California Air Resources Board

Summary 

Authorizes the CEC to set a maximum gross gasoline refining margin, petition a court to enjoin a refiner from exceeding the gross margin, and impose a civil penalty on a refiner for exceeding the gross margin. The bill requires CEC and CARB, by December 31, 2024, to prepare a Transportation Fuel Plan. The plan will be required to include how to ensure that the supply of petroleum and alternative transportation fuels is affordable, reliable, equitable, and adequate to meet the demand for those transportation fuels described in the most current scoping plan approved by the CARB.

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Summary 

This bill would have suspended the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulation for one year and exempted suppliers of transportation fuels from the Cap-and-Trade program for one year. The bill would have also suspended motor vehicle fuel taxes and required the State Controller to transfer an amount equal to State motor vehicle fuel tax revenue from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account. Finally, the bill would have  required the State Controller to transfer an amount equal to the sale of allowances to the suppliers of transportation fuels under the Cap-and-Trade program in the 2021-2022 fiscal year to the General Fund. Remains in the Senate Rules Committee.

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Summary 

This bill requires airports with greater than 50,000 takeoffs to report to CARB by June 1, 2024, on measures they’re taking to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions and requires CARB to approve the report or deem it insufficient. The bill requires CARB to develop a public process with local air districts to discuss options for remedying the report, which the airport must resubmit within 120 days. The bill requires CARB to notify the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) upon approval of a report and requires GO-Biz to provide technical assistance to qualified airports. The bill requires airports with greater than 50,000 private takeoffs to report to relevant local air districts on their efforts to mitigate impacts to disadvantaged communities. Failed passage in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee and was granted reconsideration.

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Summary 

Would have eliminated the requirement for CARB to credit dairy methane projects for a minimum of 10 years and prohibited

CARB from guaranteeing those credits if they would not otherwise generate credits in the program. The bill also  would have required CARB to include new specific emissions when calculating a carbon intensity value for dairy methane projects, limited credit generation to historical herd size, and required public disclosure of specified information in fuel pathway applications from dairy methane projects. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required CARB, by January 1, 2028, to develop and publish on its website a report on greenhouse gas inventories for calendar year 2025 for each city and county, upon request. The bill also would have required CARB, consistent with the Scoping Plan update, to update the inventories by 2033, and every five years thereafter. Additionally, the bill would have authorized CARB to enter contracts for development of the inventories and would have required CARB to establish a local government advisory committee by January 1, 2026. Finally, the bill would have allocated $2.5 million to CARB to conduct the inventories, upon appropriation by the Legislature.  Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary 

Would have required CEC to develop a plan, convene a public workshop process, and take specified actions to improve reliability, service quality, and operational uptime of hydrogen stations. The bill also would have required CEC to conduct an analysis of barriers to improving station performance and develop recommendations for doing so, including, but not limited to, an analysis of the use of a station ranking system and credits issued to hydrogen fueling stations under the LCFS to penalize and award retail hydrogen refueling stations based on their performance. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee. 

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Summary 

Clarifies that incidental and unintentional expulsion of residual oil from injection of carbon dioxide fluid as part of a carbon capture and sequestration project shall not be considered enhanced oil recovery and prohibits the sale or trade of that residual oil. Did not receive a vote in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Summary 

Would have made it unlawful for a person to certify or issue a voluntary carbon offset, to maintain a voluntary carbon offset on a registry, or to market or sell a voluntary carbon offset under specified circumstances. This included when the person knows or should know that: the greenhouse gas reductions or removal enhancements are unlikely to be quantifiable, real, and additional. This also included when the person knows or should know that the durability of the offset's reductions is less durable than the atmospheric lifetime of carbon dioxide emissions or the atmospheric lifetime of the greenhouse gases associated with the project's reductions are less than the lifetime of carbon dioxide, unless the person explicitly markets the offsets with that information. 

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Governor’s Veto Message

To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am returning Senate Bill 390 without my signature.

This bill makes certain actions related to voluntary carbon offsets subject to the False Advertising Law, including with respect to offsets that a person knows, or should have known, do not durably reduce greenhouse gases in an amount equal to the "atmospheric lifetime" of carbon dioxide emissions.

I support the author's intent to bring greater transparency to the verification, issuance, and sale of voluntary carbon offsets, and to address the problem of so-called "junk offsets." However, by imposing civil liability for even unintentional mistakes about offset quality, this bill could inadvertently capture well intentioned sellers and verifiers of voluntary offsets, and risks creating significant turmoil in the market for carbon offsets, potentially even beyond California. I encourage the author to consider an alternative approach to ensuring voluntary carbon offset quality that avoids these unintended consequences.

For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.

Sincerely,

Gavin Newsom

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Summary 

Requires CARB to establish rules and processes for certifying carbon dioxide removal processes used to create negative emissions credits. The bill also requires CARB by December 31, 2027, to adopt a regulation requiring emitting entities to purchase negative emissions credits equal to an increasing portion of their greenhouse gas emissions, as specified. Was not heard by the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Summary 

This bill requires corporations with total annual revenues over $500 million and operating in California, beginning December 31, 2024, and annually thereafter, to develop a report on its climate-related financial risks and submit them to a climate reporting organization contracted by CARB, unless it already develops a similar report, as specified. The bill requires the climate reporting organization to prepare a public report that reviews the disclosure reports, an analysis of systemic and sector-wide climate-related financial risks, and identification of inadequate reports. The bill requires CARB to set a fee to cover its costs and adopt regulations authorizing it to seek administrative penalties for entities that fail to report, not exceeding $500,000 in a reporting year.

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