California Air Resources Board

Requires, subject to available funding, air monitoring initiated in a community under the Community Air Protection Program to continue at least five years, requires CARB to update and formally approve the “monitoring plan” by July 1, 2026, and requires CARB, in consultation with air districts, to report on progress on the implementation of community air monitoring, as specified, by March 1, 2027, and annually thereafter to appropriate subcommittees of the budget committee of each house of the Legislature. The bill also states the existence of the Bureau of Environmental Justice within California’s Department of Justice.

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Continuously appropriates 10% of auction proceeds in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to CARB for community air protection implementation, including, but not limited to, funding grants, providing technical assistance, supporting community participation, and incentives, further specified as including community air grants, cleaner technologies with a priority on zero-emission equipment, zero-emission charging infrastructure projects with a priority toward infrastructure that supports medium- and heavy-duty vehicles, and specified stationary sources that result in direct emission reductions of toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollution, including zero-emission technologies. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Prevents CARB or local air district regulations with restrictions on oxides of nitrogen emissions from gas-fired appliances from applying to appliances that would be installed with a propane conversion kit. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Defines pyrolysis in the Public Resources Code as the thermal decomposition of material at elevated temperatures in the absence or near absence of oxygen. Requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to include pipeline biomethane converted from organic waste as eligible for procurement credit by local jurisdictions by January 1, 2027.

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Requires CARB to amend its regulations on methane emissions from a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill to establish requirements for the monitoring of landfill gas temperature and requires the operator of an MSW landfill to monitor landfill gas temperature in accordance with CARB regulations. The bill also requires the California Department of Recycling and Resource Recovery (CalRecycle), on or before July 1, 2027, to establish minimum guidelines and coordinate with CARB to ensure consistency with CARB's methane regulation, and consider existing federal, State, and local guidance and stakeholder expertise to identify and manage subsurface elevated temperature events and minimum standards for a corrective action plan. The bill also requires tiered action if the gas temperature reaches 131 F, 146 F, or 170 F for a specified time frame. If an operator of an MSW landfill fails to provide notice of a sustained gas temperature within the specified timeframe, the bill authorizes CalRecycle or a local enforcement agency to impose a penalty of $10,000 per day and other penalties, as specified. The bill requires all penalties to be deposited into the Landfill Subsurface Fire Mitigation Account, which the bill creates, to be used upon appropriation by the Legislature to mitigate harm to a person or community adversely affected by a solid waste landfill, as specified. This bill makes an operator of an MSW landfill liable to CalRecycle and the local enforcement agency for their costs, as specified. Moved to the Senate Inactive File.

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Summary

Would have required CARB's executive officer to review a local air district’s submitted proposed permit for a Title V facility and, if the executive officer determines that the permit does not comply with the federal Clean Air Act or State law governing air pollution, to object to the issuance of that permit. The bill would have prohibited the local air district from finalizing the proposed permit without revising it to the satisfaction of CARB’s executive officer. The bill also would have established a public petition process regarding the proposed Title V permit, as specified.

The bill would have required an applicant to submit a technical feasibility analysis to the local air district as part of its permit renewal application for a Title V facility if its current operating permit includes equipment or control apparatus that meets certain criteria. The bill would have required a local air district to require best available retrofit control technology to be applied at each piece of equipment or source category identified in the technical feasibility analysis.

The bill would have revised CARB's precertification program, including requiring CARB to update criteria and guidelines for precertification at least once every eight years. The bill would have authorized the precertification program to include the identification of equipment, controls, fuels, and processes, as specified.

The bill would have revised requirements for a local air district’s expedited permit system. The bill, among other things, would have required CARB to issue determinations for best available control technology and best available retrofit control technology, and to establish best available control technology for toxic air contaminants. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would have, during a state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor that is based on an emergency resulting in a loss of electrical service to any part of the State, provided that the regulations adopted under statutory direction prohibiting engine exhaust and evaporative emissions from new small off-road engines, and any other regulations adopted by CARB governing the emissions of portable or emergency backup generators, shall not apply to the sale or purchase of portable or emergency backup generators. The bill would have allowed a tax credit for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, equal to the amount incurred by a person or small business, during the taxable year for the purchase of a backup generator, as specified. Remains at the Assembly Desk.

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Summary

Would have required each local air district to make publicly available on its website a map of permitted facilities containing specified information regarding all active permits required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that require or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Requires the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) board to update Rule 1157 to improve air quality and increase data collection. The bill requires permanent and temporary aggregate operations, by January 1, 2027, to install and maintain a fenceline monitoring system, maintain fencing above the height of open piles, limit open storage piles to 8 feet tall if the covered facility is within 500 feet of a sensitive receptor, and cease all activities if PM10 emissions reach threshold limit set by SCAQMD. The bill requires, on and after July 1, 2027, that a covered facility with a demonstrated history of PM10 emissions at or above the threshold limit set by the SCAQMD and whose property line is within 500 feet of a sensitive receptor to fully enclose any existing open storage piles. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Requires CARB to designate public fire protection agencies or other equivalent agencies to oversee controlled burning activities and to exempt wildland vegetation management burning, as defined, from permitting requirements if conducted by or under the supervision of a public fire protection agency or other equivalent agency designated by CARB. The bill also requires CARB to develop guidelines and best practices for wildland vegetation management burning to ensure public safety and environmental protection. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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