California Environmental Quality Act: expedited environmental review: climate change regulations.

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 specified public agencies, including air pollution control districts and air quality management districts, to perform, at the time of adoption of a rule or regulation requiring the installation of pollution control equipment or a performance standard or treatment requirement, an environmental analysis of the reasonably foreseeable methods of compliance. This bill would also require those specified public agencies, at the time of adoption of a rule or regulation requiring the reduction in emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria air pollutants, or toxic air contaminants, to perform an environmental analysis of the reasonably foreseeable methods of compliance. By imposing additional requirements on air districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. CEQA authorizes the use of a focused EIR for a project that consists solely of the installation of pollution control equipment required by those specified public agencies in compliance with those rules or regulations. This bill would require those projects to comply with certain labor requirements in order for the use of a focused EIR. CEQA requires lead agencies to perform the environmental review for projects consisting solely of compliance with a performance standard or treatment requirement imposed by those specified public agencies in a certain manner. This bill would additionally require those projects to comply with certain labor requirements. To the extent that this requirement would impose additional duties on lead agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.