Statutory exemptions: what the Legislature exempted
Statutory exemptions come from the Legislature and may cover all or part of CEQA[13]. Section 21080(b) lists these, among others[5]:
- Ministerial projects; building permits and business licenses are presumed ministerial[14]
- Emergency repairs, and actions to prevent or mitigate an emergency
- Repairing or replacing facilities damaged in a disaster the Governor proclaimed
- Projects an agency rejects or disapproves
CEQA categorical exemption classes and the Class 32 infill exemption
Categorical exemptions are classes of projects found to have no significant effect[6][7]. An agency may not require an EIR for them unless a §15300.2 exception applies[15]. On June 25, 2026, in Sunflower Alliance v. Department of Conservation, the California Supreme Court held that Class 1's "negligible or no expansion" refers to a facility's use, not to the risk of environmental harm[16].
Class 32 covers infill of five acres or less within city limits that fits the general plan and zoning, is substantially surrounded by urban uses, has no listed-species habitat or significant traffic, noise, air or water effects, and has utilities and services[17]. Shares below are of the 11,546 categorical NOEs the State Clearinghouse received from October 2025 to September 2026; filing is optional, so not every exempt approval appears[18][8][9].
| Exemption | What it covers | NOEs citing it | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Class 1[19] | Repair, maintenance or minor alteration of existing facilities with negligible expansion of use[16] | 6,947 | 60.2% |
| Class 3[20] | Small structures: one home (three in urbanized areas), or a store up to 2,500 square feet | 2,016 | 17.5% |
| Class 4[21] | Minor alterations to land, such as grading on slopes under 10 percent | 1,637 | 14.2% |
| Class 2[22] | Same-site replacement with substantially the same purpose and capacity | 1,319 | 11.4% |
| Class 32[17] | Infill projects, described above | 923 | 8.0% |
| Class 33[23] | Habitat restoration up to five acres, with no significant effect on listed species | 207 | 1.8% |
| AB 130 housing (§21080.66)[24] | Statutory: urban housing up to 20 acres; 123 of the 128 NOEs came from cities | 128 | — |
Exceptions to categorical exemptions
In 2010 the City of Berkeley exempted a 6,478-square-foot house with a 10-car garage on a steep lot under Classes 3 and 32. The Court of Appeal ordered an EIR, treating a possible significant effect as unusual in itself. On March 2, 2015 the California Supreme Court reversed in Berkeley Hillside Preservation v. City of Berkeley: the effect alone is not an unusual circumstance[25].
If any of the six exceptions in Guidelines §15300.2 applies, the categorical exemption cannot be used; the last three are also in statute[26][6]:
- Location (Classes 3, 4, 5, 6, 11): may affect a designated, mapped resource of critical concern
- Cumulative impact: successive projects of the same type in the same place add up to a significant impact
- Unusual circumstances: a reasonable possibility of a significant effect because of them
- Scenic highways: may damage scenic resources on an official state scenic highway
- Hazardous waste sites: a site on a Government Code §65962.5 list
- Historical resources: may cause a substantial adverse change in a historical resource's significance
AB 130 and SB 131: the 2025 exemptions
AB 130 added §21080.66, exempting housing on urban sites up to 20 acres that meet conditions on prior use, zoning, density and historic structures; it requires an NOE[27][24][28]. SB 131 limits review of housing that misses an exemption by one condition to that condition[2], and added these exemptions, each with conditions[29]; counts are NOEs citing each from July 2025 to September 2026[18]:
- Housing element rezonings (§21080.085): 30; farmworker housing (§21080.45): 1, under its old number[28]
- Wildfire risk reduction near homes, such as prescribed fire and fuel breaks (§21080.49): 25
- Since September 29, 2026, CAL FIRE's help with prescribed fire and cultural burning (AB 1699, §21080.49.1)[30]
- Day care, health clinics, food banks and advanced manufacturing (§21080.69): 8
- Bond-funded parks and trails (§21080.57): 11; high-speed rail facilities (§21080.70): 2
- SB 954, which would have revised several of these, was vetoed September 18, 2026[31]