(a) A lead agency may charge and collect a reasonable fee from a person proposing a project subject to this division in order to recover the estimated costs incurred by the lead agency in preparing a negative declaration or an environmental impact report for the project and for procedures necessary to comply with this division on the project. Litigation expenses, costs, and fees incurred in actions alleging noncompliance with this division under Section 21167 are not recoverable under this section.

(b) The Department of Fish and Game may charge and collect filing fees, as provided in § 711.4 of the Fish and Game Code. Notwithstanding Section 21080.1, a finding required under Section 21081, or a project approved under a certified regulatory program authorized pursuant to Section 21080.5 is not operative, vested, or final until the filing fees required pursuant to § 711.4 of the Fish and Game Code are paid.

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(c) (1) A public agency may charge and collect a reasonable fee from members of the public for a copy of an environmental document not to exceed the cost of reproducing the environmental document. A public agency may provide the environmental document in an electronic format as provided pursuant to Sections 7922.570 to 7922.580, inclusive, of the Government Code.

(2) For purposes of this subdivision, “environmental document” means an initial study, negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, draft and final environmental impact report, a document prepared as a substitute for an environmental impact report, negative declaration, or mitigated negative declaration under a program certified pursuant to Section 21080.5, and a document prepared under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 (42 U.S.C. § 4321 et seq.) and used by a state or local agency in the place of the initial study, negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or an environmental impact report.

(Amended by Stats. 2021, Ch. 615, Sec. 379. (AB 474) Effective January 1, 2022. Operative January 1, 2023, pursuant to Sec. 463 of Stats. 2021, Ch. 615.)