CEQA AB 436 (Chan). Allows a focused EIR to be prepared in parts of the City of Oakland for certain urban infill, multi-family, residential developments, or residential and commercial projects, or retail mixed-use developments with not more than 25% of the total floor area used as retail space. AB 1419 (Aroner). Exempts from CEQA the development in San Francisco of a temporary bus terminal for the Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District. AB 1532 (Pavley). Requires a lead agency to call at least one scoping meeting for a project of statewide, regional or area-wide significance. SB 244 (Speier). Extends the public review period to 120 days for the draft EIR on the San Francisco International Airport expansion. General Plans AB 1367 (Wiggins). Establishes a meet-and-confer process between school districts and local governments to address long-range school-siting plans. AB 1553 (Keeley). Requires the Office of Planning and Research to include environmental justice matters in its general plan guidelines. SB 520 (Chesbro). Requires general plan housing elements to consider the needs of disabled people. SB 932 (McPherson). Extends by six months the deadline for jurisdictions in the Association of Monterey Bay Area Governments to complete updated housing elements. The new deadline is December 31, 2002. The bill also extends by six months the deadline for all local governments not otherwise specified in statute to update their housing elements. That new deadline is June 30, 2003. Housing AB 8 (Cedillo). Increases the amount of per-unit assistance available under the Department of Housing and Community Development's Downtown Rebound Program. The bill also requires the units to be in a school attendance area where at least 50% of students qualify for free meals. Signed by the governor. AB 369 (Dutra). Allows courts to award attorneys' fees against local governments that violate the anti-NIMBY law. Developers or housing advocates are eligible for receiving attorneys' fees after winning a lawsuit. Signed by the governor. AB 807 (Salinas). Extends the Farmworker Housing Grant program to include seasonal, migrant housing. AB 1359 (Lowenthal). Merges four existing predevelopment loan programs. The consolidated program will provide loans for technical and financial assistance to local government agencies and nonprofit corporations for predevelopment expenses incurred in the production or rehabilitation of affordable housing in urban and rural areas. AB 1611 (Keeley). Authorizes the California Educational Facility Authority to sign agreements with nonprofit entities to finance housing construction for students, staff and faculty near UC, CSU, community college and participating private college campuses. Also: SB 1209 (Romero). Enables the Authority's power offer tax-exempt revenue bonds for construction of faculty housing owned by private colleges. SB 73 (Dunn). Increases the State Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program by $20 million to $70 million a year, and indexes the program for inflation. SB 784 (Torlakson). Establishes the Jobs-Housing Balance Program within HCD as an on-going program, and allows local governments to use grants for any purposes. SB 1098 (Alarcon) prohibits cities and counties from extending beyond 45 days a moratorium on housing projects that have large multi-family components. A city or county could extend the moratorium only if it makes specific findings based on substantial evidence that the moratorium was the only way to avoid significant, quantifiable health and safety impacts. Gov. Davis vetoed a similar bill last year. Natural Resources ABX2 27 (Lowenthal). Authorizes the State Lands Commission to execute a contract with the City of Long Beach and any city contractor to provide incentives to explore and develop gas reserves in the Long Beach tidelands. Signed by the governor. AB 104 (Nation). Allows boards of supervisors in nine Bay Area counties to levy a vehicle registration fee of up to $4 to fund open space purchases, improve water quality and restore wetlands. AB 134 (Kelley). Allows the Castaic Lake Water Agency, which sells water wholesale, to provide retail water service to a specific area. AB 1207 (Longville). Gives cities and counties until April 15, 2002, to enact ordinances governing the development of power-generating windmills in non-urbanized areas. If a city or county does not adopt rules, a landowner may build a windmill by right. The bill also places restrictions on how much a city or county can regulate windmills. Redevelopment AB 212 (Correa). Requires the City of Tustin to give 100 acres of the former Tustin Marine Corps base to the Santa Ana Unified and Rancho Santiago Community College school districts. Signed by the governor. (See Deals, Page 12.) AB 237 (Papan). Requires the final offer of a public entity that is in eminent domain proceedings to include compensation for loss of goodwill. The bill also sets up a process for mediating eminent domain disputes. AB 637 (Lowenthal). Makes a number of changes to housing requirements in redevelopment law. The bill eliminates the January 1 sunset date for the 15% inclusionary housing requirement, mandates that redevelopment agencies leverage their housing spending with private and commercial financing, and require that housing units provided by agencies remain affordable for up to 55 years. AB 1567 (Runner). Allows the Lancaster Redevelopment Agency to satisfy the inclusionary housing requirement by purchasing long-term affordability covenants on mobile home parks. SB 32 (Escutia). Is a three-part brownfields bill. First, it enables local governments to order the investigation and cleanup of idle parcels of less than 5 acres. Second, it requires Cal EPA to conduct a peer reviewing of "screening numbers," which are advisory figures that provide rough estimates of what level of cleanup might be required before redeveloping a property for a particular use. Third, it requires Cal EPA to publish information helping local officials and developers to understand the factors and procedures the Department of Toxic Substances Control and regional water boards use when ordering cleanups. Others AB 93 (Wayne) creates the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. The new nine-member, appointed entity will have exclusive authority to plan, build and operate regional airports in San Diego County. The bill removes the Port of San Diego and the San Diego Association of Governments from the process of planning a new airport to replace Lindbergh Field in San Diego. AB 330 (Reyes). Allows cities that annex land covered by a Williamson Act contract to avoid Williamson Act restrictions on development. Vetoed by the governor. AB 545 (Steinberg) requires the state, when leasing, purchasing or constructing state government office buildings, to consider the availability of public transit, proximity to affordable housing, pedestrian access to retail businesses, and the need for an area's economic revitalization. The bill gives priority to use of buildings with historic, architectural or cultural significance. It also requires state-owned office buildings, when feasible, to include ground-floor retail or other amenities to serve pedestrians. The governor vetoed a similar bill last year. AB 1171 (Dutra). Calls for the state to pay 40% of the cost of earthquake retrofits of Bay Area toll bridges — about $820 million. The bill also extends a $1 toll surcharge until enough money is collected. AB 1495 (Cox). Alters the procedures for revenue neutrality calculations when new cities are proposed, and sets up new ways to handle appeals for city incorporations. SB 975 (Alarcon). Extends prevailing wage requirements to developments that receive subsidies of almost any sort, including fee waivers and reimbursements.