Environmental quality.

(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project, as defined, that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment, as defined, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. This bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA the installation of a solar energy system, including associated equipment, on the roof of an existing building or an existing parking lot meeting specified conditions. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project would be exempt under this provision, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) CEQA requires a lead agency to call a scoping meeting for a project of statewide, regional, or areawide significance, and requires the lead agency to provide notice of at least one of those scoping meetings to specified entities, including a county or city that borders on a county or city within which the project is located, unless otherwise designated annually by agreement between the lead agency and county or city. Existing law requires, prior to action by a legislative body to adopt or substantially amend a general plan, the planning agency to refer the proposed action to a city or county within or abutting the area covered by the proposal. This bill would authorize this referral of a proposed action to adopt or substantially amend a general plan of a city or county to be conducted concurrently with the scoping meeting. The city or county would be authorized to submit specified comments at the scoping meeting. (3) CEQA authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt guidelines to include a list of classes of projects that have been determined not to have a significant effect on the environment and are exempted from the requirements of CEQA (categorical exemption) . This bill would provide that a project's greenhouse gas emissions are not, in and of themselves, deemed to cause the exemption to be inapplicable under specified conditions. This bill would require the Office of Planning and Research, on or before July 1, 2012, to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Natural Resources Agency, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, on or before January 1, 2013, to certify and adopt guidelines for statewide standards for infill projects that would promote specified goals and priorities. (4) CEQA limits its application, in the case of the approval of a subdivision map or a project that is consistent with the zoning or community plan for which an EIR was certified, to effects upon the environment that are peculiar to the parcel on which the project is located and were not addressed as significant effects in the EIR or if new information shows the effects upon the environment will be more significant than described in the prior EIR. This bill would similarly limit the application of CEQA in the case of the approval of an infill project, as defined, that satisfies all applicable statewide standards established in the guidelines under (3) above if an EIR was certified for a planning level decision, as defined. Because this bill would require a lead agency to determine whether a project qualifies under this provision, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) Existing law authorizes a county and a city to agree upon a procedure for referral to, and comment by, the city or county concerning the other entity's proposals to adopt or amend all or part of a general or specific plan or zoning ordinance, as specified. This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to this authorization. (6) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission with the exclusive power to certify thermal powerplants. Under CEQA, the thermal powerplants certification process is a certified regulatory program and is therefore exempt from certain requirements under CEQA. The bill would provide that the thermal powerplants certification process would be applicable to owners of specified proposed solar thermal powerplants who are proposing to convert the facility from solar thermal technology to photovoltaic technology. (7) 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.