California Environmental Quality Act: expired regional habitat conservation plan: exemption., the official text

An act to add Section 21080.54 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 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.
This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA a project developed solely to serve an urgent public health or housing need, as specified, that is within the boundaries of an expired regional habitat conservation plan, and that had an environmental review completed consistent with the requirements of the regional habitat conservation plan as the plan existed before the plan’s expiration. Because the bill would require a lead agency to determine the applicability of this exemption, 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.
Section 21080.54 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
21080.54.
This division does not apply to a project that meets all of the following criteria:
(a) The project is developed solely to serve an urgent public health or housing need as established by federal or state policy on less than 15 acres in an urbanized area.
(b) The project is within the boundaries of an expired regional habitat conservation plan.
(c) An environmental review for the project was completed consistent with the requirements of the regional habitat conservation plan as the plan existed before the plan’s expiration.

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.