CA AB1272

Amends CEQA judicial review standards for housing development projects by defining "prejudicial abuse of discretion" as occurring when noncompliance likely affected the agency's approval decision and significantly affected public ability to evaluate project impacts.

Requires that for housing projects, alleged CEQA noncompliance grounds must be presented during the public comment period for the specific environmental impact report version in which the grounds first appeared, rather than any public comment period.

Mandates that appeals of housing project CEQA decisions go directly to the court of appeal via petition for peremptory writ of mandate filed within 60 days of judgment, rather than through standard appeal procedures.

Restricts court of appeal review to only issue alternative writs or orders to show cause for CEQA noncompliance grounds where the appealing party has at least a 50 percent chance of prevailing.