(e) On or before June 1, 2012, the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency shall identify five alternative projects in a region
identified in subdivision (d) for the purposes of subdivision (i).
(f) On or before June 1, 2012, the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency shall provide to the Legislature and the public a list
of the projects selected pursuant to subdivisions (d) and (e) for
public comments.
(g) (1) On or before July 1, 2012, the Business, Transportation
and Housing Agency shall hold at least one public hearing in each
region specified in subdivision (d) to consider public comments on
the selected projects in each region specified in subdivisions (d)
and (e).
(2) The Legislature may provide formal comments to the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency through legislative committees
designated by the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate Committee on
Rules for their respective houses.
(h) On or before October 1, 2012, the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency shall finalize the selection of the projects pursuant
to subdivisions (d) and (e).
(i) (1) For a project to qualify for the exemption pursuant to
subdivision (b), the lead agency for the project shall certify to the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency that it is the lead
agency's expectation that the environmental impact report for the
project will be certified on or before January 1, 2013.
(2) If an environmental impact report of a project selected
pursuant to subdivision (d) is not certified by January 1, 2013, the
exemption provided in subdivision (b) does not apply to that project.
(3) If an environmental impact report of a project selected
pursuant to subdivision (d) is not certified by January 1, 2013, the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency shall select an
alternative project identified pursuant to subdivision (e) with an
environmental impact report that has been certified by January 1,
2013, from that respective region for the purposes of subdivision
(b).
(j) In selecting a project for the purpose of this section, the
Business, Transportation and Housing Agency shall consider the
following:
(1) The number and quality of jobs that will be created by the
project.
(2) The amount of capital investment made by the project.
(3) A balance between projects sponsored by public and private
entities.
(k) In each of the four calendar years following the effective
date of this act, from 2012 to 2016, inclusive, the Business,
Transportation and Housing Agency shall select 25 projects for the
purposes of subdivision (b), subject to the same regional limitations
as specified in subdivision (d), and subject to the same time
deadlines as set forth in subdivisions (c) to (i), inclusive, except
that the times shall be calculated from January 1 of each calendar
year. In each calendar year, projects or groups of projects may be
designated on a periodic basis in advance of those deadlines, if
notice and hearing are provided as set forth in subdivisions (f) and
(g).
(l) By December 31 of each year, the Business, Transportation and
Housing Agency shall submit an annual report on this pilot program to
the Governor and to the Legislature, pursuant to Section 9795 of the
Government Code, summarizing the designation of projects pursuant to
this section. This annual report shall also summarize the job
creation and investment attributable to the designated projects, and
may provide additional information regarding the implementation of
the designated projects.
(m) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2017, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2017, deletes or extends
that date.
