CEQA GUIDELINES
California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Division 6, Chapter 3,

Article 20. Definitions. (Section 15350-15387)
-Section 15350. General.
-Section 15351. Applicant.
-Section 15352. Approval.
-Section 15353. CEQA.
-Section 15354. Categorical Exemption.
-Section 15355. Cumulative Impacts.
-Section 15356. Decision-Making Body.
-Section 15357. Discretionary Project.
-Section 15358. Effects.
-Section 15359. Emergency.
-Section 15360. Environment.
-Section 15361. Environmental Documents.
-Section 15362. EIR –Environmental Impact Report.
-Section 15363. EIS –Environmental Impact Statement.
-Section 15364. Feasible.
-Section 15365. Initial Study.
-Section 15366. Jurisdiction by Law.
-Section 15367. Lead Agency.
-Section 15368. Local Agency.
-Section 15369. Ministerial.
-Section 15369.5. Mitigated Negative Declaration.
-Section 15370. Mitigation.
-Section 15371. Negative Declaration.
-Section 15372. Notice of Completion.
-Section 15373. Notice of Determination.
-Section 15374. Notice of Exemption.
-Section 15375. Notice of Preparation.
-Section 15376. Person.
-Section 15377. Private Project.
-Section 15378. Project.
-Section 15379. Public Agency.
-Section 15380. Endangered, Rare, or Threatened Species.
-Section 15381. Responsible Agency.
-Section 15382. Significant Effect on the Environment.
-Section 15383. State Agency.
-Section 15384. Substantial Evidence.
-Section 15385. Tiering.
-Section 15386. Trustee Agency.
-Section 15387. Urbanized Area.

Section 15350. General.
The definitions contained in this article apply to terms used throughout the guidelines unless a term is otherwise defined in a particular section.
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Section 15351. Applicant.
"Applicant" means a person who proposes to carry out a project which needs a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use or financial assistance from one or more public agencies when that person applies for the governmental approval or assistance.
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Section 15352. Approval.
(a) "Approval" means the decision by a public agency which commits the agency to a definite course of action in regard to a project intended to be carried out by any person. The exact date of approval of any project is a matter determined by each public agency according to its rules, regulations, and ordinances. Legislative action in regard to a project often constitutes approval.

(b) With private projects, approval occurs upon the earliest commitment to issue or the issuance by the public agency of a discretionary contract, grant, subsidy, loan, or other form of financial assistance, lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use of the project.
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Section 15353. CEQA.
"CEQA" means the California Environmental Quality Act, California Public Resources Code Sections 21000 et seq.
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Section 15354. Categorical Exemption.
"Categorical exemption" means an exemption from CEQA for a class of projects based on a finding by the Secretary for Resources that the class of projects does not have a significant effect on the environment.
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Section 15355. Cumulative Impacts.
"Cumulative impacts" refer to two or more individual effects which, when considered together, are considerable or which compound or increase other environmental impacts.
(a) The individual effects may be changes resulting from a single project or a number of separate projects.

(b) The cumulative impact from several projects is the change in the environment which results from the incremental impact of the project when added to other closely related past, present, and reasonably foreseeable probable future projects. Cumulative impacts can result from individually minor but collectively significant projects taking place over a period of time.
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Section 15356. Decision-Making Body.
"Decision-making body" means any person or group of people within a public agency permitted by law to approve or disapprove the project at issue.
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Section 15357. Discretionary Project.
"Discretionary project" means a project which requires the exercise of judgment or deliberation when the public agency or body decides to approve or disapprove a particular activity, as distinguished from situations where the public agency or body merely has to determine whether there has been conformity with applicable statutes, ordinances, or regulations. A timber harvesting plan submitted to the State Forester for approval under the requirements of the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (Pub. Res. Code Sections 4511 et seq.) constitutes a discretionary project within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act. Section 21065(c).
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Section 15358. Effects.
"Effects" and "impacts" as used in these guidelines are synonymous.
(a) Effects include:

(1) Direct or primary effects which are caused by the project and occur at the same time and place.

(2) Indirect or secondary effects which are caused by the project and are later in time or farther removed in distance, but are still reasonably foreseeable. Indirect or secondary effects may include growth-inducing effects and other effects related to induced changes in the pattern of land use, population density, or growth rate, and related effects on air and water and other natural systems, including ecosystems.

(b) Effects analyzed under CEQA must be related to a physical change.
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Section 15359. Emergency.
"Emergency" means a sudden, unexpected occurrence, involving a clear and imminent danger, demanding immediate action to prevent or mitigate loss of, or damage to life, health, property, or essential public services. Emergency includes such occurrences as fire, flood, earthquake, or other soil or geologic movements, as well as such occurrences as riot, accident, or sabotage.
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Section 15360. Environment.
"Environment" means the physical conditions which exist within the area which will be affected by a proposed project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic or aesthetic significance. The area involved shall be the area in which significant effects would occur either directly or indirectly as a result of the project. The "environment" includes both natural and man-made conditions.
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Section 15361. Environmental Documents.
"Environmental documents" means initial studies, negative declarations, draft and final EIRs, documents prepared as substitutes for EIRs and negative declarations under a program certified pursuant to Public Resources Code Section 21080.5, and documents prepared under NEPA and used by a state or local agency in the place of an initial study, negative declaration, or an EIR.
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Section 15362. EIR –Environmental Impact Report.
"EIR" or "environmental impact report" means a detailed statement prepared under CEQA describing and analyzing the significant environmental effects of a project and discussing ways to mitigate or avoid the effects. The contents of an EIR are discussed in Article 9, commencing with Section 15120 of these guidelines. The term "EIR" may mean either a draft or a final EIR depending on the context.
(a) Draft EIR means an EIR containing the information specified in Sections 15122 through 15131.

(b) Final EIR means an EIR containing the information contained in the draft EIR, comments either verbatim or in summary received in the review process, a list of persons commenting, and the response of the lead agency to the comments received. The final EIR is discussed in detail in Section 15132.
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Section 15363. EIS –Environmental Impact Statement.
"EIS" or "Environmental Impact Statement" means an environmental impact document prepared pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). NEPA uses the term EIS in the place of the term EIR which is used in CEQA.
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Section 15364. Feasible.
"Feasible" means capable of being accomplished in a successful manner within a reasonable period of time, taking into account economic, environmental, legal, social, and technological factors.
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Section 15365. Initial Study.
"Initial study" means a preliminary analysis prepared by the lead agency to determine whether an EIR or a negative declaration must be prepared or to identify the significant environmental effects to be analyzed in an EIR. Use of the initial study is discussed in Article 5, commencing with Section 15060.
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Section 15366. Jurisdiction by Law.
(a) "Jurisdiction by law" means the authority of any public agency:

(1) To grant a permit or other entitlement for use,

(2) To provide funding for the project in question, or

(3) To exercise authority over resources which may be affected by the project.

(b) A city or county will have jurisdiction by law with respect to a project when the city or county having primary jurisdiction over the area involved is:

(1) The site of the project;

(2) The area in which the major environmental effects will occur; and/or

(3) The area in which reside those citizens most directly concerned by any such environmental effects.

(c) Where an agency having jurisdiction by law must exercise discretionary authority over a project in order for the project to proceed, it is also a responsible agency, see Section 15381, or the lead agency, see Section 15367.
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Section 15367. Lead Agency.
"Lead agency" means the public agency which has the principal responsibility for carrying out or approving a project. The lead agency will decide whether an EIR or negative declaration will be required for the project and will cause the document to be prepared. Criteria for determining which agency will be the lead agency for a project are contained in Section 15051.
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Section 15368. Local Agency.
"Local agency" means any public agency other than a state agency, board, or commission. Local agency includes but is not limited to cities, counties, charter cities and counties, districts, school districts, special districts, redevelopment agencies, local agency formation commissions, and any board, commission, or organizational subdivision of a local agency when so designated by order or resolution of the governing legislative body of the local agency.
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Section 15369. Ministerial.
"Ministerial" describes a governmental decision involving little or no personal judgment by the public official as to the wisdom or manner of carrying out the project. The public official merely applies the law to the facts as presented but uses no special discretion or judgment in reaching a decision. A ministerial decision involves only the use of fixed standards or objective measurements, and the public official cannot use personal, subjective judgment in deciding whether or how the project should be carried out. Common examples of ministerial permits include automobile registrations, dog licenses, and marriage licenses. A building permit is ministerial if the ordinance requiring the permit limits the public official to determining whether the zoning allows the structure to be built in the requested location, the structure would meet the strength requirements in the Uniform Building Code, and the applicant has paid his fee.
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Section 15369.5. Mitigated Negative Declaration.
"Mitigated negative declaration" means a negative declaration prepared for a project when the initial study has identified potentially significant effects on the environment, but (1) revisions in the project plans or proposals made by, or agreed to by, the applicant before the proposed negative declaration and initial study are released for public review would avoid the effects or mitigate the effects to a point where clearly no significant effect on the environment would occur, and (2) there is no substantial evidence in light of the whole record before the public agency that the project, as revised, may have a significant effect on the environment.
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Section 15370. Mitigation.
"Mitigation" includes:
(a) Avoiding the impact altogether by not taking a certain action or parts of an action.

(b) Minimizing impacts by limiting the degree or magnitude of the action and its implementation.

(c) Rectifying the impact by repairing, rehabilitating, or restoring the impacted environment.

(d) Reducing or eliminating the impact over time by preservation and maintenance operations during the life of the action.

(e) Compensating for the impact by replacing or providing substitute resources or environments.
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Section 15371. Negative Declaration.
"Negative declaration" means a written statement by the lead agency briefly describing the reasons that a proposed project, not exempt from CEQA, will not have a significant effect on the environment and therefore does not require the preparation of an EIR. The contents of a negative declaration are described in Section 15071.
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Section 15372. Notice of Completion.
"Notice of completion" means a brief notice filed with the Office of Planning and Research by a lead agency as soon as it has completed a draft EIR and is prepared to send out copies for review. The contents of this notice are explained in Section 15085.
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Section 15373. Notice of Determination.
"Notice of determination" means a brief notice to be filed by a public agency after it approves or determines to carry out a project which is subject to the requirements of CEQA. The contents of this notice are explained in Sections 15075 and 15094.
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Section 15374. Notice of Exemption.
"Notice of exemption" means a brief notice which may be filed by a public agency after it has decided to carry out or approve a project and has determined that the project is exempt from CEQA as being ministerial, categorically exempt, an emergency, or subject to another exemption from CEQA. Such a notice may also be filed by an applicant where such a determination has been made by a public agency which must approve the project. The contents of this notice are explained in Section 15062.
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Section 15375. Notice of Preparation.
"Notice of preparation" means a brief notice sent by a lead agency to notify the responsible agencies, trustee agencies, the Office of Planning and Research, and involved federal agencies that the lead agency plans to prepare an EIR for the project. The purpose of the notice is to solicit guidance from those agencies as to the scope and content of the environmental information to be included in the EIR. Public agencies are free to develop their own formats for this notice. The contents of this notice are described in Section 15082.
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Section 15376. Person.
"Person" includes any person, firm, association, organization, partnership, business, trust, corporation, limited liability company, company, district, city, county, city and county, town, the state, and any of the agencies and political subdivisions of such entities, and, to the extent permitted by federal law, the United States, or any of its agencies or political subdivisions.
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Section 15377. Private Project.
A "private project" means a project which will be carried out by a person other than a governmental agency, but the project will need a discretionary approval from one or more governmental agencies for:

(a) A contract or financial assistance, or

(b) A lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use.
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Section 15378. Project.
(a) "Project" means the whole of an action, which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, and that is any of the following:

(1) An activity directly undertaken by any public agency including but not limited to public works construction and related activities clearing or grading of land, improvements to existing public structures, enactment and amendment of zoning ordinances, and the adoption and amendment of local General Plans or elements thereof pursuant to Government Code Sections 65100-65700.

(2) An activity undertaken by a person which is supported in whole or in part through public agency contracts, grants, subsidies, loans, or other forms of assistance from one or more public agencies.

(3) An activity involving the issuance to a person of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use by one or more public agencies.

(b) Project does not include:

(1) Proposals for legislation to be enacted by the State Legislature;

(2) Continuing administrative or maintenance activities, such as purchases for supplies, personnel-related actions, general policy and procedure making (except as they are applied to specific instances covered above);

(3) The submittal of proposals to a vote of the people of the state or of a particular community that does not involve a public agency sponsored initiative. (Steinv.City of Santa Monica, (1980) 110 Cal. App. 3d 458; Friends of Sierra Madre v. City of Sierra Madre(2001) 25 Cal.4th 165);

(4) The creation of government funding mechanisms or other government fiscal activities, which do not involve any commitment to any specific project which may result in a potentially significant physical impact on the environment.

(5) Organizational or administrative activities of governments that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment.

(c) The term "project" refers to the activity which is being approved and which may be subject to several discretionary approvals by governmental agencies. The term "project" does not mean each separate governmental approval.

(d) Where the lead agency could describe the project as either the adoption of a particular regulation under subdivision (a)(1) or as a development proposal which will be subject to several governmental approvals under subdivisions (a)(2) or (a)(3), the lead agency shall describe the project as the development proposal for the purpose of environmental analysis. This approach will implement the lead agency principle as described in Article 4.
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Section 15379. Public Agency.
"Public agency" includes any state agency, board, or commission and any local or regional agency, as defined in these guidelines. It does not include the courts of the state. This term does not include agencies of the federal government.
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Section 15380. Endangered, Rare, or Threatened Species.
(a) "Species" as used in this section means a species or subspecies of animal or plant or a variety of plant.

(b) A species of animal or plant is:

(1) "Endangered" when its survival and reproduction in the wild are in immediate jeopardy from one or more causes, including loss of habitat, change in habitat, overexploitation, predation, competition, disease, or other factors; or

(2) "Rare" when either:

(A) Although not presently threatened with extinction, the species is existing in such small numbers throughout all or a significant portion of its range that it may become endangered if its environment worsens; or

(B) The species is likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range and may be considered "threatened" as that term is used in the Federal Endangered Species Act.

(c) A species of animal or plant shall be presumed to be endangered, rare or threatened, as it is listed in:

(1) Sections 670.2 or 670.5, Title 14, California Code of Regulations; or

(2) Title 50, Code of Federal Regulations Sections 17.11 or 17.12 pursuant to the Federal Endangered Species Act as rare, threatened, or endangered.

(d) A species not included in any listing identified in subdivision (c) shall nevertheless be considered to be endangered, rare or threatened, if the species can be shown to meet the criteria in subdivision (b).

(e) This definition shall not include any species of the Class Insecta which is a pest whose protection under the provisions of CEQA would present an overwhelming and overriding risk to man as determined by:

(1) The Director of Food and Agriculture with regard to economic pests; or

(2) The Director of Health Services with regard to health risks.
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Section 15381. Responsible Agency.
"Responsible agency" means a public agency which proposes to carry out or approve a project, for which a lead agency is preparing or has prepared an EIR or negative declaration. For the purposes of CEQA, the term "responsible agency" includes all public agencies other than the lead agency which have discretionary approval power over the project.
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Section 15382. Significant Effect on the Environment.
"Significant effect on the environment" means a substantial, or potentially substantial, adverse change in any of the physical conditions within the area affected by the project including land, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and objects of historic or aesthetic significance. An economic or social change by itself shall not be considered a significant effect on the environment. A social or economic change related to a physical change may be considered in determining whether the physical change is significant.
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Section 15383. State Agency.
"State agency" means a governmental agency in the executive branch of the State Government or an entity which operates under the direction and control of an agency in the executive branch of State Government and is funded primarily by the State Treasury.
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Section 15384. Substantial Evidence.
(a) "Substantial evidence" as used in these guidelines means enough relevant information and reasonable inferences from this information that a fair argument can be made to support a conclusion, even though other conclusions might also be reached. Whether a fair argument can be made that the project may have a significant effect on the environment is to be determined by examining the whole record before the lead agency. Argument, speculation, unsubstantiated opinion or narrative, evidence which is clearly erroneous or inaccurate, or evidence of social or economic impacts which do not contribute to or are not caused by physical impacts on the environment does not constitute substantial evidence.

(b) Substantial evidence shall include facts, reasonable assumptions predicated upon facts, and expert opinion supported by facts.
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Section 15385. Tiering.
"Tiering" refers to the coverage of general matters in broader EIRs (such as on general plans or policy statements) with subsequent narrower EIRs or ultimately site-specific EIRs incorporating by reference the general discussions and concentrating solely on the issues specific to the EIR subsequently prepared. Tiering is appropriate when the sequence of EIRs is:
(a) From a general plan, policy, or program EIR to a program, plan, or policy EIR of lesser scope or to a site-specific EIR.

(b) From an EIR on a specific action at an early stage to a subsequent EIR or a supplement to an EIR at a later stage. Tiering in such cases is appropriate when it helps the lead agency to focus on the issues which are ripe for decision and exclude from consideration issues already decided or not yet ripe.
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Section 15386. Trustee Agency.
"Trustee agency" means a state agency having jurisdiction by law over natural resources affected by a project which are held in trust for the people of the State of California. Trustee agencies include: (a) The California Department of Fish and Game with regard to the fish and wildlife of the state, to designated rare or endangered native plants, and to game refuges, ecological reserves, and other areas administered by the department.
(b) The State Lands Commission with regard to state owned "sovereign" lands such as the beds of navigable waters and state school lands.

(c) The State Department of Parks and Recreation with regard to units of the State Park System.

(d) The University of California with regard to sites within the Natural Land and Water Reserves System.
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Section 15387. Urbanized Area.
"Urbanized area" means a central city or a group of contiguous cities with a population of 50,000 or more, together with adjacent densely populated areas having a population density of at least 1,000 persons per square mile. A lead agency shall determine whether a particular area meets the criteria in this section either by examining the area or by referring to a map prepared by the U.S. Bureau of the Census which designates the area as urbanized. Maps of the designated urbanized areas can be found in the California EIR Monitor of February 7, 1979. The maps are also for sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. 20402. The maps are sold in sets only as Stock Number 0301-3466. Use of the term "urbanized area" in Section 15182 is limited to areas mapped and designated as urbanized by the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
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