The Case for Continuing Qualified CEQA Exemptions with SB 922 (Wiener)
By Jacob Herson
Managing Editor
Transit California
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was passed in 1970, following the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), with more stringent requirements for the state. CEQA requires state and local agencies to evaluate and disclose the significant environmental impacts of projects they approve and to avoid or mitigate those impacts if possible. CEQA is a critically important law for protecting the environment from projects such as refineries that pollute natural resources and jeopardize health, especially for historically marginalized and underserved populations.
The law has come under increasing criticism, however, as it is has been abused to torpedo environmentally sustainable projects for reasons that have nothing to do with the environment or social equity. Each step of the CEQA process is subject to appeals and lawsuits. A single lawsuit can take three to four years and millions of dollars to resolve, while appeals regularly last six months.
One 2015 study by Holland & Knight found the following:
- Almost half of CEQA lawsuits target publicly funded projects;
- Transit is the most frequently targeted type of infrastructure project;
- Renewable energy is the most frequently targeted type of industrial/utility project;
- Housing (especially higher-density housing) is the most frequently targeted type of private-sector project;
- Infill development (as opposed to greenfield) accounts for 80 percent of CEQA challenges;
- 64 percent of challenges come from individuals or associations with no history of environmental advocacy.
Part of the problem is that the legislation is 50 years old. “CEQA is not climate law,” explains State Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). “It’s a very outdated 1960s/70s environmental law from back when the environmental movement was dominated by the belief that people are pollution and population growth is our main environmental problem. We now know that’s not the problem. The problem is carbon emissions.” Transportation accounts for 40 percent of California’s GHG emissions.
Wiener continued: “We see CEQA unfortunately being misused to undermine environmentally sustainable projects, whether it’s putting more student housing on campus, or creating a bike lane, or a bus only lane, a light rail, or pedestrian infrastructure.”
To that end, Senator Wiener introduced SB 288, which the California State Legislature passed and Governor Newsom signed into law in 2020. The law expanded statutory exemptions from CEQA for specified transportation projects. Not only were these projects significantly accelerated, but CEQA appeals no longer applied. California agencies have launched 15 projects under SB 288. The legislation sunsets on January 1, 2023, however, jeopardizing access to its streamlining provisions for projects in the early planning stages and closing the door on projects on the horizon. Senator Wiener therefore introduced SB 922 on February 7, 2022 to extend and expand upon the previous legislation.
What SB 922 Does
SB 922 eliminates the sunset date in SB 288. It expands the projects that qualify for exemptions to include those that do the following:
- Make streets safer for walking and biking;
- Speed up bus service on streets;
- Improve bus service on highways;
- Expand carpooling options;
- Build new, or modernize light rail stations;
- Support parking policies that reduce single-occupancy vehicle trips and congestion;
- Improve wayfinding for people using transit, biking, or walking.
The bill prevents exemptions from being misapplied by requiring that projects also:
- Must be located in an existing public right of way;
- Must not add new auto capacity;
- Must not demolish affordable housing;
- Must use a skilled and trained workforce or have a project labor agreement in place.
Furthermore, for projects estimated to cost over $100 million, the lead agency or project sponsor must also:
- Expand public participation requirements so engagement occurs early in a project and when input can be most meaningful;
- Complete a project business case to evaluate benefits and costs and enable communities to shape the project early in the planning and alternatives development process;
- Complete a racial equity analysis and suggest mitigations to address any disproportionate impacts.
Why We Need It 
Simply put, California cannot meet its climate goals without this legislation.
Senator Wiener told Transit California, “We also need a lot more of these projects as a priority to make it easier for people to get around by public transit and make it easier and safer for people to bike and walk in their communities. SB 922 will continue to allow us to make those improvements. In addition, we are finally seeing increased investment in transit from the federal infrastructure package but also from state, local, and regional investments, and we need to get that money on the ground quickly. It’s very frustrating if you have the money but you have to spend years doing environmental review for a project that we know will reduce carbon emissions.”
The bill is co-sponsored by the California Transit Association, SPUR, the Bay Area Council, and the Silicon Valley Leadership Group (SVLG), and the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Authority.
“In just one year, we've seen SB 288 expedite the delivery of 15 climate-friendly transportation investments, such as slow streets programs, bicycle and pedestrian safety improvements, and transit priority treatments that speed up bus service,” said Laura Tolkoff, Transportation Policy Director for SPUR. “These are small-scale, common-sense projects that are saving lives, creating a sense of community, and making transit better—and that probably would still be unbuilt without SB 288. The climate emergency demands that we double-down on transit and sustainable transportation.”
Tolkoff emphasized the environmental justice aspect of the legislation: “Under SB 288, lead agencies must also involve communities early in the decision-making process. These requirements improve the public planning process by surfacing environmental justice concerns to reduce harms and maximize benefits for historically marginalized populations. SB 922 adds a requirement that for some projects over $100 million that will have a maximum of 15-minute peak headways and are partially or wholly in areas at risk of displacement. This gives project sponsors, cities, advocates, and communities more information about how to avoid and mitigate displacement risks.”
Gwendolyn Litvak, Senior Vice President, Public Policy, at Bay Area Council told Transit California, “We’ve seen counties use the exemption to create safe streets for people to recreate during COVID-19. Despite people beginning to return to the office, the quick-build and safety projects implemented over the past two years show how much COVID has changed the way we all live and the need to change our built environment. This exemption is critically needed now to help the state make the most of the federal infrastructure dollars available from the IIJA. Transportation is the largest share, and still growing, of California’s greenhouse gas emissions. There is federal funding available to help our transit agencies convert to zero-emissions fleets and facilities. This bill will ensure agencies that receive federal support can convert their fleets and facilities as soon as possible—and help address the urgent threat of climate change.” 
Jason Baker, Senior Vice President, Transportation, Health and Housing, for SVLG, said, “SB 288 was intended to help projects that will help the environment, not hurt it. The projects it has actually been used for—electric vehicle charging infrastructure for zero-emission buses, bicycle and pedestrian projects, bus rapid transit lanes—are exactly the kind of projects envisioned by SB 288. SB 288 has been a success so far in the very short time (just over a year) it has been law. But it expires at the end of 2022. The only projects that could be completed were ones that were relatively far along and that already had funding. Even with streamlining, transportation projects take time, planning, and funding. Extending the law will mean agencies can plan better and count on having the streamlining benefits available not just for projects they have ready today, but for projects they want to build well into the future.
“Transit everywhere is at a pivotal moment, and Silicon Valley is at the heart of the crisis, with the rise of hybrid and remote work meaning we need to work harder than ever to attract and retain riders to transit. Building more projects that make transit, walking, and biking more convenient and safer—and building them in some cases in months instead of years—is exactly what we need to be doing right now.
“We can’t meet our climate goals without robust, successful public transit and a lot more biking, walking, scootering—all of it. Without an extension of SB 288, we risk losing riders, and we risk going backward on some of the gains we made in biking and walking as people started resuming or discovering the benefits of these zero-emissions transportation activities during the pandemic. If we make it easy and fast for people to get out of their cars and walk, bike, and ride the bus or train, they will do it. The time to go big and bold to build many more common-sense transit and active transportation projects is now. We at SVLG are proud to co-sponsor SB 922, which does exactly that.”
SB 288 Project Case Studies
SFMTA Bayview Quick-Build Project
The Bayview Community-Based Transportation Plan emerged as the culmination of two years of collaboration and partnership between the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the Bayview community to establish clear action priorities to improve transportation in the neighborhood. SFMTA recognizes the long history of past racist policies that have led to disinvestment in this community, and seeks to rectify these injustices. SB 288 has enabled SFMTA to implement two Bayview Quick-Build projects from the plan.
One project was traffic calming improvements, including a bicycle and pedestrian lane. The project corridor along Evans Avenue, Hunters Point Boulevard, and Innes Avenue is on the Vision Zero High-Injury Network: the 13% of city streets that account for 75% of severe and fatal traffic injuries. Over the past five years at this location, 20 collisions resulted in 32 injuries and one death. Many of these crashes were caused by unsafe speeds, turns, and lane changes.
Preliminary findings show that following implementation of this quick-build, speeds decreased by 16% or a reduction of over 5 MPH while pedestrian volumes increased by 10% and bicycle volumes remained the same. Concrete barriers were implemented to calm traffic and protect pedestrians and bicyclists from fast-moving cars and trucks. SFMTA worked with Community Based Organizations to recruit and fund six artists to beautify the barriers with their art and celebrate the history and culture of the Bayview community.
The India Basin EIR had identified cumulative impacts for transit delay from street changes in Bayview, so without SB 288, the Bayview Quick-Build Project would have been difficult to exempt and would have resulted in a longer project timeline. SFMTA would like to rely on SB 922 to implement more Vision Zero Quick-Build projects around the city.
SFMTA 19 Polk and 27 Bryant Transit Lanes
SB 288 has allowed SFMTA to extend some of its Transportation Recovery Projects, such as the 19 Polk and 27 Bryant Transit Lanes. The 19 Polk connects many neighborhoods, including several identified in the SFMTA Service Equity Strategy, such as Bayview, Tenderloin, South of Market (SoMa), and the Potrero HOPE SF residential area. The 27 Bryant also serves several neighborhoods identified in the SFMTA Service Equity Strategy, such as the Mission District, Tenderloin, and SoMa.
As part of SFMTA’s response to the pandemic, the Temporary Emergency Transit Lanes Program was created to improve speed and reliability for transit vehicles and protect essential trips. In SoMa, transit vehicles shared general traffic lanes on the 7th and 8th Street one-way couplet, which caused frequent delays for transit riders because these streets are often congested with traffic traveling to and from the Interstate 80 freeway ramps. To address this, temporary transit-only lanes were implemented on 7th and 8th Streets.
Project improvements advanced equity by benefiting 19 Polk riders, 40% of whom have household incomes under $35,000 and 58% of whom are people of color. 19 Polk travel times decreased compared to pre-COVID conditions, and the transit lanes helped further decrease or preserve travel times as traffic increased in 2020 and 2021.
SB 288 allowed SFMTA to quickly and efficiently make these temporary transit lanes permanent. Otherwise, they would have been removed within 120 days after the City’s COVID-19 Local Emergency Proclamation was lifted, which would likely have resulted in increased transit travel time and decreased reliability.
MOVE Culver City Downtown Corridor
The Downtown Corridor phase of the MOVE Culver City project created 2.6 miles of dedicated and separated as well as shared bus and bike lanes, connecting Downtown Culver City and Culver City’s Arts District with the Metro E Line Light Rail Culver City Station. The project also added micromobility services and a new Downtown Circulator service. With multiple mobility options providing the first/last-mile service to and from the light rail station, the project provides bus riders, cyclists, and emergency vehicles a safer, more reliable, and more efficient means of travel to key destinations and regional transit connections. The project will encourage people to get out of single-occupancy vehicles into more sustainable and healthy modes of travel.
Without the SB 288 exemption, the City would have been required to conduct an initial study and likely issue a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration. This would have added between six and twelve months to the project timeline and increased the project budget by up to $100,000. This would also have prevented the City from taking advantage of the temporary reduction in traffic as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic to conduct construction activities with minimal disruption to daily travel.
With SB 922, the City will be able to continue with corridors 2 and 3 of the MOVE Culver City project on its current schedule and at minimal cost. Without SB 922, the City would be required to conduct the initial study and would need to seek additional funding for preliminary design, which would delay the project for an indeterminate period, preventing Culver City residents and Culver CityBus riders from reaping the benefits of faster, more efficient travel at a crucial period when large employers are beginning to return to work. SB 922 would also allow the City to speed up the implementation of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Action Plan, a Council-adopted document that proposes 22 miles of new and upgraded bike facilities to create a contiguous network of safe, comfortable active transportation corridors.