California Air Resources Board

Requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish the California Wildfire Preparedness Program to (1) establish guidance for the use of available wildfire risk modeling and analysis tools by organizations, (2) develop guidance and tools related to wildfire risk assessments, (3) support the creation or updating of county-level wildfire risk assessments, (4) oversee the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, and (5) develop guidance and templates for the creation or updating of county-level wildfire preparedness prioritization and implementation plans. Amended to remove a requirement that the Wildfire County Coordinator Program coordinate with CARB to increase access to indoor clean air spaces, distribution of HEPA filters, and other activities.

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Sets residential property insurance requirements for smoke damage claims on properties within a specified wildfire impact zone. Insurers must cover additional living expenses, testing, and restoration until properties are safe for human occupancy following guidance and rules set by CARB and the Department of Toxic Substances Control in AB 1642 (Harabedian). The bill also requires the Office of Emergency Services and the Department of Insurance, in consultation with departments including CARB, to submit legislative reports on regulatory limitations impacting the Lineage Logistics warehouse fire response and insurance coverage gaps exposed by the fire.

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Requires CARB, by January 1, 2029, to develop and publish online guidance on levels for indoor air contaminants following residential smoke damage from wildfire, implications for health, and possible protective measures to reduce health impacts. CARB may revise and update the guidance as new research and data becomes available. The guidance developed is exempt from the Administrative Procedures Act and the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill has other guidance and regulation requirements for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC).

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Requires the Division of Occupational Safety and Health (CalOSHA), by January 1, 2030, to propose to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board for its consideration and possible adoption, a standard that protects the health and safety of employees who risk high or prolonged exposure to transboundary pollution, as defined, in outdoor occupational environments. The bill requires CalOSHA to consider identifying an exposure threshold for hydrogen sulfide at which acute or chronic health effects occur to reference in the standards and may consider exposure thresholds for other relevant pollutants. The bill authorizes CalOSHA to develop the standard in consultation with other specified groups, including CARB and local air districts.

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Establishes a new regulatory structure for metal shredding facilities at the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC). The bill requires that metal shredding facilities obtain a permit from DTSC to operate in the State and specifies numerous requirements and procedures for regulating the facilities. The bill requires, if an air quality health risk assessment has not been conducted, the owner or operator of the metal shredding facility to conduct an analysis of equivalent scope and depth as approved by the local air district.

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Requires CARB to develop a response framework that establishes best practices and guidance for addressing fugitive and natural sources of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) gas and for community preparation and response to H2S exposure events. The bill requires the response framework to consider cross-media releases, develop integrated, multi-agency approaches to identify and address fugitive and natural sources, develop methods for reducing identified fugitive and natural sources of H2S gas in impacted communities, and consider acute and chronic reference exposure levels as well as the influence of varying climates and settings on exposure, among other things. The bill requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to update the acute and chronic reference exposure levels for H2S and to develop additional health guidance values for H2S, if the need is identified by CARB.

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This bill requires CARB to post on its website temperature and monitoring data received about methane emissions from landfills.

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This bill authorizes the Wildlife Conservation Board, the Department of Conservation, and the Department of Fire and Forestry Protection (CalFIRE) Forest Health Grants to award regional landscape block grants to lower wildfire risk. It would also require money given to CalFIRE for landscape scale projects to also be used for activities that improve ecosystem health on chaparral, shrubland, grassland, and coastal sage scrub lands. This bill would also expand the eligible activities for CalFIRE’s local assistance grant program to include vegetation modification and management along roadways.

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This bill tasks the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA) with considering whether farmworker communities are disadvantaged communities (DACs). To achieve this goal, CalEPA must assess whether DAC status would create more investment opportunities for farmworker communities, decide whether current data is enough to identify areas with high concentration of farmworker communities, identify barriers for low-income farmworker communities to use current investment opportunities, and make all of these results available on the CalEPA website. Additionally, CalEPA and Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment must develop and carry out a plan for working with farmworker communities.

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Amends existing law related to allocating moneys deposited into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund including requiring interest income to be deposited into the fund.

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