California Environmental Quality Act: projects for the development of new housing units: judicial review.

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 establishes procedures and requirements by which an action or proceeding can be brought challenging a public agency's action on the grounds of noncompliance with CEQA. CEQA limits the judicial inquiry in that action or proceeding to whether there was a prejudicial abuse of discretion. CEQA prohibits an action or proceeding from being brought unless the alleged grounds for noncompliance were presented to the public agency orally or in writing during the public comment period on the project provided pursuant to CEQA or before the close of the public hearing on the project before the issuance of the notice of determination. This bill would, for an action or proceeding challenging a public agency's action for a project for the development of new housing units brought pursuant to CEQA, specify that prejudicial abuse of discretion occurred if the court finds that the grounds of noncompliance with CEQA likely affected the decision of the public agency to approve the project and significantly affected the general public's ability to evaluate the project's overall impacts, and would prohibit such action or proceeding unless the alleged grounds for noncompliance with CEQA were presented to the public agency by any person during the public comment period provided pursuant to CEQA in connection with the version of the EIR in which the alleged grounds first appeared. Existing law authorizes an appeal to the court of appeal from a final judgment of a superior court. This bill would, for an action or proceeding challenging a public agency's action for a project for the development of new housing units brought pursuant to CEQA, require a party seeking review of a judgment of the superior court to file a petition for a peremptory writ of mandate with the court of appeal within 60 days of the service of the notice of entry of judgment. The bill would require the court of appeal to issue an alternative writ or order to show cause only with respect to a ground for noncompliance with CEQA in which the party seeking review has at least a 50% chance of prevailing.