republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-348.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: railroad crossings."
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 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. CEQA exempts from its requirements railroad grade separation projects that eliminate existing grade crossings or that reconstruct existing grade separations. CEQA authorizes a lead agency, if it determines that a project is exempt from the requirements of CEQA, to file a notice of exemption with specific public entities."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 348"
citation: "California SB 348 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: railroad crossings."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Galgiani"]
version_count: 5
action_count: 20
vote_count: 5
first_action: "2015-02-24"
last_action: "2015-08-07"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/d0ba177e-0f50-4c35-92d5-355819cfe2a7"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB348"
source_hash: "19d36c5a10577d834145389bec29eafa00aad4e8e439e031b37efd44b55cb290"
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 348 (20152016) — California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: railroad crossings.

(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 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. CEQA exempts from its requirements railroad grade separation projects that eliminate existing grade crossings or that reconstruct existing grade separations. CEQA authorizes a lead agency, if it determines that a project is exempt from the requirements of CEQA, to file a notice of exemption with specific public entities.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/24/15 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB348&version=20150SB34899INT)
2. **04/06/15 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB348&version=20150SB34898AMD)
3. **08/07/15 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB348&version=20150SB34896CHP)
4. **SB348** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB348)
5. **07/27/15 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB348&version=20150SB34897ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **6–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. — **10–0** (pass) · lower
- SB 348 Galgiani Senate Third Reading By EGGMAN — **73–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **35–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with the recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **7–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Galgiani — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2015-02-24** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2015-02-25** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 27.
- **2015-03-05** Referred to Com. on E.Q. `referral-committee`
- **2015-03-17** Set for hearing April 15.
- **2015-04-06** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E.Q. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2015-04-16** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 7. Noes 0. Page 649.) (April 15). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-04-17** Set for hearing April 27.
- **2015-04-27** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2015-04-28** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-05-04** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 35. Noes 0. Page 880.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-05-05** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2015-05-22** Referred to Com. on NAT. RES. `referral-committee`
- **2015-06-23** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 6. Noes 0.) (June 22). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-08** From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (July 8). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2015-07-09** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2015-07-16** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 73. Noes 0. Page 2429.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2015-07-16** In Senate. Ordered to engrossing and enrolling.
- **2015-07-30** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 10 a.m.
- **2015-08-07** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2015-08-07** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 143, Statutes of 2015.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/d0ba177e-0f50-4c35-92d5-355819cfe2a7`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).