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ASSEMBLY BILL 889 (KNOX – 1972)

CHAPTER 1154, STATUTES OF 1972, AB 889

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As enacted, Assembly Bill 889 affected numerous sections of the Public Resources Code, relating to environmental quality.  (See Exhibit #1j)  Assembly Bill 889 was introduced on March 13, 1972 and authored by Assembly member John T. Knox.  (See Exhibit #1a)  Assembly Bill 889 was designed to be a follow-up bill to the 1970 enactment of the California Environmental Quality Act.  (See Exhibit #3)  It was introduced at the request of the Attorney General’s Office.  (See Exhibit #8, document A-1)

Assembly Bill 889 was heard by the Assembly Committee on Planning and Land Use and the Senate Committee on Governmental Organization where policy issues raised by the bill were considered.  (See Exhibit #2, #3 and #4)  The Assembly Committee on Ways and Means and the Senate Committee on Finance examined the bill’s fiscal implications.  (See Exhibit #2) Assembly Bill 889 was amended on eight occasions, three times in the Assembly and five times in the Senate, before being approved by both Houses of the Legislature.  (See Exhibit #1b through #1i and #2)  Governor Ronald Reagan signed the legislation on December 5, 1972 and the Secretary of State recorded it on that date as Chapter 1154 of the Statutes of 1972.  (See Exhibit #1j and #2)

Assembly Bill 889 contained an urgency clause that caused the bill to become effective immediately upon enactment.  The urgency clause found in Section 19 of the bill states the reason for the urgency as follows:

. . . In order to provide a clear definition of the responsibilities of governmental agencies under the Environmental Quality Act of 1970, and in order to lend certainty to the status of various projects which have been or are about to be, undertaken so as to permit the orderly processing and evaluation of such projects at the earliest possible time it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.
(See Exhibit #1i, page 18)