Non-physical and Ministerial Projects Not Covered by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

March 9, 1973

The California Environmental Quality Act of 1970, as amended, and the Guidelines for implementation of the Act adopted by the Secretary of the California Resources Agency, require that local agencies determine the types of local government actions, relating to both public and private projects, that are excluded from the Act. The principal exclusions are with respect to (1) projects that will have no physical effects, and (2) projects that involve no discretionary action by the local government, but only ministerial action. Any project that is either non-physical or ministerial, or both, is excluded from the Act.

The State Guidelines define the terms "discretionary" and "ministerial" as follows:

Discretionary Project: Discretionary project means an activity defined as a project which requires the exercise of judgment, deliberation, or decision on the part of the public agency or body in the process of approving or disapproving a particular activity, as distinguished from situations where the public agency or body merely has to determine whether there has been conformity with applicable statutes, ordinances, or regulations.

Ministerial Projects: Ministerial projects as a general rule, include those activities defined as projects which are undertaken or approved by a governmental decision which a public officer or public agency makes upon a given state of facts in a prescribed manner in obedience to the mandate of legal authority. With these projects, the officer or agency must act upon the given facts without regard to his own judgment or opinion concerning the propriety or wisdom of the act although the statute, ordinance, or regulation may require, in some degree, a construction if its language by the officer.

As required by law, the Department of City Planning has prepared the following list of types of government actions of the City and County of San Francisco that are determined to be, in themselves, either non-physical or ministerial, or both, and therefore excluded from the California Environmental Quality Act of 1970, as amended, and from the State Guidelines for implementation of the Act.

1. Legislation with respect to non-physical activities.
2. Services to people (at established facilities): education, child care, adoption, employment training and referral, equal opportunity programs, human relations, health care, financial assistance, libraries, museums, other cultural activities, recreation, food, housing, consumer protection, other counseling.
3. Public safety (using established facilities): police and fire protection, security, detention, emergency services.
4. Information and records: collection, research, storage, processing, analysis, publication, distribution.
5. Investigation and inspection.
6. Personnel: selection, hiring and firing, training, supervision, setting salaries, payroll, health plan, safety, retirement.
7. Supplies, services and movable equipment: Purchase (except fleets of transit vehicles), storage, maintenance, sale.
8. Real property: management, appraisal, negotiation, jurisdictional transfers within the City and County government without change of use of the property.
9. Financial: assessment and collection of taxes, rents, fees, fines and other charges; assessment appeals; budget preparation and review; accounting; disbursements; control of expenditures; management of funds and investment for income.
10. Legal: counseling, drafting, negotiation, claims settlement, litigation, prosecution and defense, judicial proceedings.
11. Enforcement against violations of regulatory codes.
12. Liaison, coordination, consultation and direction among officials and departments.
13. Conduct of hearings, meetings and conferences.
14. Appointment of officials, boards, commissions and committees.
15. Voting and related activities, including submission of any proposition or other matter to the electorate.
16. Community relations.
17. Achievement awards.
18. Neighborhood, area and citywide planning, not including adoption or amendment of Master Plan elements.
19. Abatement of hazards to health and safety.
20. Animal, weed and litter control pursuant to established laws and regulations, except for use of economic poisons in maintenance of landscaping, native growth and water supply reservoirs.
21. Lot divisions and adjustments not governed by the Subdivision Map Act, when in compliance with the City Planning Code and other ordinances and regulations.
22. Changes of use involving no discretion on the part of the department issuing the permit or license for such change; where the new use, as compared with the former use, is first permitted in the same or a more restrictive zoning district under the City Planning Code.
23. Transfer of permits for operation of motorized vehicles, excluding issuance of new permits.
24. Annual and other periodic renewals, and changes in ownership, of existing permits, licenses, concessions, leases and other entitlements, other than for extraction of natural resources, where no construction, expansion or change of use is involved.
25. Issuance of general business licenses.
26. Issuance of sign permits by the Department of City Planning where no permit is required under the Building Code.
27. Issuance of permits to collect fees for inspections and investigations, including boiler inspection, surveys, engineering, electrical sales dealers, gas appliance dealers, plan checking, industrial waste discharge, dairies and skimming and pasteurization plants.
28. Issuance of permits and licenses for people, animals and light equipment (rather than for activities, places, heavy equipment and motorized vehicles), including library cards and other documents for identification, dog licenses, marriage licenses, bicycle licenses, auctioneer permits, permits for solicitations and advertisers, permits for firearms, parking permits for disabled persons, driver permits, guide permitsNormally I can help with things like this, but I don't seem to have access to that content. You can try again or ask me for something else.
29. Issuance of Central Permit Bureau permits over which no department has discretion (where the work is not part of a larger project for which environmental review is required), including boiler installation, flues and chimneys, electrical wiring and fixtures, electrical sign wiring, electrical maintenance by plant owners, plumbing and gas (lines, fixtures and appliances), sewer, side sewer, garage door installation, partition relocation, repairs and alterations (not expanding exterior dimensions of the structure, not involving a change of use or occupancy, and not including paving of parking lots subject to Conditional Use zoning review or environmental review as part of a larger project), demolition (not affecting landmarks or historic districts designated or currently under formal consideration for designation), filling of excavations to the elevation of surrounding properties, grading and excavating not in connection with new buildings, installation and repair of sidewalks, minor street openings for public utilities, debris boxes, signs (not including signs for designated landmarks or historic districts, or for sites regulated by prior stipulations under the City Planning Code), occupancy of apartment houses and hotels, street numbers.
30. Issuance of Department of Public Health permits for kitchens in boarding houses and charitable and public institutions, offices of fumigation and vending machine companies.