California Air Resources Board

Summary

Would have required CARB by December 31, 2025, to include in the SB 901 report, which assesses GHG emissions associated with wildfire and forest management activities, 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 would have also 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, would have required the California Natural Resources Agency to facilitate the inclusion of recommendations for forest biomass waste utilization in relevant State climate adaptation plans, and would have required the California Energy Commission to report on innovative bioenergy technologies that utilize forest biomass waste. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would require the California Energy Commission to appear annually before the relevant policy committees of the Legislature to report on specified activities. Remains in the Assembly Rules Committee.

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Summary

Would require each electrical corporation to implement a plan to address climate change-related impacts to its respective electric plant, as defined, including prioritizing the replacement of equipment identified as most vulnerable to extreme heat events and other extreme weather events due to climate change. The bill would additionally require an electrical corporation to include a plan in its annual reliability report that addresses expected impacts, as specified, to the electrical distribution system from climate change, including impacts to transformers, substations, and electrical lines, that may result in a loss of electrical service of over an unspecified number of hours. The bill would require each electrical corporation to describe what investments have been made to better prepare its equipment for the impacts from climate change. Was not heard in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.

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Summary

Would have required the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in consultation with CARB and the California Energy Commission, under a separate proceeding, to authorize gas corporations to file applications for investments in programs to accelerate zero-emission vehicle transportation, including the use of hydrogen when it is used as a transportation fuel in fuel cell electric vehicles. CPUC would have been prohibited from approving any program or investment that would have resulted in either cost shifts in customer rates or a net increase in emissions from the energy sector, as determined by CARB. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would require electric investor-owned utilities to offer an allocation of certain electrical resources to other load-serving entities, specifically, community choice aggregators and electric service providers, that serve departing load customers who bear cost responsibility for those resources. These electrical resources include product attributes to comply with resource adequacy, the Renewables Portfolio Standard program, and others. Was not heard in the Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee.

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Summary

Would establish the Climate Pollution Reduction in Homes Initiative and requires the Department of Community Services and Development to administer the initiative to provide grants for projects, including, but not limited to, those that provide financial assistance to low-income households for the purchase of zero-carbon-emitting appliances. Moved to the Assembly Inactive File.

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Summary

Restates current requirements of each electrical investor-owned utility (IOU) that wildfire mitigation plans include identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the IOU to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits.

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Summary

Would authorize the California Public Utilities Commission to consider changes within the resource adequacy (RA) program, a program to ensure sufficient electricity supply to satisfy demand, including the use of a multiyear centralized RA mechanism, among other options. Remains in the Assembly Rules Committee.

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Summary

Would authorize a gas corporation that serves an area that will host the 2028 Olympics to identify and propose a green hydrogen project, as defined, or multiple projects, in cooperation with the United States Olympic Paralympic Committee, the City of Los Angeles, or the County of Los Angeles to achieve described purposes. If a green hydrogen project is identified and proposed, the bill would authorize the gas corporation to file an application with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for approval to undertake the project or projects. The bill would require CPUC to approve, or modify and approve, a project or projects and associated investments in green hydrogen and hydrogen-related infrastructure, and to authorize recovery of those expenses incurred through a reasonable cost recovery mechanism. Was not heard in the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.

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Summary

Requires that each local publicly owned electric utility's updated integrated resource plan include, as applicable, details of the utility’s electrical service rate design that supports transportation electrification. The bill requires the rate design include details for all applicable transportation sectors and include information on decision making tools, such as cost calculators or cost estimates that can assist customers in predicting the cost of paying for electricity for these vehicles.

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