CEQA glossary

Government Code section 65962.5

Government Code section 65962.5 assigns hazardous-materials list duties to agencies and local enforcement agencies and frames the Cortese List source categories.

Government Code section 65962.5 is the California statute that assigns hazardous-materials list duties to agencies and local enforcement agencies. It is the statutory foundation for the source categories commonly called the Cortese List.

Why it matters

The statute tells a practitioner to identify the relevant list category and its responsible source rather than treating one database as the complete answer. 2018 CEQA Guidelines Appendix G asks, in its Hazards and Hazardous Materials checklist, whether a project would be located on a site included on a list compiled under this section and, as a result, create a significant hazard.

What it does not establish

The statute does not establish whether a particular property is on a list, whether an agency record applies to the project, current site conditions, or CEQA significance. Those questions require the applicable source record and project-specific review.

Primary source

Government Code section 65962.5 is the controlling statutory text.

Published 2026-09-10 · Last materially reviewed 2026-09-10