California Environmental Quality Act.

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 (EIR) 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 requires lead agencies to provide various notices regarding the environmental review of a project. CEQA requires lead agencies to submit certain notices and certain environmental review documents to the State Clearinghouse within the Office of Planning and Research. CEQA requires the office to establish and maintain a database for the collection, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of environmental review documents and required notices that are provided to the office and requires the office to make the database available to the public through the Internet. This bill would require lead agencies to post the notices required by CEQA and any environmental review document for a project on their Internet Web sites, if any, or to submit those notices and environmental review documents to the State Clearinghouse for inclusion in the database described above. Because this bill would impose additional duties on lead agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. CEQA requires the office to prepare and develop, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt, guidelines to assist lead agencies in implementing CEQA. The guidelines require a public agency to prepare an addendum to a previously certified EIR and authorize the public agency to prepare an addendum to a previously adopted negative declaration under specified circumstances. The guidelines specify that the addendum need not be circulated for public review. This bill would codify the above provision and would require lead agencies to provide public notice of the availability of the addendum and a public review period of not less than 20 days. Because this bill would impose additional duties on lead agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. CEQA requires an action or proceeding alleging noncompliance with certain requirements to be based on grounds that were presented to the public agency orally or in writing during the public comment period or prior to the close of the public hearing on the project before the issuance of the notice of determination. CEQA prohibits a person from maintaining an action or proceeding unless the person objected to the approval of the project orally or in writing during the public comment period provided under the act or prior to the close of the public hearing on the project before the issuance of the notice of determination. CEQA authorizes an organization formed after the approval of a project to maintain an action or proceeding if a member of the organization objected to the approval of the project. This bill would require alleged grounds for noncompliance presented prior to the close of the public hearing on the project before the issuance of the notice of determination to be those that were not known or could not have been known with the exercise of reasonable diligence during the public comment period unless no public comment period was provided by CEQA. The bill would prohibit a person who objected to the approval of a project prior to the close of the public hearing on the project from maintaining an action or proceeding unless no public comment period was provided under CEQA. The bill would require members of an organization, formed after the approval of a project that is maintaining an action or proceeding, to have either directly presented the alleged grounds for noncompliance or submitted comments agreeing with, or supporting, the alleged grounds presented in the comments of another person. 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.