California Air Resources Board

Summary 

Would have extended the funding committed by SB 901 (Dodd, Chapter 626, Statutes of 2018) for fire prevention and management projects by continuously appropriating $200 million to California Department of Forestry and Fire Prevention (CAL FIRE) from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF). Beginning in the 2021-2022 fiscal year and ending in the 2028-2029 fiscal year, $200 million from GGRF would have been appropriated to CAL FIRE for (1) healthy forest and fire prevention programs and projects and (2) prescribed fire and other fuel reduction projects. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.   

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Summary

Would have, among other things, continuously appropriated, from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, $480 million to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) and $20 million to the California Conservation Corps for fire prevention activities, and indefinitely extend existing law that allows the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to exempt certain forest management activities from obtaining approval from CAL FIRE for a timber harvesting plan. Forest management activities that would have been eligible for exemption include cutting or removing trees on property to reduce flammable materials and maintain a fuelbreak on each side of a habitable structure. The bill would have also extended the distance of the fuelbreak from 300 feet to 500 feet. Finally, the bill would have exempted certain forest health and fuel reduction activities from the California Environmental Quality Act. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Summary

Would have required CARB to identify and make recommendations for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions of greenhouse gas and black carbon emissions from wildfires in each update to the Scoping Plan after January 1, 2022. The bill also would have provided the intent to make a Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund appropriation for wildfire mitigation and prevention. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Summary

Would have, among other things, suspended the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund appropriation to the High‑Speed Rail Authority for the 2023–24 and 2024–25 fiscal years and would have transferred those amounts to the General Fund to augment funding for K–12 education and to support full-time in-person instruction for all students. Was not heard in the Assembly Transportation Committee.

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Summary

Would have required CARB, by December 31, 2022, as a part of the Scoping Plan, to prepare an evaluation of the role of hydrogen, and particularly green hydrogen, in achieving California’s climate goals. CARB, in consultation with the California Energy Commission (CEC), the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), the California Workforce Development Board, and labor groups, would have been required to prepare a separate evaluation by June 1, 2023 to be posted on CARB’s internet website.

Also, by June 1, 2023, CARB, in conjunction with CEC and CPUC, would have had to: (1) jointly develop recommendations to the Legislature on definitions for different categories of hydrogen and potential end uses for those categories of hydrogen; (2) provide guidance to the Legislature on which categories of hydrogen may be used to meet eligibility requirements for those programs under each State entity’s jurisdiction; (3) jointly develop prohibitions against double counting of environmental attributes associated with production, distribution, and use of hydrogen; and, (4) calculate life-cycle carbon dioxide intensity values for hydrogen pathways that reflect the fuels, feedstocks, and production processes used for their production. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would create the Environmental Justice Community Resilience Hubs Program (Program), and would fund the Program by redirecting 5 percent of electrical corporation allocated allowance auction proceeds received under the Cap-and-Trade Program from annual climate credits that are currently provided to residential ratepayers. The Program would fund competitive grants run by electrical corporations and administered by a third-party administrator for owners of critical community institutions for building upgrade projects. Made a 2-Year bill in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would require Strategic Growth Council to coordinate and convene at least two meetings each calendar year with specified State agencies, including CARB, and regional entities, to coordinate their implementation of sustainable transportation policies including vehicle miles traveled reduction goals, zero-Emission Vehicle deployment goals, transit goals, and active transportation goals. The bill would require those State agencies and regional entities, on or before December 31, 2023, and each year thereafter, to collaboratively develop a summary of actions undertaken as part of the meetings and would require the summary to be publicly available on the Strategic Growth Council’s internet website. Moved to the Assembly Inactive File.

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Summary

Would require a State agency that receives and disburses funds provided under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act or other federal recovery funds to consider projects’ potential impact on specified goals, including restoring frontline communities and rapidly accelerating achievement of environmental justice and climate goals, as well as uplifting vulnerable workers by prioritizing high road employers. The bill would require State agencies to document how proposed projects meet or align with the specified goals and requires the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to establish an internet website where the public can track the expenditure of federal ARP funds by the State and how funded projects meet the specified goals. Was not heard in Senate Governmental Organization Committee.

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Summary

Would revise AB 32, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, by charging CARB with only the responsibility of regulating vehicular sources of greenhouse gas emissions in order to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The bill would charge each local air district with the responsibility of regulating all sources, other than vehicular sources, of greenhouse gas emissions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions within its jurisdiction. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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Summary

Would require an owner or operator of a natural gas plant to develop, install, operate, and maintain, in accordance with guidance developed by the appropriate local air district, a fence-line monitoring system to measure and record methane concentrations at or adjacent to a natural gas plant. The bill would require the local air district and the owner or operator of a natural gas plant to collect real-time data from these fence-line monitoring systems, provide that data to the public, and maintain records of that data. The bill would require an owner or operator of a natural gas plant to report methane concentrations readings that exceed background levels to the local air district and requires the local air district to report those readings to Members of the Legislature representing the district in which the natural gas plant is located. The bill would require the owner or operator of a natural gas plant to be responsible for the costs associated with the fence-line monitoring system. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.

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