Vehicular fuels: renewable and clean hydrogen: income tax: credit.

(1) Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the State Air Resources Board, on or before December 31 of each year, to jointly review and report on progress toward establishing a hydrogen-fueling network that provides the coverage and capacity to fuel vehicles requiring hydrogen fuel that are being placed into operation in the state. The Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law authorize various credits against the taxes imposed by those laws. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would allow a green hydrogen, as defined, production facility and distribution credit against the personal income and corporate income taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2023, and before January 1, 2033, to a qualified taxpayer for qualified building or qualified distribution costs, or both, as defined. The bill would also allow a hydrogen infrastructure credit against those taxes for each taxable year beginning on or after January 1, 2023, and before January 1, 2033, to a qualified taxpayer for qualified building costs, as defined. The bill would decrease the green hydrogen production facility and distribution credit as the amount of green hydrogen produced on average per day in the state increases and would decrease the hydrogen infrastructure credit as the number of public hydrogen fueling stations in operation in the state increases. The bill would limit the total amount of the green hydrogen production facility and distribution credit to $1,000,000,000 over all available taxable years, as specified, and would limit the hydrogen infrastructure credit to $500,000,000 per taxable year. The bill would require each credit to be allocated to qualified taxpayers by the Franchise Tax Board in the order the returns are received by the board. This bill would, except as specified, require the State Air Resources Board, on or before January 1 of each year, to provide certification to the Franchise Tax Board on the average amount of green hydrogen produced in the state and the number of publicly available hydrogen fueling stations in operation in the state for the prior calendar year. The bill would repeal this requirement on December 1, 2033. This bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. (2) Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution and requires the state board, in partnership with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and in conjunction with other state agencies, to develop and adopt a state plan to increase the use of alternative fuels, as defined. Existing law requires the state board to adopt regulations that will ensure that, in any year immediately following a 12-month period in which the mass of hydrogen fuel dispensed for transportation purposes in California exceeds 3,500 metric tons, no less than 33.3% of the hydrogen produced or dispensed in California for motor vehicles be made from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined. This bill would require those regulations to require that, on a statewide basis, no less than 33.3% of the hydrogen produced or dispensed in California for motor vehicles be green hydrogen. The bill would require that the green percentage be increased to 44% by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, 60% by December 31, 2030, and would require that by December 31, 2045, 100% of the hydrogen produced or dispensed in California for motor vehicles be either green hydrogen or clean hydrogen, as defined.