California Air Resources Board

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 

Increases the priority population minimum investment amounts from the California Climate Investments from 25% to 50% for disadvantaged communities and from 5% to 15% for low-income communities. Was not heard in the Assembly Natural Resources 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 

Requires State agencies and departments to consider the use of more inclusive practices to advance equity and defines “equity” as addressing the disparities in opportunities and outcomes of underserved populations and empowering and meeting the unique needs of diverse and underserved populations, to ensure that communities facing the greatest inequities are not left behind. Moved to the inactive file in on the Senate Floor.

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Summary

Authorizes the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency (CNRA Secretary) to enter into agreements with federally recognized California Native American tribes in support of tribal sovereignty with respect to cultural burning. The bill provides that, in deference to tribal sovereignty, the CNRA Secretary may agree, with regard to cultural burning, that compliance with State permitting or regulatory requirements is not required. The CNRA Secretary may enter into the agreement with such tribes related to the State Smoke Management Program only with concurrence of the Secretary of Environmental Protection. The bill does not provide authorization to enter or burn property without the permission of the landowner. In order to support these agreements, the bill also requires the CNRA Secretary to convene a cultural burn working group consisting of State agencies, California Native American tribes, local air districts, and local governments, with the goal of determining a framework to enable conditions conducive to cultural burning, including consideration of the role of a local air pollution control district in supporting the effort of cultural burning. The bill requires the working group to report its findings to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2025. The bill repeals these provisions on January 1, 2029. Was not heard in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Formalizes the existence of the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development’s (GO-Biz) ZEV division as the ZEV Market Development Office in statute, as specified, and establishes the ZEV Equity Advocate, within the office, until January 1, 2028, as specified. Requires the ZEV Market Development Office to coordinate with relevant state agencies, including CARB.

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Summary

Among other things, establishes interim targets for the State’s 100 percent clean energy goal in 2045 and accelerates the date by which State agencies must achieve 100 percent clean energy use. This bill requires that CARB’s Scoping Plan workshops be held in non-attainment areas and requires the California Public Utilities Commission, the California Energy Commission, and CARB to create a joint report on electricity reliability.

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Summary

Would have established the Climate Pollution Reduction in Homes Initiative and required 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. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would have required CARB, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to develop a program to provide financial assistance through a payment card to low-income and disadvantaged community members to use electric vehicle charging stations. This bill would have also required a recipient of State funding for deploying a publicly available electric vehicle charging station to agree, as a condition of receiving the funding, to operate the station in compliance with reliability standards that would be developed by the California Energy Commission. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

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Summary

Would have directed the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to adopt a new net energy metering (NEM) standard contract or tariff, which the bill would have defined as the "replacement tariff," by August 1, 2022, and would have required an electrical investor-owned utility to offer the replacement tariff to an eligible customer-generator by December 31, 2023. If CPUC failed to act, CPUC would have been required to adopt a new tariff under prescribed terms. Moved to the Assembly Inactive File.

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