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0 "ministerial" , and CEQA does not apply. (See Section 15369) (2) Whether an agency has discretionary or ministerial controls over a project depends on the authority granted by the law providing the controls over the activity. Similar projects may be subject to discretionary controls in one city or county and only ministerial controls in another. (See Section 15268) (j) Public Involvement. Under CEQA, an agency must solicit and respond to comments from the public and other agencies concerned with the project. (See Sections 15073 , 15086, 15087 , and 15088) (k) Three Step Process. An agency will normally take up to three separate steps in deciding which document to prepare for a projecttsubject to CEQA. (a) In the first step the Lead Agency examines the project to determine whether the project is subject to CEQA at all. If the project is exempt, the process does not need to proceed any farther. The agency may prepare a Notice of Exemption. (See Sections 15061 and 15062) (2) If the project is not exempt, the Lead Agency takes the second step and conducts an Initial Study (Section 15063) to determine whether the project may have a significant effect on the environment. If the Initial Study shows that there is no substantial evidence that the project may have a significant effect, the Lead Agency prepares a Negative Declaration. (See Sections 15070 et seq. ) (3) If the Initial Study shows that the project may have a significant effect, the Lead Agency takes the third step and prepares an EIR. (See Sections 15080 et seq. ) (1) Certified Equivalent Programs. A number of environmental regulatory programs have been certified by the Secretary of the Resources Agency as involving essentially the same consideration of environmental issues as is provided by use of EIRs and Negative Declarations. Certified programs are exempt from preparing EIRs and Negative Declarations but use other documents instead. Certified programs are discussed in Article 17 and are listed in Section 15251. The Department of Health Services hazardous waste facility permitting program is presently not certified as an equivalent program, and is thus not exempt from preparing the required CEQA documents. (m) This section is intended to present the general concepts of CEQA in a simplified and introductory manner. If there are any conflicts between the short statement of a concept in this section and the provisions of the other sections of these Guidelines, the other sections shall prevail.