AB1855 - California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: passenger rail service.

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 1855 Introduced by Assembly Member Jeff Gonzalez (Coauthors: Assembly Members Castillo, Jackson, Johnson, and Wallis) (Coauthors: Senators Seyarto and Valladares) February 11, 2026 An act to amend Section 21080.25 of the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1855, as introduced, Jeff Gonzalez. California Environmental Quality Act: exemption: passenger rail service. 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, until January 1, 2040, exempts from its requirements certain projects for the improvement, institution, or increase of passenger rail service, including the maintenance, construction, or rehabilitation of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, which will be exclusively used by zero-emission trains or certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives, as provided. CEQA requires, for purposes of this exemption, that the project be located entirely within an existing rail right-of-way or existing highway right-of-way, as provided. This bill would instead eliminate the condition that the public project be exclusively used by zero-emission trains or certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives, thereby expanding the scope of the exemption. The bill would require, for purposes of the exemption, the mainline rail of the project, instead of the whole project, to be located entirely within an existing right-of-way or existing highway right-of-way. As part of the above-described exemption, CEQA prohibits a public project from being eligible for that exemption if used by certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives that are not zero-emission rolling stock or locomotives and the project is located in an air basin designated as a serious, severe, or extreme nonattainment area for particulate matter and ozone. This bill would instead authorize an otherwise ineligible project, as described above, to be eligible for the exemption if the project would provide daily passenger rail service between termini more than 5 miles apart where none exists as of January 1, 2027, and the rail service would run parallel to a state highway or interstate highway corridor. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project qualifies for these expanded exemptions, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 21080.25 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 21080.25. (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply: (1) “Affordable housing” means any of the following: (A) Housing that is subject to a recorded covenant, ordinance, or law that restricts rents or sales prices to levels affordable, as defined in Section 50052.5 or 50053 of the Health and Safety Code, to persons and families of moderate, lower, or very low income, as defined in Section 50079.5, 50093, or 50105 of the Health and Safety Code, respectively. (B) Housing that is subject to any form of rent or price control through a public entity’s valid exercise of its police power. (C) Housing that had been occupied by tenants within five years from the date of approval of the development agreement by a primary tenant who was low income and did not leave voluntarily. (2) “Bicycle facilities” includes, but is not limited to, bicycle parking, bicycle sharing facilities, and bikeways as defined in Section 890.4 of the Streets and Highways Code. (3) “High-occupancy vehicle” means a vehicle with three or more occupants. (4) “Highway” means a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. “Highway” includes a street. (5) “Local agency” means a public transit operator, city, county, city and county, special district, joint powers authority, local or regional transportation agency, or congestion management agency. (6) “Part-time transit lanes” means designated highway shoulders that support the operation of transit vehicles during specified times and are not open to nonpublic transit vehicles at any time. (7) “Project labor agreement” has the same meaning as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 2500 of the Public Contract Code. (8) “Public transit operator” has the same meaning as “operator” in Section 99210 of the Public Utilities Code, or means a public entity that provides contracted paratransit services. (9) “Skilled and trained workforce” has the same meaning as provided in Chapter 2.9 (commencing with Section 2600) of Part 1 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code. (10) “Transit lanes” means street design elements that delineate space within the roadbed as exclusive to transit use, either full or part time. (11) “Transit prioritization projects” means any of the following transit project types on highways or in the public right-of-way: (A) Signal and sign changes, such as signal coordination, signal timing modifications, signal modifications, or the installation of traffic signs or new signals. (B) The installation of wayside technology and onboard technology. (C) The installation of ramp meters. (D) The conversion to dedicated transit lanes, including transit queue jump or bypass lanes, shared turning lanes and turn restrictions, the narrowing of lanes to allow for dedicated transit lanes or transit reliability improvements, or the widening of existing transit travel lanes by removing or restricting street parking. (E) Transit stop access and safety improvements, including, but not limited to, the installation of bus shelters, lighting, transit bulbs, and the installation of transit boarding landings and islands. (12) “Transportation demand management program” means a specific program of strategies, incentives, and tools to be implemented, including, with specified annual status reporting obligations, to reduce vehicle trips by providing opportunities for the public to choose sustainable travel options, such as transit, bicycle riding, or walking. A specific program of strategies, incentives, and tools includes, but is not limited to, any of the following: (A) Provision of onsite electric vehicle charging stations in excess of applicable requirements. (B) Provision of dedicated parking for car share or zero-emission vehicles, or both types of vehicles, in excess of applicable requirements. (C) Provision of bicycle parking in excess of applicable requirements. (b) This division does not apply to any of the following projects: (1) Pedestrian and bicycle facilities that improve safety, access, or mobility, including new facilities, within the public right-of-way. (2) Projects that improve customer information and wayfinding for transit riders, bicyclists, or pedestrians within the public right-of-way. (3) Transit prioritization projects. (4) A project for the designation and conversion of general purpose lanes to high-occupancy vehicle lanes or bus-only lanes, or highway shoulders to part-time transit lanes, for use either during peak congestion hours or all day on highways with existing public transit service or where a public transit agency will be implementing public transit service as identified in a short-range transit plan. (5) (A) A public project for the protection, improvement, institution, or increase of microtransit, paratransit, shuttle, bus, ferry, bus rapid transit, or light rail service, including the protection, maintenance, construction, operation, or rehabilitation of stops, stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, which will be exclusively used by zero-emission, near-zero-emission, low oxide of nitrogen engine, compressed natural gas fuel, fuel cell, or hybrid powertrain vehicles, rail or cable cars, rolling stock, or vessels. The project shall be located entirely within an existing public right-of-way or existing highway right-of-way, whether or not the right-of-way is in use for rail or public mass transit and is wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as designated by the United States Census Bureau. (B) A public project otherwise identified in subparagraph (A) shall not apply to the exemption pursuant to this paragraph after January 1, 2032, if used primarily by near-zero-emission, low oxide of nitrogen engine, compressed natural gas fuel, or hybrid powertrain vehicles. This subparagraph shall not apply to a public project otherwise identified in subparagraph (A) used by articulated buses. (C) A public project for the construction or rehabilitation of a ferry terminal that a lead agency has submitted a notice of preparation for an environmental impact report pursuant to Section 21092 before January 1, 2026, shall not apply to the exemption pursuant to this paragraph. (D) A public project for transit services operated by a transportation network company, as defined in Section 5431 of the Public Utilities Code, shall not apply to the exemption pursuant to this paragraph, unless the services are operated by a microtransit provider contracted by the lead agency that uses a managed fleet of multipassenger vehicles dedicated to that service. (6) (A) A public project for the improvement, institution, or increase of passenger rail service, other than light rail service eligible under paragraph (5), including the maintenance, construction, or rehabilitation of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, which will be exclusively used by zero-emission trains or certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives, as provided in Section 1033.101 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations. The mainline rail for that project shall be located entirely within an existing rail right-of-way or existing highway right-of-way, whether or not the right-of-way is in use for passenger rail transit. (B) A public project otherwise identified in subparagraph (A) shall not be eligible for the exemption pursuant to this paragraph if used by certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives that are not zero-emission rolling stock or locomotives and the project is located in an air basin designated as a serious, severe, or extreme nonattainment area for particulate matter and ozone. This subparagraph shall not apply to a public project that would provide daily passenger rail service between termini more than five miles apart where none exists as of January 1, 2027, and the rail service would run parallel to a state highway or interstate highway corridor. (7) (A) A public project to construct or maintain infrastructure or facilities to charge, refuel, power, or maintain zero-emission public transit buses, trains, or ferries, provided the project is carried out by a public transit agency and the project is any of the following: (i) Located on property owned, leased, or operated by the local agency. (ii) Located within an existing public right-of-way. (iii) Located on property owned by a public or private utility within an urbanized area. (B) A lead agency applying an exemption pursuant to this paragraph for hydrogen refueling infrastructure or facilities necessary to refuel or maintain zero-emission public transit buses, trains, or ferries shall comply with clauses (i), (iii), and (iv) of subparagraph (D) of, and with subparagraph (E) of, paragraph (1) of subdivision (d). (8) The maintenance, repair, relocation, replacement, or removal of any utility infrastructure associated with a project identified in paragraphs (1) to (7), inclusive. (9) A project that consists exclusively of a combination of any of the components of a project identified in paragraphs (1) to (8), inclusive. (10) (A) A project that combines a project identified in paragraphs (1) to (8), inclusive, and a housing development project that is either subject to a nondiscretionary approval or is exempt from this division. (B) This paragraph does not exempt the housing development project described in subparagraph (A) from any other applicable requirements under any other law. (11) A planning decision carried out by a local agency to reduce or eliminate minimum parking requirements or institute parking maximums, remove or restrict parking, or implement transportation demand management requirements or programs. (c) Except as provided in subdivision (g), a project exempt from this division under this section shall meet all of the following criteria: (1) (A) A local agency is carrying out the project and is the lead agency for the project. (B) The lead agency shall take an action to approve a project as follows: (i) The lead agency’s governing board shall take an action at a public meeting. (ii) Notwithstanding clause (i), if a lead agency has an alternative project approval process for a project subject to subdivision (b), it may instead follow that alternative process. (2) The project does not induce single-occupancy vehicle trips, add additional highway lanes, widen highways, or add physical infrastructure or striping to highways except for minor modifications needed for the efficient and safe movement of transit vehicles, bicycles, or high-occupancy vehicles, such as extended merging lanes, shoulder improvements, or improvements to the roadway within the existing right-of-way. The project shall not include the addition of any auxiliary lanes. (3) The construction of the project shall not require the demolition of affordable housing units. (d) (1) A project that is exempt from this division under this section that is, based on the project engineer’s cost estimate at the time the local agency takes an action pursuant to subparagraph (B) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (c), anticipated to exceed one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) shall also meet all of the following criteria: (A) The project is incorporated in a regional transportation plan, sustainable communities strategy, general plan, or other plan that has undergon [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]