California Air Resources Board

Authorizes the issuance of bonds in the amount of $20,000,000,000 to finance transit and passenger rail improvements, local streets and roads and active transportation projects, zero-emission vehicle investments, transportation freight infrastructure improvements, and grade separations and other critical safety improvements, including $3 billion for ZEVs and $2.5 billion for transportation freight infrastructure improvements. Remains in the Assembly Transportation Committee.

View full bill text here

Would have specified that any schoolbus that is replaced pursuant to the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Initiative Project (HVIP) was to be excluded from the scrapping requirement for a frontier Local Educational Agency or small school district. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

View full bill text here

Requires CARB to add a due date of December 31, 2026, for the first biennial report following the full implementation of the Clean Truck Check program. Moved to the Senate Inactive File.

View full bill text here

Appropriates $132 million from the Hino Motors Ltd. Settlement to the Heavy-Duty Vehicle Incentive Program and authorizes CARB to adopt fees to cover reasonable costs for deficiencies of off-road or nonvehicular engines and equipment, aftermarket parts, and emissions control components sold in the State.

View full bill text here

Makes appropriations for the support of the State government for the 2025-26 fiscal year including Includes an appropriation for $19.8M to regional Clean Cars 4 All programs.

View full bill text here

Would have extended the sales and use tax exemptions to January 1, 2028 for zero-emission transit buses sold to public agencies that are eligible for the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project (HVIP) program. Held on suspense in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

View full bill text here

Would have authorized an air district participating in Clean Cars 4 All (CC4A) to submit a disbursement request for additional funds to CARB if the district determines its balance of available funding is less than its total expenditures under the program over the prior 4 months. If there are sufficient funds available from funds allocated to CC4A to cover the request while retaining a specified reserve, CARB must issue the requested amount of funding to the air district within 60 days of submittal of the request. This bill was gut and amended to instead require the Attorney General to establish and maintain a specified program to build internal expertise in artificial intelligence. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. 

View full bill text here

Would have required CARB to ensure the Clean Cars 4 All program (CC4A) is available in all areas of the State including areas the local air district has not elected to participate in the program and requires CARB to manage the distribution of incentives to eligible residents of those areas. Would have required the performance analysis of the clean mobility options component to include an evaluation of the funding and targeted outreach to areas with the highest number of vehicles manufactured before 2004 or that are at least 20 years old. Would have also required CARB to consider the total value of vouchers deployed and metrics for retired vehicles in funding allocations to local air districts and delete the requirement to consider population. Held on suspense in the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

View full bill text here

Summary

Would have established the Equity, Climate Resilience, and Quality Jobs Fund in the State Treasury and required, to the extent authorized by the federal jobs acts, as defined, one percent of all qualified moneys from the federal jobs acts to be transferred into the fund to be utilized by the California Workforce Development Board for specified purposes. The bill would have also required the establishment of memorandums of understanding and reporting of labor standards’ outcomes from affected State agencies, such as CARB.

View full bill text here

Governor’s Veto Message

To the Members of the California State Senate:

I am returning Senate Bill 1375 without my signature.

This bill establishes the Equity, Climate Resilience, and Quality Jobs Fund and requires one percent of all qualified monies from the federal jobs acts to be transferred into the fund for specified purposes, including the development of poverty-reducing programs and labor standards.

California has long led the nation with strong worker protections, from robust health and safety standards to requiring livable wages to ensuring protections against discrimination in the workplace. For public works projects, state standards include both prevailing wage and minimum apprentice-to -journeyperson requirements to protect and promote these high-quality jobs. The state has also made historic investments in pre-apprenticeship programs to further reduce barriers. This structured pathway builds partnerships between the state, building and construction trades, local workforce boards, community colleges, and community-based organizations to recruit and support individuals from disadvantaged communities on their path to an apprenticeship program.

When the Biden-Harris Administration launched historic federal infrastructure investments, I issued an Executive Order creating an Infrastructure Strike Team within my Administration to coordinate work across all state agencies. This year, we launched www.build.ca.gov to highlight the state's key investments and issued guidelines for programs to embed equity in project development. Additionally, in March, my Administration established the California Jobs First Council to focus on streamlining the state's key economic and workforce development programs and create more jobs, faster.

I strongly support efforts to maximize state and federal funding opportunities to deliver high-quality jobs that increase opportunities for all communities and decrease disparities in historically disadvantaged areas. However, creating a memorandum of understanding process with potentially 200 independent agreements and establishing an entirely new regulatory framework, as envisioned by this bill, is unnecessary to accomplish this goal. Significant coordination between state agencies is well underway to build upon the state's existing strong workforce development programs and worker protection laws.

For these reasons, I cannot sign this bill.

Sincerely,

Gavin Newsom

View Governor’s veto message here

Summary

Would have made eligible a facility that uses renewable hydrogen, as defined, as a renewable electrical generation facility under the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. Moved to the Senate Inactive File.

View full bill text here