--- type: "Bill" title: "Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021." description: "(1) 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 the lead agency 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: "20212022" identifier: "SB 7" citation: "California SB 7 (20212022)" classification: ["bill"] subjects: ["Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021."] status: "enacted" primary_sponsors: ["Atkins"] version_count: 5 action_count: 20 vote_count: 6 first_action: "2020-12-07" last_action: "2021-05-20" source: "openstates" source_identifier: "ocd-bill/ca7dbf59-d593-4d33-b2fa-b636b77ca75f" source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB7" source_hash: "86c219808605d63e86c84302ef5125c456b29447dd62d203b68161c58e25a06e" 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 SB 7 (20212022) — Environmental quality: Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021. (1) 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 the lead agency 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. **12/07/20 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB7&version=20210SB799INT) 2. **02/18/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB7&version=20210SB798AMD) 3. **05/20/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB7&version=20210SB796CHP) 4. **SB7** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB7) 5. **05/12/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB7&version=20210SB797ENR) ## Votes - Do pass. — **16–0** (pass) · lower - Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **9–1** (pass) · lower - Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **5–0** (pass) · upper - 3rd Reading SB7 Atkins et al. Urgency Clause — **34–0** (pass) · upper - Do pass — **6–0** (pass) · upper - SB 7 Atkins Third Reading Urgency By RIVAS, R. — **71–2** (pass) · lower ## Sponsors - Atkins — primary (person) - Cortese — coauthor (person) - Gonzalez — coauthor (person) - Robert Rivas — coauthor (person) - Rubio — coauthor (person) ## Timeline The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote. - **2020-12-07** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1` - **2020-12-08** From printer. May be acted upon on or after January 7. - **2021-01-28** Referred to Com. on EQ. `referral-committee` - **2021-02-17** Set for hearing February 22. - **2021-02-18** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee` - **2021-02-23** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 0. Page 306.) (February 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2021-02-23** Set for hearing February 25. - **2021-02-25** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 6. Noes 0. Page 333.) (February 25). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-02-25** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-03-01** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 34. Noes 0. Page 343.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-03-01** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1` - **2021-04-08** Referred to Com. on NAT. RES. `referral-committee` - **2021-04-29** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 1.) (April 28). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee` - **2021-05-05** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 16. Noes 0.) (May 5). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable` - **2021-05-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2` - **2021-05-10** Read third time. Urgency clause adopted. Passed. (Ayes 71. Noes 2. Page 1365.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3` - **2021-05-11** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. - **2021-05-13** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 11:30 a.m. - **2021-05-20** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature` - **2021-05-20** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 19, Statutes of 2021. `became-law` ## Source OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/ca7dbf59-d593-4d33-b2fa-b636b77ca75f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).