ELR Citation: ELR 20256
No(s). B212145 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. Oct 19, 2009)

A California appellate court held that a local transportation agency's bus fare increase was statutorily exempt from environmental review under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Bus riders filed a petition for writ of mandate, arguing that the agency's use of the exemption, which removes an agency's setting of rates, tolls, fares, or other charges from CEQA review, was improper. But the administrative record contains substantial evidence that the agency's fare increase was enacted for one or more permissible purposes under the exemption. The agency's findings also satisfy the exemption's specificity requirement.