California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions: transportation-related projects.

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, until January 1, 2030, exempts from its requirements bicycle transportation plans for an urbanized area for restriping of streets and highways, bicycle parking and storage, signal timing to improve street and highway intersection operations, and related signage for bicycles, pedestrians, and vehicles under certain conditions. This bill would delete the requirement that the bicycle transportation plan is for an urbanized area. The bill would extend the exemption to an active transportation plan or pedestrian plan. The bill would define "active transportation plan" and "pedestrian plan." The bill would specify that individual projects that are a part of an active transportation plan or pedestrian plan remain subject to the requirements of CEQA unless those projects are exempt by another provision of law. CEQA exempts from its requirements certain projects that are, among other things, located in an urbanized area, including transit prioritization projects, as defined, and projects for pedestrian and bicycle facilities or for the institution or increase of new bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail services on public or highway rights-of-way. For those exempted projects exceeding $100,000,000 in 2020 United States dollars, CEQA, except as provided, requires the lead agency to, among other things, complete and consider the results of a project business case and a racial equity analysis, as specified, and requires the lead agency, before exempting a project from CEQA, to hold at least 3 noticed public meetings in the project area, as provided. CEQA requires the lead agency, before granting an exemption for projects under the above provisions, to certify that those projects will be carried out by a skilled and trained workforce, except as provided. Existing law repeals the above-described exemption on January 1, 2023. This bill would extend the exemption to January 1, 2030. The bill would revise and recast the exemption to, among other things, repeal the requirement that the exempted projects are located in an urbanized area, extend the exemption by revising the definition of transit prioritization projects, and require projects for the institution or increase of bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail service, as provided, to be located on a site that is wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau. The bill would revise the requirements for the project business case and racial equity analysis and noticed public meetings to apply to exempted projects exceeding $100,000,000 and would additionally require the lead agency to complete an analysis of residential displacement and suggest antidisplacement strategies, designs, or actions for those projects for which at least 50% of the project or projects' stops and stations are located in an area at risk of residential displacement and will have a maximum of 15-minute peak headways. The bill would require the lead agency to define or identify areas at risk of residential displacement. For projects that provide for the construction or maintenance of certain hydrogen refueling infrastructure or facilities or that exceed $50,000,000, the bill would require the lead agency to hold certain noticed meetings, as provided. The bill would require the lead agency to take an action at a public meeting of its governing board to certify that the project will be completed by a skilled and trained workforce following the granting of the exemption and would provide that the certification requirement is not required under specified circumstances. This bill would specify that the revision made by this bill to the exemption for projects for the institution or increase of bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail service may apply to projects for which a notice of exemption is filed before January 1, 2023. The bill would, for projects exempted by the above-described provisions for which a notice of exemption was filed before January 1, 2023, authorize the lead agency to either certify that the project will be completed by a skilled and trained workforce after the granting of the exemption or exempt those projects from the certification requirement if the lead agency demonstrates compliance with certain conditions.