Williamson Act: cancellation: solar energy projects.

Existing law, known as the Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to contract with a landowner to limit the use of agricultural land located in an agricultural preserve designated by the city or county to preserve the land, subject to conditions of the contract, that may include an agreement to a specified valuation of the land for purposes of property taxation. The act authorizes a landowner to petition the city council or board of supervisors, as applicable, for cancellation of the contract under specified circumstances and imposes a cancellation fee equal to 12.5% of the fair market value of the land without the restriction of the contract. This bill would authorize a board or council to grant a petition for cancellation where the land subject to the contract is located in a basin under the jurisdiction of an adjudicated watermaster or the groundwater sustainability agency. The bill would require the landowner to commit to limiting the amount of water rights to a specific solar energy project, as defined, that uses less water than the agricultural use. The bill would also require the board or council to make specified findings, including that the solar energy project use is being permitted that will use less water than the agricultural use. The bill would prohibit the imposition of a cancellation fee when a contract is canceled pursuant to the bill's provisions. The bill would require the landowner to execute and record a deed restriction that includes a prohibition on the landowner from entering into a contract pursuant to the act with respect to the land if the landowner is issued a certificate of cancellation pursuant to the bill's provisions. 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. This bill would exempt from CEQA the cancellation of a contract pursuant to the above-described authorization.