(1) Existing law requires certain transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires each regional transportation plan to include a sustainable communities strategy prepared by each metropolitan planning organization in order to, among other things, identify areas within the region sufficient to house all the population of the region, including all economic segments of the population, over the course of the planning period of the regional transportation plan taking into account net migration into the region, population growth, household formation, and employment growth.

(2) Existing law requires each county and city to adopt a comprehensive, long-term general plan for the physical development of the county or city, which includes, among other mandatory elements, a housing element. Existing law requires, for the 4th and subsequent revision of the housing element, the Department of Housing and Community Development to determine the existing and projected need for housing for each region in a specified manner.

Existing law requires the department to meet and consult with the council of governments regarding the assumptions and methodologies to be used to determine each region’s housing needs and requires the council of governments to provide data assumptions from the council of governments’ projections, including specified data for the region, if available. As part of that requirement, existing law directs the council of governments to provide data assumptions regarding anticipated household growth associated with projected population increases.

This bill would require the Department of Finance to consider changes in enrollment levels at campuses of the University of California or the California State University in the region, as forecasted by the University of California and California State University pursuant to the provisions described below, when preparing the anticipated household growth associated with projected population increases.

Existing law requires each council of governments or delegate subregion, as applicable, to develop a proposed methodology for distributing the existing and projected regional housing need to cities, counties, and cities and counties within the region or within the subregion, as provided. Existing law requires, to the extent that sufficient data is available, each council of governments or delegate subregion, as applicable, in developing the methodology, to consider including several specified factors, including the housing needs generated by the presence of a private university or a campus of the California State University or the University of California within any member jurisdiction.

This bill would require each council of governments or delegate subregion, as applicable, in developing the proposed methodology, to also consider including the distribution of students of the above-described universities among jurisdictions within the region, and for a campus of the California State University or the University of California, the optimization of transit, pedestrian, and other nonvehicle trip efficiency by students to the campus, including off-campus facilities. The bill would request the Regents of the University of California, and require the Trustees of the California State University, to provide, no more than 6 months before the development of the proposed methodology for the 7th and each subsequent housing element cycle, except as specified, to each council of governments a forecast of changes in enrollment levels at its campuses, including off-campus facilities, within the region based on specified factors and to provide, upon request, trip and travel data.

(3) 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 the lead agency 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. Existing law makes the selection of a location for a particular campus of public higher education and the approval of a long-range development plan subject to CEQA and requires preparation of an EIR. Existing law provides that enrollment or changes in enrollment, by themselves, do not constitute a project for purposes of CEQA.

CEQA regulations require an EIR to describe a range of reasonable alternatives to the project, or to the location of the project, including a “no project” alternative analysis for the purpose of allowing decisionmakers to compare the impacts of approving the proposed project with the impacts of not approving the proposed project.

This bill would specify that the University of California and the California State University are not required to conduct a “no project” alternative analysis in an EIR, a supplemental EIR, or an addendum for a development project, for which the University of California or the California State University, respectively, is the lead agency, if specified conditions are met, including that the University of California or the California State University, respectively, has provided the forecast of changes in enrollment levels for purposes of developing the most recent methodology pursuant to the above-described provisions.

(4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 65584.01 of the Government Code proposed by SB 233, AB 650, and AB 1275 to be operative only if this bill and one, two, or all of the other bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

This bill would also incorporate additional changes to Section 65584.04 of the Government Code proposed by AB 650 and AB 1275 to be operative only if this bill and one or both of the other bills are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

(5) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.