California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions., the official text

An act to add Section 21080.39 to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

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 on a project that the lead agency 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.
This bill would exempt from CEQA projects that consist of the inspection, maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, reconductoring with advanced conductors, replacement, or removal of a transmission wire or cable used to conduct electricity or other piece of equipment that is directly attached to the wire or cable and that meet certain requirements. If a lead agency determines that a project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to the above provision, the bill would require the lead agency to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the county clerk in each county in which the project is located, as provided. By increasing the duties of a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California has created ambitious climate and energy goals to achieve a net-zero carbon economy by 2045. The 2022 State Air Resources Board’s scoping plan calls for California to cut air pollution by 71 percent and reduce fossil fuel consumption by 86 percent.
(b) The 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018) updated the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program to ensure that by 2030 at least 60 percent of California’s electricity is from renewable energy resources and established a state policy for California to provide 100 percent of its retail sales from renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources by 2045.
(c) The Clean Energy, Jobs, and Affordability Act of 2022 (Chapter 361 of the Statutes of 2022) made it the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90 percent of all retail sales of electricity by December 31, 2035, 95 percent of all retail sales by December 31, 2040, 100 percent of all retail sales by December 31, 2045, and 100 percent of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2035.
(d) Reconductoring is the process of replacing smaller capacity wires with larger capacity wires on existing transmission poles to enhance transmission capacity using existing infrastructure. Reconductoring is the lowest impact, least-cost path to increasing statewide transmission capacity on a highly constrained system.
(e) California’s ambitious climate and energy goals will require a massive buildout of new, clean energy projects and the grid infrastructure necessary to deliver electricity across the state. California must nearly double its clean energy capacity over the next five years, alone, to stay on track with its goals.
(f) Facilitating the rapid completion of reconductoring projects will reduce the cost of California’s energy transition and will accelerate the development of clean energy.

SEC. 2.
Section 21080.39 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
21080.39.
(a) This division does not apply to a project that consists of the inspection, maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, reconductoring with advanced conductors, replacement, or removal of a transmission wire or cable used to conduct electricity or other piece of equipment that is directly attached to the wire or cable and that meets both of the following:
(1) (A) The project is undertaken within an existing right-of-way.
(B) For a project undertaken within a private right-of-way, the project applicant has permission from the underlying property owner to access the property for the project.
(2) The project applicant enters into a legally binding agreement to restore the right-of-way to its condition before the commencement of the project.
(b) If the lead agency determines that a project is exempt from this division pursuant to this section, the lead agency shall file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and with the county clerk in each county in which the project is located in a manner specified in subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 21108 or subdivisions (b) and (c) of Section 21152.
(c) For purposes of this section, “reconductoring with advanced conductors” has the same meaning as set forth in Section 454.58 of the Public Utilities Code.

SEC. 3.
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.