(a) A draft environmental impact report, environmental impact report, negative declaration, or mitigated negative declaration prepared pursuant to the requirements of this division shall be prepared directly by, or under contract to, a public agency.

(b) This section does not prohibit, and shall not be construed as prohibiting, a person from submitting information or other comments to the public agency responsible for preparing an environmental impact report, draft environmental impact report, negative declaration, or mitigated negative declaration. The information or other comments may be submitted in any format, shall be considered by the public agency, and may be included, in whole or in part, in any report or declaration.

(c) The lead agency shall do all of the following:

(1) Independently review and analyze any report or declaration required by this division.

(2) Circulate draft documents that reflect its independent judgment.

(3) As part of the adoption of a negative declaration or a mitigated negative declaration, or certification of an environmental impact report, find that the report or declaration reflects the independent judgment of the lead agency.

(4) Submit a sufficient number of copies, in either a hard-copy or electronic form as required by the Office of Planning and Research, of the draft environmental impact report, proposed negative declaration, or proposed mitigated negative declaration to the State Clearinghouse for review and comment by state agencies, if any of the following apply:

(A) A state agency is any of the following:

(i) The lead agency.

(ii) A responsible agency.

(iii) A trustee agency.

(B) A state agency otherwise has jurisdiction by law with respect to the project.

(C) The proposed project is of sufficient statewide, regional, or areawide environmental significance as determined pursuant to the guidelines certified and adopted pursuant to Section 21083.

(Amended by Stats. 2016, Ch. 476, Sec. 1. (SB 122) Effective January 1, 2017.)