California Environmental Quality Act: environmental impacts: building height.

Removed condition (5) requiring projects on sites greater than 40 acres with estimated construction valuation exceeding $100 million to create high-wage, highly-skilled jobs paying prevailing and living wages, employ a skilled and trained workforce, and provide construction and permanent jobs for Californians.

Removed the definition of 'jobs that pay prevailing wages' which referenced the general prevailing rate of per diem wages determined by the Director of Industrial Relations under Labor Code Sections 1773 and 1773.9.

A new condition (e) requires that the project be consistent with local airport land use plans. This narrows the exemption by adding an additional gate that projects must pass before height-related impacts can be excluded from CEQA significance analysis.

The conditions list was restructured from a flat numbered format (1)-(5) into nested sub-subsections (a)-(e), with the 'jobs that pay prevailing wages' definition moved to follow the restructured list. This is primarily an organizational change that does not alter the substance of existing requirements.

The section number was changed from 21081.5 to 21080.82 in the Public Resources Code, a codification renumbering that places the provision in a different subsection of the code.

'Geotechnical or hydrological effects' were removed from the list of building-height-related impacts that are automatically exempt from being considered significant. This means lead agencies can now find geotechnical or hydrological impacts to be significant even when other conditions of the exemption are met.

'Shadow' was added to the list of building-height-related impacts that are not considered significant if the project meets all specified conditions, explicitly covering shadow impacts under the safe harbor provision.

New Section 21081.5 added to the Public Resources Code, which provides that for CEQA purposes, environmental impacts associated with increased building height alone (including air circulation, noise and light refraction or reflection, potential to attract wildlife, or geotechnical or hydrological effects) shall not be considered significant if the project meets all of five conditions: use and density analyzed in a certified EIR, located on a previously graded infill site, no sensitive biological resources on site, not an industrial use, and for large projects (over 40 acres with construction valuation exceeding $100 million subject to a project-specific EIR), the project must create high-wage skilled jobs paying prevailing and living wages.

The bill title changed from 'An act relating to housing. An act to add Section 21080.75' to 'An act to add Section 21080.75 21081.5,' reflecting the addition of the new general building height provision alongside the Midway Rising-specific exemption.

A standalone section stating 'It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would address the state's severe affordable housing shortage' was removed from the bill, along with 'Affordable housing' being dropped from the legislative counsel's digest.

The fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes' and the state-mandated local program designation changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now triggers fiscal analysis and is formally recognized as imposing a state-mandated local program (due to the new Section 21081.5 requiring lead agencies to determine if projects meet the building height exemption conditions).

Added Section 21080.75 to the Public Resources Code creating a CEQA exemption specifically for the Midway Rising Specific Plan in San Diego, covering all activities related to development, planning, design, subdivision, financing, leasing, construction, operation, or maintenance of the project.

Added a special statute finding under Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution, acknowledging that a general statute cannot apply because of the unique construction of housing projects in San Diego. This is required for bills targeting a specific locality.

The bill's title changed from simply 'An act relating to housing' to 'An act relating to housing. An act to add Section 21080.75 to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality,' reflecting the new CEQA exemption focus.

The CEQA exemption is conditioned on the project creating at least 4,250 new residential units (no fewer than 2,000 affordable), including commercial uses, a multipurpose entertainment venue, and open public spaces, and being carried out in substantial conformance with the Midway Rising Specific Plan.

Added extensive sustainability requirements including: 100-percent renewable power, rooftop solar on all residential buildings, green building features with rainwater capture, waste diversion plans reducing single-use plastics, Wi-Fi in public areas, community gardens, EV charging spaces, native and drought-tolerant plants, minimum two trees per 5,000 square feet, all-electric buildings (except emergency generators and commercial kitchen equipment), and LED exterior lighting.

Added labor requirements mandating high-wage, highly skilled jobs paying prevailing wages and living wages, a skilled and trained workforce, and providing construction and permanent jobs for Californians. Explicitly authorizes the use of project labor agreements to fulfill these requirements.

Added definitions for 'jobs that pay prevailing wages' (tied to Labor Code Sections 1773 and 1773.9), 'project labor agreement' (defined in Public Contract Code Section 2500), and 'skilled and trained workforce' (defined in Public Contract Code Section 2601).

Fiscal committee designation changed from 'no' to 'yes' and state-mandated local program changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now has fiscal implications and imposes a state-mandated local program on the City of San Diego.

Added a severability clause (Section 2(d)) stating that if any provision is held invalid, it will not affect other provisions or applications.