(a) Until January 1, 2031, the department may, in its sole discretion, issue a provisional license for a local equity applicant, as defined in Chapter 23 (commencing with Section 26240), for retailer activities, if the applicant has submitted a completed license application to the department, provided that the applicant meets the following requirements:

1. (1) If compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) is not complete, evidence that compliance is underway.
2. (2) If compliance with local ordinances enacted pursuant to Section 26200 is not complete, evidence that compliance is underway.
3. (3) Compliance with paragraphs (5) and (11) of subdivision (a) of Section 26051.5.

(d) If compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) is not yet complete, the department shall not renew a provisional license pursuant to this section unless the department has determined that one of the following requirements has been met:

1. (1) The lead agency is in the process of preparing a site-specific initial study, addendum, or checklist pursuant to Section 15063, 15164, 15168, or 15183 of Title 14 of the California Code of Regulations to demonstrate whether it is consistent with a previously circulated and adopted negative declaration, mitigated negative declaration, or environmental impact report.
2. (2) If a local jurisdiction is the lead agency, the lead agency has made substantial progress during the previous 12-month licensure term toward completing project-specific environmental review by drafting, preparing, or circulating for public review an environmental document pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
3. (3) If the department is the lead agency, information requested by the department of the provisional licensee demonstrates the furtherance of environmental review.
4. (4) Information submitted to the department by the provisional licensee applicant demonstrates evidence of substantial progress toward compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) during the previous 12-month licensure term.

(k)

1. (1) On or before January 1, 2030, the department shall report to the appropriate committees of the Legislature on the number of provisional licenses that have been granted under this section, the number of provisional licenses that have been canceled for each of the circumstances provided in subdivision (g), and the number of provisional licenses granted under this section that remain active at the time of the report.
2. (2) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under this subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2034, pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
3. (3) A report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.