---
type: "Bill"
title: "Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): determination: dispute."
description: "(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, which includes a local agency, to prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that may have a significant effect on the environment, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA requires a lead agency to file a notice of approval or a notice of determination containing specified information with the Office of Planning Research or the county clerk of each county in which the project is located, as appropriate. CEQA provides a procedure by which a party may attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the determination, finding, or decision of a public agency on specified grounds and requires that a petitioner or plaintiff name, as a real party in interest, a recipient of an approval that is the subject of an action or proceeding challenging the determination, finding, or decision of a public agency pursuant to CEQA."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "AB 320"
citation: "California AB 320 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): determination: dispute."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Hill"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 23
vote_count: 8
first_action: "2011-02-09"
last_action: "2011-10-08"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/0add0bee-2591-4500-9c3b-50cd6c9cfb8c"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320"
source_hash: "5791abdda0643472b65252d2bdefacc9fdfbd49123e2c3b9a333ea82b6a71e4f"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 320 (20112012) — Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA): determination: dispute.

(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, which includes a local agency, to prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, that may have a significant effect on the environment, or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA requires a lead agency to file a notice of approval or a notice of determination containing specified information with the Office of Planning Research or the county clerk of each county in which the project is located, as appropriate. CEQA provides a procedure by which a party may attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the determination, finding, or decision of a public agency on specified grounds and requires that a petitioner or plaintiff name, as a real party in interest, a recipient of an approval that is the subject of an action or proceeding challenging the determination, finding, or decision of a public agency pursuant to CEQA.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/09/11 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320&version=20110AB32099INT)
2. **04/12/11 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320&version=20110AB32098AMD)
3. **06/14/11 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320&version=20110AB32097AMD)
4. **10/08/11 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320&version=20110AB32095CHP)
5. **AB320** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320)
6. **09/09/11 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120AB320&version=20110AB32096ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Judiciary. — **4–1** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading AB320 Hill By Wolk — **22–15** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **6–4** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **3–2** (pass) · upper
- AB 320 HILL Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **49–28** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Judiciary. — **6–3** (pass) · lower
- AB 320 HILL Assembly Third Reading — **46–27** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Hill — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2011-02-09** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2011-02-10** From printer. May be heard in committee March 12.
- **2011-02-24** Referred to Coms. on NAT. RES. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-03-22** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (March 21). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-11** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 4.) (April 5). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-04-12** Read second time and amended. `reading-2, reading-1, amendment-passage`
- **2011-04-13** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2011-05-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 4). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-05-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-05-12** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 46. Noes 27. Page 1348.) `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-05-12** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2011-05-26** Referred to Coms. on E.Q. and JUD. `referral-committee`
- **2011-06-14** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, reading-1, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2011-06-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on JUD. (Ayes 4. Noes 1.) (June 20). Re-referred to Com. on JUD. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-06-28** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 3. Noes 2.) (June 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2011-07-11** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2011-07-12** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2011-08-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 22. Noes 15. Page 2188.). `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2011-09-01** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after September 3 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2011-09-06** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 49. Noes 28. Page 2930.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2011-09-14** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
- **2011-10-08** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2011-10-08** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 570, Statutes of 2011.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/0add0bee-2591-4500-9c3b-50cd6c9cfb8c`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).