2013 Legislative Highlights

• Jurisdiction: California,United States
• Author: By Robert M. McCormick
• Publication year: 2014
• Citation: Vol. 32 No. 1

2013 Legislative Highlights

By Robert M. McCormick

©2014 All Rights Reserved.

I. INTRODUCTION:

The 2013 legislative session was marked by a new dynamic that resulted from a dramatic increase in state revenues and Democratic supermajorities in both houses of the California Legislature. One result of this new dynamic was the absence of a budget crisis in 2013. Another effect of this new dynamic was that, in 2013 there were great expectations for sweeping reforms. Several high profile issues that had not been resolved in 2012 were continued into 2013, with the expectation that 2013 would be the year when significant action would be taken by the Democratic supermajority. These carry-over issues included efforts: to reform Proposition 13 via some form of split-roll tax program that would increase property taxes on commercial properties; to reform or modernize the California Environmental Quality Act ("CEQA") to reduce permitting and litigation delays; and to revive or develop an alternative to replace redevelopment funding that had been eliminated in 2011. All of these high expectations remained in large part unfulfilled as broad reforms in these areas failed to be enacted in 2013. There were, however, some modest, but nevertheless important, actions taken by the Legislature in 2013 with respect to CEQA reform for infill projects and with respect to the revival of some municipal powers, previously held by disbanded redevelopment agencies, for the cleanup of blighted properties. Both of these actions, which are further described in this article, should have the effect of encouraging development and investment in urban areas, and may even be the starting point for bigger reform efforts in 2014. We can also expect that Proposition 13 reform efforts will be renewed in 2014, and that water, or more correctly the lack thereof, will be a central topic of discussion and legislation, and which may overshadow these other issues in 2014.

Another legislative program that was carried over from 2012 was the completion of the statutory reform of the Davis-Stirling Common Interest Development Act. The new legislation enacted in 2013 included the latest installment of statutory reform proposals from the California Law Revision Commission, which in 2010, put forward a comprehensive revision and reorganization of the statutory provisions governing mechanics' liens. In 2012, the Commission put forward a comprehensive recasting of the statutory provisions governing residential common interest developments. In 2013, the Commission focused on commercial and industrial common interest developments and completed their review of that body of law.

The following legislative review selectively focuses on those new laws believed to be of most significance for real property law practitioners, but practically cannot cover every real property-related law enacted in 2013. This article also provides only summary references to the text of the bills selected for comment. Copies of the actual chaptered versions that include specific references to the statutory provisions that are modified, deleted, or added should always be reviewed for details and are available from the Legislative Counsel at http://www.leginfo.ca.gov under "Session 2013-2014 CURRENT." Unless otherwise noted, all bills covered in this review are operative January 1, 2014.

II. CEQA REFORM

Over the last few years there have been a series of efforts made in the California Legislature to reform the California Environmental Quality Act. In 2012, the legislative session ended with a dramatic but short lived attempt lead by then Senator Michael Rubio (D-East Bakersfield) to overhaul and "modernize" CEQA. In 2013, despite the departure of former Senator Rubio, CEQA reform was again a major topic of legislation, and the 2013 legislative session included the introduction of several different bills that addressed various aspects of CEQA reform. Initially the "modernization" effort was revived in a more limited form than that proposed by Rubio with the introduction by Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of SB 731. However, SB 731 was tabled in the final week of the legislative session, and Senator Steinberg instead channeled his reform efforts into another bill, SB 743, which had initially only been intended to expedite a new basketball arena in downtown Sacramento. At the last minute, SB 743 was expanded to include some broader reforms to the CEQA process intended to benefit other in-fill development projects. In general, all of these efforts to reform CEQA in 2013 fell short of early expectations of pro-business reform advocates who were seeking more dramatic measures to streamline and modernize CEQA to reduce permitting and litigation delays. The following discussion reviews SB 743, as well as some of the other more important bills enacted into law in 2013 that make limited and incremental changes to CEQA.

A. SB 743 (Steinberg) Environmental quality: Transit-Oriented Infill Projects, Judicial Review Streamlining for Environmental Leadership Development Projects, and Entertainment and Sports Center in the City of Sacramento.

An act to amend Sections 65088.1 and 65088.4 of the Government Code, and to amend Sections 21181, 21183, 21186, 21187, 21189.1, and 21189.3 of, to add Section 21155.4 to, to add Chapter 2.7 (commencing with Section 21099) to Division 13 of, to Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.

SB 743 was initially intended only to expedite the construction of a new basketball arena in Sacramento. However, at the end of the legislative session, SB 743 also became a vehicle to implement some general reforms to the CEQA process, but only for the benefit of certain types of infill development or specially designated areas. SB 743 does not, therefore, represent a comprehensive reform or modernization of CEQA, and instead takes the approach of enacting reforms only to the extent needed to expedite or foster those types of developments that are in favor with the legislature, e.g., transit oriented infill developments or major sports venue developments. The following are some of the more significant changes enacted by SB 743:

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• Adds provisions to expedite litigation challenging the new Sacramento basketball arena and also to expedite litigation challenging environmental leadership projects certified by the Governor under the "Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011" (AB 900), which provided for the expedited judicial review of any CEQA challenges to a project that has been certified by the governor as an "environmental leadership development project."
• Establishes a new statutory exemption that provides that aesthetic and parking impacts of a residential, mixed-use residential, or employment center project on an infill site within a transit priority area, as these terms are defined in the statute, will not be considered significant impacts on the environment.
• Limits the applicability of traffic level of service standards in in-fill opportunity zones that have been designated by local governments. There are few such zones now in existence.
• Requires the Office of Planning and Research to prepare new CEQA guidelines on traffic standards, both in general and within transit priority areas, which are areas within one-half mile of a major transit stop. The new standards are to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation network, and a diversity of land uses.
• Establishes a new CEQA exemption for residential, employment center, or mixed-use development projects that are located in transit priority areas and consistent with both a specific plan and adopted sustainable communities policies.

While these changes do not represent the comprehensive type of reform sought by the development community to foster new development, the implementation of SB 743 will certainly be of interest to those involved in or contemplating in-fill developments.

B. AB 417 (Frazier) Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act: bicycle transportation plan.

Amends Section 21080.20.5 of, and adds and repeals Section 21080.20 of, the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality

In 2012, the Legislature enacted a new CEQA exemption for bicycle lane restriping pursuant to adopted bicycle plans (AB 2245, Smyth). In 2013, the Legislature followed up on that legislation with AB 417, which establishes a CEQA exemption for the approval of a bicycle transportation plan for an urbanized area for restriping of streets and highways, bicycle parking and storage, signal timing, and related signage. The exemption sunsets on January 1, 2018.

C. SB 4 (Pavley) Oil and gas: well stimulation.

Amends Sections 3213, 3215, 3236.5, and 3401 of, and adds Article 3 (commencing with Section 3150) to Chapter 1 of Division 3 of, the Public Resources Code, and adds Section 10783 to the Water Code,...