Bus Riders Union v. Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency

Appellants, Bus Riders Union, Labor/Community Strategy Center, and Natural Resources Defense Council (hereinafter collectively referred to as Bus Riders Union), appeal following the trial court’s denial of their petition for a writ of mandate. Through its petition, Bus Riders Union challenged the use by respondent Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Agency (MTA) of a statutory rate-setting exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) (Pub. Resources Code, § 21000 et seq.).

This statutory exemption (§ 21080, subd. (b)(8)), in pertinent part, removes from CEQA review an agency’s setting of “rates, tolls, fares, or other charges” which “the public agency finds” are for the purpose of “meeting operating expenses” (including employee wages and benefits), purchasing supplies and equipment, “meeting financial reserve needs,” and “obtaining funds for capital projects necessary to maintain service within existing service areas.” The statutory exemption also requires the agency to incorporate written findings in the record of any proceeding in which the exemption is claimed, and that the agency set forth “with specificity the basis for the claim of…