Environmental quality: cumulative effects and mediation.

(1) 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 allows a lead agency to use a tiered environmental impact report when a prior environmental impact report has been prepared and certified for a program, plan, policy, or ordinance and a later project meets certain requirements. Existing law provides that the report on the later project is not required to examine those effects that the lead agency determines were, among other things, examined at a sufficient level of detail in the prior environmental impact report. This bill, until January 1, 2016, would provide that if a lead agency determines that a cumulative effect has been adequately addressed in a prior environmental impact report, in accordance with a specified procedure, that cumulative effect is not required to be examined in a later environmental impact report, mitigated negative declaration, or negative declaration. (2) CEQA imposes requirements for an attempted settlement upon a public agency that has been served a petition or complaint for noncompliance with CEQA. CEQA provides that the settlement meeting is intended to be conducted concurrently with any judicial proceedings. Existing law also provides that an action brought in a superior court relating to certain subjects, including an act or decision of a public agency made pursuant to CEQA, may be subject to a mediation proceeding. Existing law specifies procedures for bringing an action under CEQA for noncompliance with that act. An organization formed after the approval of a project is allowed to maintain an action for noncompliance if a member of that organization has presented the alleged grounds for noncompliance to the public agency in a specified manner. This bill, until January 1, 2016, would provide that a mediation proceeding also is intended to be conducted concurrently with any judicial proceedings. This bill, until January 1, 2016, would authorize a person wishing to bring an action or proceeding pursuant to CEQA to file with the lead agency and the real party in interest a notice requesting mediation within 5 business days from the date of the filing of a notice of determination occurring on or after July 1, 2011. The bill would provide that the notice for mediation is deemed to be denied if the lead agency fails to respond within 5 business days of receiving the request for mediation. The bill would authorize a court to impose a penalty on a party making a frivolous claim in the course of an action brought under CEQA on or before December 31, 2015. This bill, until January 1, 2016, additionally would require a member of that organization to have objected to the approval of the project orally or in writing. This bill, until January 1, 2016, also would authorize the Attorney General to file a motion with the court seeking an expedited schedule for resolution of an action or proceeding alleging noncompliance. This bill would make conforming changes. (3) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 21094 of the Public Resources Code proposed by this bill and AB 231, to be operative only if this bill and AB 231 are both enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2011, and this bill is enacted last. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.