California Code, Government Code - GOV § 65941

(a) The information compiled pursuant to Section 65940 shall also indicate the criteria which the agency will apply in order to determine the completeness of any application submitted to it for a development project.

(b) If a public agency is a lead or responsible agency for purposes of the California Environmental Quality Act,Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code, that criteria shall not require the applicant to submit the informational equivalent of an environmental impact report as part of a complete application, or to otherwise require proof of compliance with that act as a prerequisite to a permit application being deemed complete. However, that criteria may require sufficient information to permit the agency to make the determination required by Section 21080.1 of the Public Resources Code.

(c) Consistent with this chapter, a responsible agency shall, at the request of the applicant, commence processing a permit application for a development project prior to final action on the project by a lead agency to the extent that the information necessary to commence the processing is available. For purposes of this subdivision, “lead agency” and “responsible agency” shall have the same meaning as those terms are defined in Section 21067 of the Public Resources Code and Section 21069 of the Public Resources Code, respectively.