California Environmental Quality Act: streamlined environmental reviews.

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 certain processes, such as the preparation of a master EIR or a focused EIR, to streamline the environmental review of projects. CEQA states the intentions of the Legislature in enacting those streamlined environmental review processes. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those statements of intent.