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. 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. CEQA establishes administrative procedures for the review and certification of the EIR for a project and judicial review procedures for any action or proceeding brought to challenge the lead agency’s decision to certify the EIR or to grant project approvals.

This bill would establish streamlined procedures for the administrative and judicial review of the environmental review and approvals granted for an environmental leadership hospital campus project, defined by the bill as a construction project of a hospital campus in the City of Emeryville, under certain conditions. The bill would require the city council of the City of Emeryville, as the lead agency for the hospital campus project, to certify the project for the streamlined judicial review, as specified, if it finds the project will meet those conditions. The bill would require the project applicant of the environmental leadership hospital campus project to take certain actions in order for those specified procedures to apply to the project. The bill would require the Judicial Council, on or before July 1, 2026, to adopt rules of court establishing procedures requiring actions or proceedings seeking judicial review of the certification of an environmental impact report for an environmental leadership hospital campus project or the granting of any project approval, including any appeals to the court of appeal or the Supreme Court, to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 365 calendar days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. The bill would require the lead agency to concurrently prepare the record of proceedings with the environmental review, as provided.

This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Emeryville.