California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: railroad crossings.

(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 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 from its requirements railroad grade separation projects that eliminate existing grade crossings or that reconstruct existing grade separations. CEQA authorizes a lead agency, if it determines that a project is exempt from the requirements of CEQA, to file a notice of exemption with specific public entities. This bill would require a lead agency, if it determines that the above exemption applies to a project that the agency approves or determines to carry out, to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and, in the case of a local agency, with the county clerk in each affected county. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies with regards to the filing of a notice of exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law grants to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) the authority to regulate railroad crossings, as prescribed. CEQA, until January 1, 2016, exempts from its requirements the closure of a railroad grade crossing by order of the PUC under that authority if the PUC finds the crossing to present a threat to public safety. CEQA requires a state or local agency that determines that this exemption applies to a project that the agency approves or determines to carry out to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Planning and Research and, in the case of a local agency, with the county clerk in each affected county. This bill would postpone until January 1, 2019, the repeal date for those provisions. Because the bill would impose additional duties on local agencies with regard to the filing of a notice of exemption, 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.