California Assembly Bill 406
Sample Letter 2:

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May 28, 2003

Assemblymember Hannah-Beth Jackson, Chair
Assembly Natural Resources Committee
1020 N Street, Room 164
Sacramento, California 95814

Re: Support for Passage of AB 406

Dear Assemblymember Jackson,

........We write you to express our emphatic support for passage of AB 406. This bill makes two important changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) in order to ensure the integrity of the environmental review process and to provide the most complete information available to elected decision makers.

........We are gratified to see that AB 406 mandates that lead agencies take responsibility for producing the relevant environmental documents as projects are undergoing review, whether by producing the documents themselves or by retaining consultants to produce them. AB 406’s modification of CEQA to overturn the Second District Court of Appeal’s decision in Friends of La Vina v. County of Los Angeles is long overdue. That decision allowed project applicants to hire their own consultants to prepare environmental review documents, then present those documents to public agencies for approval. Allowing private entities that have a financial stake in the speedy approval of a development project to control the drafting of environmental documents used in public review of a project is bad public policy. AB 406 puts an end to that practice.

........Also, AB 406 prohibits project proponents from requiring confidentiality agreements with their environmental consultants. Such consultants may have important information about the environmental impact of a proposed project that should not be hidden from public view. The practice of requiring confidentiality agreements is widespread in the development community. This practice has led to horrendous outcomes that have allowed project proponents to keep important information out of sight of the public and of elected decision makers who are examining proposed projects.

........One of the most well known examples of the dangerous effects of confidentiality agreements occurred in the Newhall Ranch development project in northern Los Angeles County. Our law firm represented environmental plaintiffs in the litigation which invalidated the County of Los Angeles’ approval of the Newhall Ranch project when it was first proposed. Newhall Ranch developers had retained biological consultants who discovered the existence of endangered spine flowers on the project site. Before any public agencies such as the California Department of Fish and Game were aware of them, the endangered plants were destroyed, and their existence was never disclosed to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors as it reviewed the project. The information was kept hidden from the Board and from the public in part because of the confidentiality agreements that bound the biological consultants who made the discovery. It was only after the District Attorney instigated a criminal investigation that the existence of the flowers and their destruction was uncovered. The District Attorney should not have to become involved in every proposed project to ensure that environmental laws are obeyed. Instead, the successful implementation of the California Environmental Quality Act depends on decision makers having the most complete, accurate and impartial information about the potential environmental impacts of proposed developments. AB 406 will ensure that CEQA does just that.

........Thank you again for your leadership on this important bill. We strongly support your efforts to ensure it becomes the law of the State.