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UW OFFICES OF BEST BEST & KRIEGER LLP 3. Real Parties in Interest Must be Named Within 20 Days Effective January 1, 2003, the complaint or petition challenging a project approval under CEQA must name any recipient of the approval as a real party in interest to the lawsuit. The petitioner must also personally serve the complaint or petition on that real party in interest within twenty (20) business days of the date that the petitioner served the complaint or petition on the public agency. 4. Public Agencies Must Provide a List of Responsible Agencies Within 10 Days Within ten (10) business days of being served with a petition or complaint alleging a violation of CEQA, the public agency must provide the petitioner with a list of responsible and public agencies with jurisdiction over any natural resource affected by the project at issue. Within fifteen (15) days of receiving that list, the petitioner must provide these responsible and public agencies with notice of the action. To facilitate compliance with this new requirement, public agencies should require their environmental consultants to prepare a list of responsible agencies before the project is approved or immediately thereafter. If possible, that list should be included within the text of any environmental document prepared for a project. B. Senate Bill 649 ("SB 649") Effective January 1, 2003, Section 21090 of the Public Resources Code has been amended to require that an EIR produced for a redevelopment plan specify whether it is a master EIR, program EIR, or a project EIR. If the EIR is identified as a project EIR, all activities undertaken pursuant to or in furtherance of the redevelopment plan are deemed part of the project. However, as future activities occur, further environmental review must be conducted pursuant to Public Resources Code sections 21166 and State CEQA Guidelines 15162. C. Assembly Bill 1108 ("AB 1108") AB 1108 amended Public Resources Code section 21083.9 to specify that any scoping meeting held pursuant to NEPA satisfies CEQA requirements as long as the lead agency met CEQA's notice requirements. By adding Public Resources Code section 21098 to CEQA, this bill also imposes a new requirement that a lead agency must give notice to the United States Department of Defense (or a branch of the military service) when: (1) the lead agency receives a request from the military branch, (2) the military branch has provided its contact information, and (3) the request states the specific boundaries of the potentially affected low-level flight path, military impact zone, or special use airspace. However, AB 1108 explicitly states that a project's potential impacts on military activities does not itself constitute an adverse effect on the environment. D. Senate Bill 1925 ("SB 1925") In approving SB 1925, the California Legislature repealed several sections of the Public Resources Code and created a new Article 6 to recast and consolidate previously existing exemptions for affordable housing with consistent terminology. SB 1925 also redefines or adds definitions for RVPL'B'ELC'%643782 - 2 -