Voluntary greenhouse gas emission offsets.

Existing law creates a statewide greenhouse gas emission limit equivalent to what the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level was in 1990, to be achieved by 2020. The State Air Resources Board is the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of greenhouse gases in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. This bill would require a person selling a voluntary offset, as defined, in the state to clearly and conspicuously disclose specific information in any marketing materials for the voluntary offset. The bill, beginning January 1, 2011, would require an entity that sells a voluntary offset in the state to ensure that each voluntary offset sold has a unique serial number and is registered with and tracked by a registry, as defined. The bill would require a registry to meet certain documentation and tracking requirements. The bill, except as specified, would prohibit a person from registering a voluntary offset with more than one registry concurrently. The bill would prohibit a person from selling, allocating, awarding, transferring, or claiming a voluntary offset for retirement more than once. The bill would authorize a person to resell a voluntary offset that has been previously sold if all rights and benefits associated with the voluntary offset are sold each time the offset is sold. The bill would subject any person who violates those provisions to a civil penalty of not more than $10,000 for each violation.