Bill Text: CA SB359 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Vehicles: retirement and replacement.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2013-09-28 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 415, Statutes of 2013. [SB359 Detail]

Download: California-2013-SB359-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: SB 359	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  SEPTEMBER 6, 2013
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 1, 2013

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Corbett

                        FEBRUARY 20, 2013

    An act to amend Section 21159.24 of the Public Resources
Code, relating to the environment.   An act relating to
electric vehicles, and making an appropriation ther   efor.




	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 359, as amended, Corbett.  Environment: CEQA exemption:
housing projects.   Electric vehicles.  
   Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program that
is administered by the State Air Resources Board for the purposes of
funding projects related to, among other things, reduction of
criteria air pollutants and improvement of air quality. Existing law
requires, until January 1, 2016, that a portion of the registration
fees for motor vehicles and vessels be deposited into the Air Quality
Improvement Fund and, upon appropriation, be expended for the
implementation of the program. Pursuant to the Air Quality
Improvement Program, the state board has established the Clean
Vehicle Rebate Project to promote the production and use of
zero-emission vehicles and the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus
Voucher Incentive Project to provide vouchers to help California
fleets to purchase hybrid and zero-emission trucks and buses. 

   Existing law establishes the Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund,
which serves as a repository for fees collected by the Department of
Consumer Affairs pursuant to the Automotive Repair Act.  
   This bill would require the Controller, upon the order of the
Director of Finance, to transfer, as a loan, $30,000,000 from the
Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund to the Air Quality Improvement
Fund. The bill would appropriate to the state board $30,000,000 from
the Air Quality Improvement Fund for the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project
and the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive
Project, thereby making an appropriation.  
   (1) The California Environmental Quality Act, commonly referred to
as CEQA, requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to
be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact
report 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 exempts residential infill projects meeting specified
criteria, including, among other things, that a community-level
environmental review was adopted or certified within 5 years of the
date that the application for the project is deemed complete and the
project promotes higher density infill housing. CEQA conclusively
presumes that a project with a density of at least 20 units per acre
promotes higher density infill housing. For the purposes of this
exemption, CEQA defines "residential" to include a use consisting of
residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods, services,
or retail uses that do not exceed 15% of the total floor area of the
project.  
   This bill would instead exempt as "residential" a use consisting
of residential units and neighborhood-serving goods, services, or
retail uses that do not exceed 25% of the total building square
footage of the project.  
   (2) Because this bill would require a lead agency to determine
whether a housing project meets the above criteria to qualify for an
exemption from CEQA, the bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.  
   (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.  
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation:  no   yes
 . Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: 
yes   no  .


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    (a) The sum of thirty million dollars
($30,000,000) is hereby appropriated from the Air Quality Improvement
Fund to the State Air Resources Board for the Clean Vehicle Rebate
Project and Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive
Project established pursuant to Article 3 (commencing with Section
44274) of Chapter 8.9 of Part 5 of Division 26 of the Health and
Safety Code.  
   (b) Upon the order of the Director of Finance, the sum of thirty
million dollars ($30,000,000) shall be transferred by the Controller,
as a loan from the Vehicle Inspection and Repair Fund to the Air
Quality Improvement Fund. No later than June 30, 2016, the loan shall
be repaid with interest at the rate earned by the Pooled Money
Investment Account at the time of the transfer.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 21159.24 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
   21159.24.  (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), this
division does not apply to a project if all of the following criteria
are met:
   (1) The project is a residential project on an infill site.
   (2) The project is located within an urbanized area.
   (3) The project satisfies the criteria of Section 21159.21.
   (4) Within five years of the date that the application for the
project is deemed complete pursuant to Section 65943 of the
Government Code, community-level environmental review was certified
or adopted.
   (5) The site of the project is not more than four acres in total
area.
   (6) The project does not contain more than 100 residential units.
   (7) Either of the following criteria are met:
   (A) (i) At least 10 percent of the housing is sold to families of
moderate income, or not less than 10 percent of the housing is rented
to families of low income, or not less than 5 percent of the housing
is rented to families of very low income.
   (ii) The project developer provides sufficient legal commitments
to the appropriate local agency to ensure the continued availability
and use of the housing units for very low, low-, and moderate-income
households at monthly housing costs determined pursuant to paragraph
(3) of subdivision (h) of Section 65589.5 of the Government Code.
   (B) The project developer has paid or will pay in-lieu fees
pursuant to a local ordinance in an amount sufficient to result in
the development of an equivalent number of units that would otherwise
be required pursuant to subparagraph (A).
   (8) The project is within one-half mile of a major transit stop.
   (9) The project does not include any single level building that
exceeds 100,000 square feet.
   (10) The project promotes higher density infill housing. A project
with a density of at least 20 units per acre shall be conclusively
presumed to promote higher density infill housing. A project with a
density of at least 10 units per acre and a density greater than the
average density of the residential properties within 1,500 feet shall
be presumed to promote higher density housing unless the
preponderance of the evidence demonstrates otherwise.
   (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), this division shall apply to
a development project that meets the criteria described in
subdivision (a), if any of the following occur:
   (1) There is a reasonable possibility that the project will have a
project-specific, significant effect on the environment due to
unusual circumstances.
   (2) Substantial changes with respect to the circumstances under
which the project is being undertaken that are related to the project
have occurred since community-level environmental review was
certified or adopted.
   (3) New information becomes available regarding the circumstances
under which the project is being undertaken and that is related to
the project, that was not known, and could not have been known, at
the time that community-level environmental review was certified or
adopted.
   (c) If a project satisfies the criteria described in subdivision
(a), but is not exempt from this division as a result of satisfying
the criteria described in subdivision (b), the analysis of the
environmental effects of the project in the environmental impact
report or the negative declaration shall be limited to an analysis of
the project-specific effect of the projects and any effects
identified pursuant to paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b).
   (d) For the purposes of this section, "residential" means a use
consisting of either of the following:
   (1) Residential units only.
   (2) Residential units and primarily neighborhood-serving goods,
services, or retail uses that do not exceed 25 percent of the total
building square footage of the project.  
  SEC. 2.    No reimbursement is required by this
act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within
the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.