California Environmental Quality Act: judicial streamlining: state of emergency: wildfire.

Senators Limón and Blakespear advance a measure to create a targeted, faster environmental-review pathway for wildfire-damaged recovery projects in areas where the Governor has declared a state of emergency, beginning January 1, 2027. The core change would require the lead agency to prepare the CEQA record of proceedings concurrently with the administrative review and to aim for resolution of any litigation concerning the CEQA documents within 270 calendar days, to the extent feasible.

Key mechanisms and details include: applicability to projects located in governor-declared wildfire emergency areas that involve maintaining, repairing, restoring, demolishing, or replacing damaged property or facilities, and that are not exempt from CEQA by specific exemptions or Governor’s orders; a record of proceedings prepared in the manner specified by existing CEQA procedures; the Judicial Council’s adoption of rules to implement the 270-day timeline; and a requirement that the applicant pay trial and appellate court costs in any related action, with potential appointment of a special master as provided by court rules. The provision also conditions applicability on consistency with local zoning and land-use ordinances and excludes projects proposed after the governor rescinds the emergency in the relevant area.

Scope, implementation, and fiscal considerations are defined by a few guardrails: the new performance timeline applies only to projects in areas with a wildfire-related emergency declared after January 1, 2023, and begins only when the project aligns with CEQA and local zoning, not to CEQA-exempt or executive-order-exempt cases; the measure is described as imposing a state-mandated local program, but includes a no-reimbursement clause under the state constitution, shifting mandated-cost considerations to local agencies and project applicants. The Judicial Council is tasked with setting implementing rules, and the provision contemplates the possibility of a special master to assist in expedited proceedings; no statewide appropriation is indicated for these changes.

Viewed in policy context, the bill narrows its focus to wildfire-damaged projects within governor-declared emergency areas, aiming to provide a defined, expedited dispute-resolution framework for CEQA challenges while preserving the standard CEQA record-preparation framework and local land-use alignment. It places the procedural burden on lead agencies to assemble records concurrently with the administrative process and shifts litigation costs to applicants, with the judiciary coordinating the timeline through rules of court. The measure’s design thus centers on balancing disaster-recovery timelines with environmental-review processes, under a tightly scoped, time-bound approach.