California Air Resources Board

Summary 

Would have prohibited CARB from requiring the San Francisco bar pilots, serving the bays of Monterey, San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, to replace a pilot station boat before the end of the boat's useful life. CARB’s Commercial Harbor Craft regulation requires an earlier implementation date for the pilot vessels. The bill would have required the useful life to be between 25 and 35 years from the date the boat was commissioned and be determined by CARB in consultation with the Board of Pilot Commissioners and an accredited marine surveyor.

View full bill text here

Governor’s Veto Message

To the Members of the California State Assembly:

I am returning Assembly Bill 1296 without my signature.

This bill would prohibit state regulations, namely the Commercial Harbor Craft (CHC) regulation, from requiring the San Francisco Bar Pilots to replace pilot station vessels with lower-emitting vessels, unless such a regulation authorizes its replacement at the end of the vessel's useful life, prescribed as between 25 and 35 years.

In 2020, I issued Executive Order (EO) N-79-20, which directed the California Air Resources Board (CARB), among other things, to develop strategies to transition to 100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles, vessels, and equipment by 2035, where feasible.  Under this EO, CARB amended the CHC regulation to accelerate emission reductions while providing safe, feasible, and flexible compliance options for affected vessels, including compliance extensions of up to six additional years for pilot station vessels beyond the compliance dates of December 2024 and December 2025.

While I recognize the challenges of adopting new technologies, California must work diligently to reduce air pollution that fouls our air and greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to our rapidly changing climate.  In addition, this amendment to the CHC rule would require CARB to resubmit its request for authorization to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) - a step that would delay the U.S. EPA's final decision and undo months of work.  Delays in receiving that federal authorization would deprive local communities of the substantial public health benefits associated with the regulations and compromise the State's ability to meet our federally mandated air quality standards.

For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.

Sincerely,

Gavin Newsom

View Governor’s veto message here