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<ns0:Id>20250AB__205998AMD</ns0:Id>
<ns0:VersionNum>98</ns0:VersionNum>
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<ns0:Action>
<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-02-18</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:ActionText>AMENDED_ASSEMBLY</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2026-03-19</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
<ns0:SessionNum>0</ns0:SessionNum>
<ns0:MeasureType>AB</ns0:MeasureType>
<ns0:MeasureNum>2059</ns0:MeasureNum>
<ns0:MeasureState>AMD</ns0:MeasureState>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Wilson</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:AuthorText authorType="COAUTHOR_ORIGINATING">(Coauthors: Assembly Members Aguiar-Curry, Carrillo, and Hoover)</ns0:AuthorText>
<ns0:Authors>
<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>LEAD_AUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Wilson</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Aguiar-Curry</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Carrillo</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Legislator>
<ns0:Contribution>COAUTHOR</ns0:Contribution>
<ns0:House>ASSEMBLY</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Hoover</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to add Section 21081.4 to the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.</ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>environmental quality</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>California Environmental Quality Act: transportation impacts: vehicle miles traveled: mitigation.</ns0:Subject>
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<html:p>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 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.</html:p>
<html:p>CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and
Climate Innovation to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption proposed revisions to the CEQA implementation guidelines to establish criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects within transit priority areas, and requires the criteria to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation networks, and a diversity of land uses. CEQA requires the office to recommend potential metrics, including, among other metrics, vehicle miles traveled, to measure these transportation impacts.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would, except as provided, specify that the total cost of mitigation measures required to address a significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle miles traveled metric is not to exceed 5% of
the estimated total project costs. The bill would specify that mitigation measures to address a significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle miles traveled metric that exceed the 5% limit are deemed to be economically infeasible for the purposes of CEQA. Because the bill would impose additional duties on a lead agency in its analysis of mitigated measures required to address significant transportation impacts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.</html:p>
<html:p>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.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.</html:p>
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<ns0:VoteRequired>MAJORITY</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
<ns0:LocalProgram>YES</ns0:LocalProgram>
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<ns0:ImmediateEffect>NO</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
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<ns0:Urgency>NO</ns0:Urgency>
<ns0:TaxLevy>NO</ns0:TaxLevy>
<ns0:Election>NO</ns0:Election>
<ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>NO</ns0:UsualCurrentExpenses>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
<ns0:BillSection id="id_B123AB97-080B-463E-A8BA-FAE614F3D835">
<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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Section 21081.4 is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Public Resources Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:Num>21081.4.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>
(a)
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For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
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<html:p>
(1)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
“Demonstrated evacuation need” means a project is necessary to increase the capacity and speed of traffic flow during emergency evacuations, to implement physical or operational improvements to reduce fatalities and injuries during a disaster, to provide safe evacuation options for individuals with access or functional needs, to ensure a transportation facility remains functional during disasters, or to provide alternative routes, particularly in rural or high-vulnerability areas.
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<html:p>
(2)
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“Demonstrated safety need” means a project is necessary to reduce the number and severity of collisions, to upgrade
infrastructure to meet current, safer design standards, or to improve safety for all users, including specific risks to vulnerable road users.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(3)
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“Estimated total project cost” means the total capital construction cost of the transportation project, as estimated for purposes of the environmental review document prepared pursuant to this division.
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<html:p>
(4)
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“Rural county” means a county with a population of less than 200,000 persons, as determined by the most recent federal decennial census or the most recent population estimates published by the Department of Finance.
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<html:p>
(5)
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“Transportation project” means a project undertaken by a public agency that consists of the planning, design, construction, reconstruction, rehabilitation, improvement, expansion, or operation of a highway, road, bridge, transit facility, rail facility,
bicycle or pedestrian facility, or other public transportation infrastructure.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
(1)
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Notwithstanding any other law, for a transportation project located within a rural county, the total cost of mitigation measures required to address a significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle miles traveled metric developed pursuant to Section 21099 shall not exceed 5 percent of the estimated total project cost.
</html:p>
<html:p>
(2)
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Any mitigation measure required to mitigated a significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle miles traveled metric developed pursuant to Section 21099 that exceeds the limitation established in paragraph (1) shall be deemed economically infeasible for purposes of this division.
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<html:p>
(c)
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Subdivision (b) does not apply to a transportation project that adds one or
more general purpose lanes to the state highway system unless there is a demonstrated safety or evacuation need for the project.
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(d)
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This section does not prohibit a lead agency from approving a project with significant and unavoidable impacts pursuant to Section 21081, if the agency adopts a statement of overriding considerations pursuant to Section 21081 and subdivision (b) of Section 15093 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII
<html:span class="ThinSpace"/>
B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.
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