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 (EIR) 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 further requires specified state agencies to perform, at the time of the adoption of a rule or regulation requiring the installation of pollution control equipment, or a performance standard or treatment requirement, an environmental analysis of the reasonably foreseeable methods of compliance. If a project consists solely of compliance with a performance standard or treatment requirement imposed by a specified state agency, CEQA requires the lead agency for the compliance project, to the greatest extent feasible, to utilize that environmental analysis in the preparation of a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental impact report on the project or in otherwise fulfilling its responsibilities under CEQA.

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change in those provisions relating to the requirements imposed on a lead agency for the compliance project.