AB 168

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the city or county and specified lands outside its boundaries that includes, among other things, a housing element. That law requires the planning agency of a city or county to provide by April 1 of each year an annual report to the legislative body of the city or county, the Office of Planning and Research, and the Department of Housing and Community Development that includes, among other specified information, the status of the general plan and progress in its implementation. This bill would additionally require that this annual report include information on the progress of the city or county in adopting or amending its general plan or local open-space element in compliance with its obligations to consult with California Native American tribes, and to identify and protect, preserve, and mitigate impacts to specified places, features, and objects, pursuant to specified law. (2) Existing law, until January 1, 2026, authorizes a development proponent to submit an application for a multifamily housing development that is subject to a streamlined, ministerial approval process, as provided, and not subject to a conditional use permit, if the development satisfies specified objective planning standards. Under existing law, the objective planning standards include, among others, (A) a requirement that the development not be located on specified sites, including those within a coastal zone, very high fire hazard severity zone, delineated earthquake fault zone, or special flood hazard area, and sites designated as prime farmland, wetlands, or a habitat for a protected species, and (B) a requirement that the development be consistent with objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards in effect at the time that the development is submitted to the local government. 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. Prior to the release of a negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or an EIR for a project, CEQA requires the lead agency to begin consultation with a California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed project, as provided. Under existing law, a development subject to the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above is not subject to CEQA. This bill would require a development proponent, before submitting an application for streamlined approval described above, to submit notice of its intent to submit an application under these provisions, which must be in the form of a preliminary application, as described below. The bill would revise the above-described provisions to instead require the development to be consistent with objective zoning standards, objective subdivision standards, and objective design review standards in effect at the time that the development is submitted to the local government or at the time the notice of intent is submitted, whichever occurs earlier. The bill would require, after that notice is received by the local government, a local government to provide formal notice, as provided, to each California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed development and to engage in a scoping consultation, as provided, regarding the potential effects the proposed development could have on a potential tribal cultural resource. The bill would exempt a scoping consultation conducted pursuant to its provisions from CEQA. This bill would deem a project ineligible for the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above, and thereby subject to CEQA, if (A) the site of the proposed development is a tribal cultural resource that is on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register list, (B) the local government and the California Native American tribe do not agree that no potential tribal cultural resource would be affected by the proposed development, or (C) the local government and California Native American tribe find that a potential tribal cultural resource could be affected by the proposed development and the parties do not document an enforceable agreement regarding the methods, measures, and conditions for treatment of those tribal cultural resources, as provided. If the proposed development is not eligible for streamlined, ministerial approval because the parties do not agree that a potential tribal cultural resource would be affected or do not document an enforceable agreement regarding methods, measures, and conditions for tribal cultural resource treatment, the bill would require the local government to provide written documentation of that fact to the development proponent and to any California Native American tribe that is a party to that scoping consultation, as provided. The bill would require a local government to notify a California Native American tribe if the development or environmental setting substantially changes after the completion of the scoping consultation, and would require the local government to engage in a subsequent scoping consultation if requested by the California Native American tribe. The bill would specify that its provisions do not apply to any project that is approved under the streamlined, ministerial approval process described above before the bill's effective date. (3) The Permit Streamlining Act, which is part of the Planning and Zoning Law, requires each state agency and each local agency to compile one or more lists that specify in detail the information that will be required from any applicant for a development project. That act, until January 1, 2025, provides that an applicant for a housing development project, as defined, is deemed to have submitted a preliminary application upon providing specified information about the proposed project to the city, county, or city and county from which approval for the project is sought. Under existing law, the Housing Accountability Act, a housing development may only be subject to the ordinances, policies, and standards adopted and in effect when a preliminary application was submitted, except as specified. This bill would provide that submission of a preliminary application pursuant to these provisions does not preclude the listing of a tribal cultural resource on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register list on or after the date that the preliminary application is submitted. For purposes of the Housing Accountability Act or any other law, the bill would provide that the listing of a tribal cultural site on a national, state, tribal, or local historic register on or after the preliminary application was submitted is not a change to the ordinances, policies, and standards adopted and in effect at the time that the preliminary application was submitted. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65400 of the Government Code proposed by AB 2345 and SB 1085 to be operative only if this bill and either or both AB 2345 and SB 1085 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65913.4 of the Government Code proposed by AB 831 to be operative only if this bill and AB 831 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) By imposing new requirements on local planning officials with respect to the annual report and the streamlined, ministerial approval process, as described above, the 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. (6) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.