California Environmental Quality Act: record of proceedings.

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 for 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. In an action or proceeding alleging the lead agency violated CEQA, CEQA requires the lead agency to prepare and certify the record of proceedings and requires the parties to pay any reasonable costs or fees imposed for the preparation of the record of proceedings, as specified. CEQA authorizes the plaintiff or petitioner to elect to prepare the record of proceedings or for the parties to agree to an alternative method of preparation of the record of proceedings, subject to certification of its accuracy by the public agency. This bill would make the above authorization for the plaintiff or petitioner to elect to prepare the record of proceedings or to agree to an alternative method of record preparation inapplicable in a proceeding challenging a project that will be exclusively located or implemented in a county with fewer than 1,000,000 residents and, if the project is located in a city within that county, the city has fewer than 500,000 residents.