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Bills

AB 854: California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions.

  • Session Year: 2025-2026
  • House: Assembly

Current Status:

In Progress

(2025-04-28: In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author.)

Introduced

First Committee Review

First Chamber

Second Committee Review

Second Chamber

Enacted

Version:

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 the lead agency 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 exempt from CEQA projects that consist of the inspection, maintenance, repair, restoration, reconditioning, reconductoring with advanced conductors, replacement, or removal of a transmission wire or cable used to conduct electricity or other piece of equipment that is directly attached to the wire or cable and that meet certain requirements. If a lead agency determines that a project is exempt from CEQA pursuant to the above provision, the bill would require the lead agency to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the county clerk in each county in which the project is located, as provided. By increasing the duties of a lead agency, this the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the taking of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species unless the person has obtained an incidental take permit from the Department of Fish and Wildlife.Existing law prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, a river, stream, or lake, or deposit or dispose of debris, waste, or other materials where it may pass into a river, stream, or lake unless the Department of Fish and Wildlife receives written notification of the activity and the entity has entered into a lake or stream agreement with the Department of Fish and Wildlife.The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act requires a California regional water quality control board to prescribe waste discharge requirements for the discharge of pollutants into state waters and authorizes the regional board to prescribe general waste discharge requirements for a category of discharges if the regional board finds or determines that certain criteria apply to the discharges in that category.This bill would exempt from CEQA the issuance of incidental take permits, lake or stream agreements, or waste discharge requirements for renewable energy projects.

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.

News Coverage:

AB 854: California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions. | Digital Democracy