§ 21159.9

21159.9. The Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation shall implement a public assistance and information program to ensure efficient and effective implementation of this division and to do both of the following:

(a) Establish a public education and training program for planners, developers, and other interested parties to assist them in implementing this division.

(b) (1) (A) Establish and maintain a database for the collection, storage, retrieval, and dissemination of environmental documents, notices of exemption, notices of preparation, notices of determination, and notices of completion provided to the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation. The database shall be available online to the public through the internet. The Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation may coordinate with another state agency to host and maintain the online database.

(B) The Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation may phase in the submission of electronic documents and use of the database by state and local public agencies.

(C) The Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation may include additional information in the database, including, but not limited to, information related to planning, permitting, grants, and procurement, for the purposes of facilitating efficient and informed decisionmaking by public agencies and members of the public.

(2) (A) The Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation may charge a fee upon the submission of electronic documents pursuant to this division to the database for the reasonable costs incurred in implementing this subdivision.

(B) (i) The State Clearinghouse Administrative Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury to be administered by the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation.

(ii) The fees received pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be deposited into the fund and shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation for purposes of implementing this subdivision.

(C) A fee charged pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall be subject to the Administrative Procedure Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code), and shall be adopted in accordance with a formal rulemaking process.

(Amended by Stats. 2026, Ch. 84, Sec. 35. (SB 172) Effective July 13, 2026.)