(March 29, 2007) Legislation supported by the California Chamber of Commerce to remove unnecessary delays and costly reporting burdens in the enterprise zone process is moving.

SB 341 (Lowenthal; D-Long Beach) facilitates local economic development efforts in depressed areas throughout the state by reducing the application burden for applicants for enterprise zones by requiring the filing of an environmental impact report only when necessary.

The CalChamber is a strong supporter of the Enterprise Zone (EZ) program, which is California’s only remaining significant statewide economic development incentive. The EZ program targets economically depressed geographical areas through the use of special state and local tax and economic incentives that encourage business investment and promote the creation of new jobs.

Local governments wishing to be designated as EZs must compete for one of 42 zone designations set out in law. The local government must submit an extensive application with the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) to be considered for selection.

SB 341 addresses a problem with the application process that has posed a significant burden for many EZ applicants: Under current law, the EZ program imposes a blanket requirement on every EZ application to be accompanied by an environmental impact report (EIR). This means a zone applicant may be required to undergo a full EIR even if under regular California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) standards, a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration would have been satisfactory. Thus, the current blanket EIR requirement can result in significant delay and cost to zone applicants without additional environmental benefit.

The CalChamber believes that SB 341 will remove an unnecessary, heavy burden and cost from the EZ program that runs counter to local economic development of depressed areas and the other public policy goals behind the EZ program.

Action Needed
SB 341 passed the Senate Environmental Quality Committee on March 26 and was referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee. Contact your senator and members of Senate Appropriations and ask them to support SB 341.

For an easy-to-edit sample letter, visit www.calchambervotes.com.

Staff Contact: Kyla Christoffersen