California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: housing 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. This bill would, until January 1, 2029, exempt from the requirements of CEQA, housing projects that meet certain requirements. The bill would require a lead agency, if it determines that a housing project is exempt from CEQA under the above provision, to file a specified notice with the county clerk in each county in which the project is located. By requiring the lead agency to determine the applicability of the exemption to housing projects and to file the notice with the county clerk, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.