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California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

CEQA Document Filing Fees

Pursuant to Fish and Game Code Section 711.4, the Department shall impose and collect a filing fee to defray the costs of managing and protecting California’s vast fish and wildlife resources, including, but not limited to, consulting with other public agencies, reviewing environmental documents, recommending mitigation measures, and developing monitoring programs. For projects with local lead agencies, the county clerk collects any applicable filing fees at the time the notice of determination is filed.  The project proponent is responsible for payment of the filing fee.

On September 29, 2006 Senate Bill 1535 was passed increasing the amounts of filing fees collected by the Department, and requires the Department to adjust the fees annually pursuant to Fish and Game Code Section 713. The annual fee adjustments are based on changes in the Implicit Price Deflator for State and Local Government Purchases of Goods and Services, as published by the U.S. Department of Commerce. The table below contains the 2009 CEQA filing fees, and the fees that become effective on January 1, 2010.  Annual filing fee adjustments are made available on the Department website prior to November 1 of the year before they become effective.

The Department recently updated Title 14, Section 753.5 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR).  The updated regulations address filing fees and No Effect Determinations and became effective on July 16, 2009.  The regulations were updated to conform with existing law (Fish and Game Code section 711.4), reflect current Department practice, and clarify the procedures for no effect determinations.

The filing fees for CEQA documents are as follows:

CEQA Document 2009 Filing Fee Fee Effective
January 1, 2010
Negative Declaration (ND) $1,993.00 $2,010.25
Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND) $1,993.00 $2,010.25
Environmental Impact Report (EIR) $2,768.25 $2,792.25
Environmental Document pursuant to
a Certified Regulatory Program (CRP)		 $941.25 $949.50
County Clerk Processing Fee $50.00 $50.00

No Effect Determinations

The CEQA filing fee will be waived if a project will have no effect on fish and wildlife (Fish and Game Code section 711.4(c)(2)(A)).  Projects that are statutorily or categorically exempt from CEQA are also not subject to the filing fee, and do not require a no effect determination (sections 15260 through 15333, Title 14, CCR, Fish and Game Code Section 711.4(d)(1)).  Regional Department environmental review and permitting staff are responsible for determining whether a project within their region will qualify for a no effect determination and if the CEQA filing fee will be waived.

If a lead agency or applicant anticipates their project will have no effect on fish and wildlife, the appropriate Department Regional Office should be contacted.  The corresponding CEQA document may need to be provided to the appropriate Department regional office along with a written request.  The request should be submitted when the CEQA document is released for public review, or as early as possible in the public comment period.  No effect determination requests submitted to the Department should include sufficient documentation to support a no effect determination.  Documentation should include a site description, project description, description of the project location, aerial and/or topographic map of the project site, State Clearinghouse number or county filing number, and applicant contact information.  Documents submitted in digital format are preferred (e.g. compact disk).  If insufficient documentation is submitted to the Department for the proposed project, a no effect determination will not be issued. More detailed information on the no effect determination process can be found in the following document:

For more specific information please contact the regional office where the project is located, Regional Office Contact Information.

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