California Air Resources Board

Summary 

Would have required CARB in consultation with the California Office of Planning and Research and the California Department of Transportation, to develop a methodology for assessing and spatially representing vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and develop maps to display average VMT per capita in the state at the local, regional, and statewide level. This bill also would have required the CARB to work with local agencies to assess whether regional maps of average VMT created by local agencies could be incorporated into the CARB maps, as specified. Would have required CARB to adopt the VMT methodology by January 1, 2025, publish the maps within 6 months, update both at least once every 4 years, and make both available on CARB's website. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required CARB, no later than June 30, 2026, to evaluate and, if feasible and to the extent data is available, revise regulations to incorporate the use of methane remote sensing data to reduce methane emissions from municipal solid waste landfills pursuant to the Short-lived Climate Pollution Strategy. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required, on or before July 1, 2026, that 60 percent of the funding allocated to California State Transportation Agency, California Department of Transportation, and California Transportation Commission be allocated for projects for priority populations and would have directed these agencies, among other things, to jointly develop a definition of “priority population” and, by July 1, 2025, jointly evaluate all new proposed projects by the criteria. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required the air districts, in adopting a Community Emission Reduction Program, to consult with other relevant State agencies and would have required those agencies to implement and enforce measures assigned to them by CARB and the districts, as a part of the Community Emission Reduction Program, unless the agency found those measures infeasible at a public meeting of its governing body. The bill would have specified that Community Air Grants include, to the extent the Legislature appropriated funds specifically for this purpose, the option to provide the AB 617 community steering committees an allocation of funds to serve as a budget for administrative items, including, but not limited to, translation services, meeting venues, meeting coordination, training, and stipends, as authorized by the air district, for members of the committee. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required CalRecycle to allow a local jurisdiction until December 1, 2031, in procuring recovered organic waste products to meet the target procurement requirements under the Short-lived Climate Pollutant Strategy, to use California-derived recovered organic waste that the local jurisdiction sends for processing at a facility outside of the State that meets certain conditions, as provided. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required CARB by December 31, 2025, to include in the SB 901 (Dodd, 2018) report, a methodology to quantify GHG and short-lived climate pollutant emissions, including black carbon from wildfire, pile burning, and forest management activities and a list of the data needed to use the methodology. This bill also would have established a Forest Waste Biomass Utilization Program to be administered by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection’s Joint Institute for Wood Products Innovation, required the California Natural Resources Agency to facilitate the inclusion of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant State climate adaptation plans, and required the California Energy Commission to report on innovative bioenergy technologies that utilize forest biomass waste. This bill was similar to AB 2878 (Aguiar-Curry, 2022).  Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. 

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Summary 

Would have required State agencies administering competitive Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund grant programs that involve housing, urban forestry, urban greening, or planning to provide at least a three-month application period and would have required the California Department of Finance to report on additional elements in the California Climate Investments Annual Report, including information on applications that did not receive funding. This bill also would have allowed applicants from the counties of Imperial and San Diego to include daytime population numbers in grant applications. This bill was similar to AB 943 (E. Garcia, 2022), AB 2812 (E. Garcia, 2019), AB 1945 (E. Garcia, 2018). Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have authorized the California Coastal Commission to require an applicant with a project that impacts coastal wetland, subtidal, intertidal, or marine habitats or ecosystems to build or contribute to a blue carbon demonstration project, as defined, and would have required the California Coastal Commission to consult with CARB and other specified entities in developing a blue carbon demonstration project program. Each blue carbon demonstration project would have to be designed, monitored, and have sufficient data collected to demonstrate the carbon uptake and sequestration achieved and results would have to be presented to the California Coastal Commission in a public hearing. This bill was similar to AB 2593 (Boerner, 2022). Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would have designated a local air district as a special district for purposes of receiving State funds or funds disbursed by the State, including federal funds. The bill would also have required, if eligibility for funds requires a district to be considered either a dependent or an independent special district, the entity distributing those funds to use the definitions for those terms set forth in the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000, as specified, to determine eligibility. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would have required CARB to conduct an assessment of the socioeconomic impacts, as defined, of a proposed rule or regulation with an economic impact of $10 million or more that will significantly affect air quality or emissions limitations. The bill also would have authorized CARB to contract with a third party to conduct the required assessment of socioeconomic impacts. The bill would have specified minimum standards for the assessment of socioeconomic impacts and required CARB or a third-party contractor to include in the assessment of socioeconomic impacts specified information and various economic analyses. The bill would have prohibited CARB from approving an assessment of socioeconomic impacts that fails to meet these requirements. The bill would have had similar provisions for local air districts regarding third party contractors and made changes to the socioeconomic analysis carried out by local air districts for rulemakings. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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