---
type: "Bill"
title: "Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011."
description: "The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve 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 also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20172018"
identifier: "AB 246"
citation: "California AB 246 (20172018)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Santiago"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 34
vote_count: 9
first_action: "2017-01-30"
last_action: "2017-10-06"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4ffca262-4056-4694-83aa-003eda2deeb9"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246"
source_hash: "3350cce966719b47fd8ef3cb4d374cfda0834708b2ddad4f715c46e482345a58"
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 246 (20172018) — Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2011.

The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report (EIR) on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve 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 also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/30/17 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24699INT)
2. **03/09/17 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24698AMD)
3. **06/21/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24697AMD)
4. **07/12/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24696AMD)
5. **09/06/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24695AMD)
6. **09/07/17 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24694AMD)
7. **10/06/17 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24692CHP)
8. **AB246** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246)
9. **09/19/17 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201720180AB246&version=20170AB24693ENR)

## Votes

- AB 246 SANTIAGO Assembly Third Reading — **48–21** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–2** (pass) · upper
- Placed on suspense file — **7–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **12–5** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB246 Santiago et al. By Galgiani — **36–0** (pass) · upper
- AB 246 SANTIAGO Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **70–6** (pass) · lower
- With recommendation: That Senate amendments be concurred in. — **6–3** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Rules] — **5–2** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Santiago — primary (person)
- Galgiani — coauthor (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2017-01-30** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2017-01-31** From printer. May be heard in committee March 2.
- **2017-02-06** Referred to Com. on E.S. & T.M. `referral-committee`
- **2017-03-08** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0.) (March 7). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-03-09** Read second time and amended. `reading-1, amendment-passage, reading-2`
- **2017-03-13** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2017-04-05** In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-05-26** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 12. Noes 5.) (May 26). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2017-05-30** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2017-05-31** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 48. Noes 21. Page 1946.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-06-01** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2017-06-14** Referred to Com. on EQ. `referral-committee`
- **2017-06-21** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-11** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (July 5). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-07-12** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-08-21** In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-05** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on RLS. (Ayes 5. Noes 2.) (September 1). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-06** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `amendment-passage, reading-2, referral-committee, reading-1`
- **2017-09-07** Re-referred to Com. on EQ. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-07** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ. `amendment-passage, referral-committee, reading-2, reading-1, amendment-introduction`
- **2017-09-07** Joint Rules 61 and 62 suspended. (Ayes 27. Noes 12. Page 2582.)
- **2017-09-12** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 7. Noes 0.) (September 11). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage, referral-committee`
- **2017-09-15** Pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8
- **2017-09-15** Ordered to third reading.
- **2017-09-15** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 36. Noes 0. Page 3001.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2017-09-15** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
- **2017-09-16** Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES. pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2. `referral-committee`
- **2017-09-16** Joint Rule 62(a), file notice suspended. (Page 3533.)
- **2017-09-16** From committee: That the Senate amendments be concurred in. (Ayes 6. Noes 3.) (September 16). `committee-passage`
- **2017-09-16** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Page 3535.)
- **2017-09-16** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 70. Noes 6. Page 3536.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2017-09-27** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4 p.m.
- **2017-10-06** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2017-10-06** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 522, Statutes of 2017.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4ffca262-4056-4694-83aa-003eda2deeb9`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).