California Environmental Quality Act: Department of Fish and Wildlife: review of environmental documents: revenue and cost tracking and accounting.

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 requires the lead agency to consult with a public agency that is a responsible agency or a trustee agency during the environmental review process. Existing law authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to impose and collect a filing fee to defray the costs of managing and protecting fish and wildlife trust resources, including, but not limited to, consulting with other public agencies, reviewing environmental documents, recommending mitigation measures, developing monitoring requirements for purposes of CEQA, and other activities protecting those trust resources identified in the review pursuant to CEQA. This bill would require the department to separately track and account for all revenues collected under the above filing fee provision and all costs incurred in its role as a responsible agency or trustee agency under CEQA.