republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20112012/sb-972.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act: scoping meeting and notice of completion."
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 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."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20112012"
identifier: "SB 972"
citation: "California SB 972 (20112012)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act: scoping meeting and notice of completion."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Simitian"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2012-01-18"
last_action: "2012-08-29"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/02368447-cd28-4754-848e-2220570fd491"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972"
source_hash: "ebd95a9d38aacb89cac23960bd94af10d51c2c5a6958ade271a24740a55b5011"
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 972 (20112012) — Environmental quality: California Environmental Quality Act: scoping meeting and notice of completion.

(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 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.

## Version chain

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

1. **01/18/12 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972&version=20110SB97299INT)
2. **03/08/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972&version=20110SB97298AMD)
3. **04/09/12 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972&version=20110SB97297AMD)
4. **08/29/12 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972&version=20110SB97295CHP)
5. **SB972** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972)
6. **08/16/12 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201120120SB972&version=20110SB97296ENR)

## Votes

- 3rd Reading — **29–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but re-refer to the Committee on Appropriations. — **4–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 972 Simitian Consent Calendar Second Day — **79–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass, to Consent Calendar. — **17–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on Appropriations. — **9–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Simitian — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2012-01-18** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2012-01-19** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 18.
- **2012-02-02** Referred to Com. on E.Q. `referral-committee`
- **2012-03-07** Set for hearing March 19.
- **2012-03-08** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-03-20** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 0. Page 2968.) (March 19). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-04-09** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `reading-2, reading-1, committee-passage, amendment-passage, referral-committee`
- **2012-04-16** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2012-04-17** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-04-23** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 29. Noes 0. Page 3241.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-04-23** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2012-06-04** Referred to Com. on NAT. RES. `referral-committee`
- **2012-06-19** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 18). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-09** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (August 8). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2012-08-13** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2012-08-16** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 5966.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, reading-1, passage`
- **2012-08-16** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2012-08-17** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 4:30 p.m.
- **2012-08-29** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2012-08-29** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 218, Statutes of 2012.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/02368447-cd28-4754-848e-2220570fd491`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).