BILL NUMBER: AB 291AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 10, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 23, 2015 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 15, 2015 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Medina FEBRUARY 11, 2015 An act to amend Section 21152 of, and to add Section 21152.2 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 291, as amended, Medina. California Environmental Quality Act: local agencies: notice of determination: water. 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 requires a local agency that approves or determines to carry out a project subject to CEQA to file a notice of the approval or determination with the county clerk of each county in which the project will be located and requires the county clerk to make the notice available for public inspection. CEQA requires a person challenging a public agency's action on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA to file an action or proceeding with the court within a specified time period that commences on the date of the filing of the notice of approval or determination. This bill would authorize a local agency, for certain water projects, to file the notice with the county clerk of the county in which the local agency's principal office is located located, along with any required payment to the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and with the Office of Planning and Research, and to mail transmit a copy of the notice to the county clerks of the counties in which the water project is located, as specified. The bill would require the notices notice and the copies of the notice to be available for public inspection or posted, and posted by the respective county clerks, as provided. The bill would specify that the time period for filing an action or proceeding challenging a local agency's action on the ground of noncompliance with CEQA commences on the date on which the notice is filed with the Office of Planning and Research. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 21152 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 21152. (a) Except as provided in Section 21152.2, if a local agency approves or determines to carry out a project that is subject to this division, the local agency shall file notice of the approval or the determination within five working days after the approval or determination becomes final, with the county clerk of each county in which the project will be located. The notice shall identify the person or persons in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 21065, as reflected in the agency's record of proceedings, and indicate the determination of the local agency whether the project will, or will not, have a significant effect on the environment and shall indicate whether an environmental impact report has been prepared pursuant to this division. The notice shall also include certification that the final environmental impact report, if one was prepared, together with comments and responses, is available to the general public. (b) If a local agency determines that a project is not subject to this division pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 21080 and the local agency approves or determines to carry out the project, the local agency or the person specified in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 21065 may file a notice of the determination with the county clerk of each county in which the project will be located. A notice filed pursuant to this subdivision shall identify the person or persons in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 21065, as reflected in the agency's record of proceedings. A notice filed pursuant to this subdivision by a person specified in subdivision (b) or (c) of Section 21065 shall have a certificate of determination attached to it issued by the local agency responsible for making the determination that the project is not subject to this division pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 21080. The certificate of determination may be in the form of a certified copy of an existing document or record of the local agency. (c) A notice filed pursuant to this section shall be available for public inspection, and shall be posted within 24 hours of receipt in the office of the county clerk. A notice shall remain posted for a period of 30 days. Thereafter, the clerk shall return the notice to the local agency with a notation of the period it was posted. The local agency shall retain the notice for not less than 12 months. SEC. 2. Section 21152.2 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 21152.2. (a) For purposes of this section, "water project" means an activity undertaken pursuant to Sections 1011, 1011.5, and 1211 of, Chapter 2 (commencing with Section 1250), Chapter 6.6 (commencing with Section 1435), Chapter 10 (commencing with Section 1700), and Chapter 10.5 (commencing with Section 1725) of Part 2 of Division 2 of, the Water Code. (b) Within five working days after a local agency has approved or made a determination to carry out a water project, a local agency, in lieu of the notice filing requirements of subdivision (a) of Section 21152 for that water project, may take all of the following actions: (1) File the notice in the form required by subdivision (a) of Section 21152 with the county clerk of the county in which the local agency's principal office is located and make any payment to the Department of Fish and Wildlife required by Section 711.4 of the Fish and Game Code to that clerk . (2) File the notice with the Office of Planning and Research without a further payment to the Department of Fish and Wildlife . (3) Mail Transmit a copy of the notice through the via the United States mail, first-class postage prepaid with return receipt requested, Postal Service's Express Mail, postage prepaid, or via another method of delivery providing for prepaid overnight delivery , to the county clerk of each county in which the water project will be located. The copy of the notice, or an attachment to the copy of the notice, shall state the date on which the notice was filed with the Office of Planning and Research pursuant to paragraph (2). (c) (1) The county clerk receiving a notice pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) shall comply with subdivision (c) of Section 21152. (2) All notices filed pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) shall be available for public inspection, and a list of those notices shall be posted on a weekly basis in the Office of Planning and Research. Each list shall remain posted for a period of 30 days. (3) As promptly as possible, a A county clerk that receives a copy of a notice pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (b) shall post that copy comply with subdivision (c) of Section 21152 and shall not require an original of that notice notice, any information regarding the filing of the notice with the Office of Planning and Research other than the statement described in paragraph (3) of subdivision (b), or any additional information from the local agency agency, but may charge a single fee of seventy-five dollars ($75) for handling the posting of the notice pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 21152, notwithstanding subdivision (e) of Section 711.4 of the Fish and Game Code . (d) The filing date of the notice specified in subdivisions (b) to (e), inclusive, of Section 21167, Section 21167.10, and Section 21177 shall be the date on which the notice is filed with the Office of Planning and Research pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b). (e) Nothing in this section affects the application of Section 21092.2.