Our sample bill is based on the California State Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), Cal. Pub. Res. Code §§ 21000 et seq. CEQA is the strongest and most comprehensive state environmental quality act (or “little NEPA”) in the country.

The model bill presented on this website is a shorter version of CEQA, but it contains certain key provisions that all state environmental quality acts (SEQAs) should have. In particular, a model bill should contain the following elements:

• The provisions should be substantive and not just procedural. That is, the provisions should do more than simply require government entities to consider the potential environmental impacts of a proposed project. Rather, the provisions should require those entities to actually adopt more environmentally responsible mitigation measures and/or alternatives to the project, once those options are discovered as a result of the processes outlined in the statute.
• The bill should require government entities at multiple levels to conduct environmental assessments of their proposed actions. Thus, depending on the state’s governmental structure, entities at state, county, and municipal levels might be included in the bill’s provisions.
• The bill should clearly identify which types of “actions” will trigger the need for an environmental impact report. Under the federal NEPA, government actions must be “major” in order to require the preparation of an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A SEQA bill should include more than just “major” actions as required under the federal NEPA; it should also include lesser government actions that may nonetheless cause significant impact to the environment.
• If a SEQA requires the preparation of an environmental impact statement when there could be “significant” impact on the environment, the bill should clearly identify what “significant” means. Criteria for significance should be included in the bill’s provisions.
• The bill should identify the elements that must be contained within an environmental impact statement. In addition to the requirements laid out in the federal NEPA, the state SEQA environmental impact statement could reach appropriations and legislation; or it could require consideration of the social impacts of a decision, whether the project will impact growth and urban sprawl, and other potential impacts.
• Finally, the bill should include provisions describing the means for judicial review. For example, the bill should clearly state that citizens have standing, or the ability to sue government entities, for failure to comply with the provisions of the statute.

The above elements are identified and discussed by David Sive and Mark A. Chertok in their article “Little NEPAs” and Their Environmental Impact Assessment Processes, ALI-ABA Course of Study on Environmental Litigation (June 25-29, 2001).