Chapter 1:  Policy

 

§ 21000. Legislative intent

The Legislature finds and declares as follows:

(a) The maintenance of a quality environment for the people of

this state now and in the future is a matter of statewide concern.

(b) It is necessary to provide a high-quality environment that at

all times is healthful and pleasing to the senses and intellect of

man.

(c) There is a need to understand the relationship between the

maintenance of high-quality ecological systems and the general

welfare of the people of the state, including their enjoyment of the

natural resources of the state.

(d) The capacity of the environment is limited, and it is the

intent of the Legislature that the government of the state take

immediate steps to identify any critical thresholds for the health

and safety of the people of the state and take all coordinated

actions necessary to prevent such thresholds being reached.

(e) Every citizen has a responsibility to contribute to the

preservation and enhancement of the environment.

(f) The interrelationship of policies and practices in the

management of natural resources and waste disposal requires

systematic and concerted efforts by public and private interests to

enhance environmental quality and to control environmental pollution.

(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that all agencies of the

state government which regulate activities of private individuals,

corporations, and public agencies which are found to affect the

quality of the environment, shall regulate such activities so that

major consideration is given to preventing environmental damage,

while providing a decent home and satisfying living environment for

every Californian.

§ 21001. Additional legislative intent

The Legislature further finds and declares that it is the policy of 

the state to:

(a) Develop and maintain a high-quality environment now and in the

future, and take all action necessary to protect, rehabilitate, and

enhance the environmental quality of the state.

(b) Take all action necessary to provide the people of this state

with clean air and water, enjoyment of aesthetic, natural, scenic,

and historic environmental qualities, and freedom from excessive

noise.

(c) Prevent the elimination of fish or wildlife species due to man's

activities, insure that fish and wildlife populations do not drop

below self-prepetuating levels, and preserve for future generations

representations of all plant and animal communities and examples 

of the major periods of California history.

(d) Ensure that the long-term protection of the environment,

consistent with the provision of a decent home and suitable living

environment for every Californian, shall be the guiding criterion in

public decisions.

(e) Create and maintain conditions under which man and nature 

can exist in productive harmony to fulfill the social and economic

requirements of present and future generations.

(f) Require governmental agencies at all levels to develop

standards and procedures necessary to protect environmental 

quality.

(g) Require governmental agencies at all levels to consider

qualitative factors as well as economic and technical factors and

long-term benefits and costs, in addition to short-term benefits and

costs and to consider alternatives to proposed actions affecting the

environment.

§ 21001.1. Review of public agency projects

The Legislature further finds and declares that it is the policy of the 

state that projects to be carried out by public agencies be subject to 

the same level of review and consideration under this division as 

that of private projects required to be approved by public agencies.

§ 21002. Approval of projects; feasible alternative or 

mitigation measures

The Legislature finds and declares that it is the policy of the state 

that public agencies should not approve projects as proposed if 

there are feasible alternatives or feasible mitigation measures 

available which would substantially lessen the significant 

environmental effects of such projects, and that the procedures 

required by this division are intended to assist public agencies 

insystematically identifying both the significant effects of proposed 

projects and the feasible alternatives or feasible mitigation 

measures which will avoid or substantially lessen such significant 

effects.  The Legislature further finds and declares that in the event 

specific economic, social, or other conditions make infeasible such 

project alternatives or such mitigation measures, individualprojects 

may be approved in spite of one or more significant effects thereof.

§ 21002.1. Use of environmental impact reports; policy

In order to achieve the objectives set forth in Section

21002, the Legislature hereby finds and declares that the following

policy shall apply to the use of environmental impact reports

prepared pursuant to this division:

(a) The purpose of an environmental impact report is to identify

the significant effects on the environment of a project, to identify

alternatives to the project, and to indicate the manner in which

those significant effects can be mitigated or avoided.

(b) Each public agency shall mitigate or avoid the significant

effects on the environment of projects that it carries out or

approves whenever it is feasible to do so.

(c) If economic, social, or other conditions make it infeasible to

mitigate one or more significant effects on the environment of a

project, the project may nonetheless be carried out or approved at

the discretion of a public agency if the project is otherwise

permissible under applicable laws and regulations.

(d) In applying the policies of subdivisions (b) and (c) to

individual projects, the responsibility of the lead agency shall

differ from that of a responsible agency.  The lead agency shall be

responsible for considering the effects, both individual and

collective, of all activities involved in a project.  A responsible

agency shall be responsible for considering only the effects of 

those activities involved in a project which it is required by law to

carry out or approve.  This subdivision applies only to decisions by

a public agency to carry out or approve a project and does not

otherwise affect the scope of the comments that the public agencypublic agency may

wish to make pursuant to Section 21104 or 21153.

(e) To provide more meaningful public disclosure, reduce the time

and cost required to prepare an environmental impact report, and

focus on potentially significant effects on the environment of a

proposed project, lead agencies shall, in accordance with Section

21100, focus the discussion in the environmental impact report on

those potential effects on the environment of a proposed project

which the lead agency has determined are or may be significant.  

Lead agencies may limit discussion on other effects to a brief

explanation as to why those effects are not potentially significant.

§ 21003. Planning and environmental review procedures; 

documents; reports; data base; administration of process

The Legislature further finds and declares that it is the policy of the 

state that:

(a) Local agencies integrate the requirements of this division

with planning and environmental review procedures otherwise 

required by law or by local practice so that all those procedures, to

 the maximum feasible extent, run concurrently, rather than

 consecutively.

(b) Documents prepared pursuant to this division be organized and

written in a manner that will be meaningful and useful to decisionmakers 

and to the public.

(c) Environmental impact reports omit unnecessary descriptions of

projects and emphasize feasible mitigation measures and feasible

alternatives to projects.

(d) Information developed in individual environmental impact

reports be incorporated into a data base which can be used to 

reduce delay and duplication in preparation of subsequent environmental 

impact reports.

(e) Information developed in environmental impact reports and

negative declarations be incorporated into a data base which may

 be used to make subsequent or supplemental environmental

 determinations.

(f) All persons and public agencies involved in the environmental

review process be responsible for carrying out the process in the

most efficient, expeditious manner in order to conserve the 

available financial, governmental, physical, and social resources 

with the objective that those resources may be better applied 

toward the mitigation of actual significant effects on the 

environment.

§ 21003.1. Environmental effects of projects; comments from 

public and public agencies to lead agencies; availability of 

information

The Legislature further finds and declares it is the policy of the state 

that:

(a) Comments from the public and public agencies on the

environmental effects of a project shall be made to lead agencies 

as soon as possible in the review of environmental documents, 

including, but not limited to, draft environmental impact reports and 

negative declarations, in order to allow the lead agencies to 

identify, at the earliest possible time in the environmental review 

process, potential significant effects of a project, alternatives, and

mitigation measures which would substantially reduce the effects.

(b) Information relevant to the significant effects of a project,

alternatives, and mitigation measures which substantially reduce 

the effects shall be made available as soon as possible by lead 

agencies, other public agencies, and interested persons and 

organizations.

(c) Nothing in subdivisions (a) or (b) reduces or otherwise limits

public review or comment periods currently prescribed either by

statute or in guidelines prepared and adopted pursuant to Section

21083 for environmental documents, including, but not limited to,

draft environmental impact reports and negative declarations.

§ 21004. Mitigating or avoiding a significant effect; powers 

of public agency

In mitigating or avoiding a significant effect of a project on the 

environment, a public agency may exercise only those express or 

implied powers provided by law other than this division.  However, 

a public agency may use discretionary powers provided by such 

other law for the purpose of mitigating or avoiding a significant 

effect on the environment subject to the express or implied 

constraints or limitations that may be provided by law.

§ 21005. Information disclosure provisions; noncompliance; 

presumption; findings

(a) The Legislature finds and declares that it is the policy

of the state that noncompliance with the information disclosure

provisions of this division which precludes relevant information from

being presented to the public agency, or noncompliance with

substantive requirements of this division, may constitute a

prejudicial abuse of discretion within the meaning of Sections 

21168 and 21168.5, regardless of whether a different outcome 

would have resulted if the public agency had complied with those 

provisions.

(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that, in undertaking judicial 

review pursuant to Sections 21168 and 21168.5, courts shall 

continue to follow the established principle that there is no  

presumption that error is prejudicial.

(c) It is further the intent of the Legislature that any court,

which finds, or, in the process of reviewing a previous court

finding, finds, that a public agency has taken an action without

compliance with this division, shall specifically address each of the

alleged grounds for noncompliance.

§ 21006. Issuance of permits, licenses, certificates or

other entitlements; waivers of sovereign

The Legislature finds and declares that this division is an  

integral part of any public agency's decisionmaking process, 

including, but not limited to, the issuance of permits, licenses, 

certificates, or other entitlements required for activities 

undertaken pursuant to federal statutes containing specific waivers 

of sovereign immunity.