Bill Start
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE
20212022 REGULAR SEMINARY
Assembly Bill
No. 2445
| Introduced by Assembly member Gallagher (Coauthor: Assembly Member Grayson |
| February17,2022 |
An act to add Section 21167.10 (relating to environmental quality) to the Public Resources Code
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST
Gallagher introduced AB2445.
California Environmental Quality Act – Affordable Housing: Judiciary Review: Bonds
California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), requires that a lead agency prepare or cause to be prepared an environmental impact report for any project it plans to approve or carry out that could have a significant impact on the environment. If it determines that the project will not have such an effect, it can adopt a negative declaration. CEQA also requires that a lead agency prepare a mitigation declaration for a project that may have significant effects on the environmental if there are no substantial evidence to support that the project as revised would have such an effect. CEQA provides a process by which a person can seek judicial review of the decision made by the lead agency pursuant to CEQA.
The bill would require anyone seeking judicial review of a decision of a lead agency pursuant to CEQA that a affordable housing project be built or approved to proceed to build it to post a $500,000 bond to pay for the costs and damages incurred by the respondent or real person in interest. The bill would allow the court, upon finding good cause to believe that this requirement does not serve the interests of justice, to waive or adjust the bond requirements.
Digest Key
Vote:
MAJORITY
Appropriation:
NO
Fiscal Committee
NO
Local Program
NO
Bill Text
The State of California’s people have adopted the following:
SECTION 1.
Section 21167.10, which is immediately following Section 221167.9, is added to this Public Resources Code. It reads:
21167.10.
(a)Except for subdivision (b), the court may require the petitioner to post a $5,000,000 bond to cover the costs and damage to the affordable housing projects incurred by the respondent/real party in interest.
(b) A court can waive or adjust the requirement for a bond under subdivision (a) if it believes that the requirement is not in the public interest.
justice.