In any action or proceeding, other than an action or proceeding under Section 21168, to attack, review, set aside, void or annul a determination, finding, or decision of a public agency on the grounds of noncompliance with this division, the inquiry shall extend only to whether there was a prejudicial abuse of discretion. Abuse of discretion is established if the agency has not proceeded in a manner required by law or if the determination or decision is not supported by substantial evidence.
Cal. Pub. Res. Code § 21168.5
Limitations
Known as the California Environmental Quality Act
The act spans §§ 21000–21189 (300 sections).
Applied in 97 court decisions — leading case 9 Cal. 4th 559 - Western States Petroleum Assn. v. Superior Court (1995)
Most recently applied in 251 Cal. Rptr. 3d 296 - Stopthemillenniumhollywood.Com. v. City of L.A. (July 2019)
Amended by Stats. 1976, Ch. 1312.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: California Legislative Information. Reproduced from public-domain California statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.