Title
Title
Rules and Forms | CEQA Actions: Implementation of
Senate Bill 676 (Action Required)
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Summary
Summary
The Appellate Advisory Committee and the Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee recommend amending California Rules of Court governing the expedited resolution of actions and proceedings brought under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to implement Senate Bill 676 (Stats. 2025, ch. 550). The legislation provides for streamlined CEQA review of certain projects to “maintain, repair, restore, demolish, or replace property or facilities damaged or destroyed by wildfire.” (See Pub. Res. Code, § 21168.6.2(a).) In addition, the committees recommend additional rule changes to remove outdated material related to projects formerly eligible for streamlining and to make a minor technical change for consistency within the rules.
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Recommendation
Recommendation
To implement Senate Bill 676, the Appellate Advisory Committee and Civil and Small Claims Advisory Committee recommend that the Judicial Council, effective January 1, 2027:
1. Amend rules 3.2220 and 8.700 to add a definition for a new project type, designated “wildfire recovery project” and to specify that the streamlining rules apply to actions or proceedings challenging negative declarations and mitigated negative declarations for this project type.
2. Amend rule 3.2223, part of which identifies required contents of a petition, to add a reference to the newly enacted Public Resources Code section 21168.6.2 so that a petition would need to state that the project proponent provided notice to the lead agency that the project was proceeding under that code section.
3. Amend rules 3.2223, 3.2240, 8.702, 8.703, and 8.705, which relate to cost responsibility for streamlined CEQA proceedings, to incorporate the new wildfire recovery project type into these rules.
4. Amend rules 3.2200, 3.2220, 3.2221, and 8.702 to include the newly enacted Public Resources Code section 21168.6.2 in the lists of sections that provide for CEQA streamlining.
In addition, the committees recommend updates to the CEQA streamlining rules, including
repealing rules 3.2235-3.2237, to remove content related to projects that were formerly eligible
for streamlining. The Appellate Advisory Committee also recommends revising a chapter
heading in title 8 for consistency with the corresponding chapter heading in title 3.
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