The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to administer provisions regulating the inspection of intrastate pipelines that transport hazardous liquids. The act requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt hazardous liquid pipeline safety regulations in compliance with the federal law relating to hazardous liquid pipeline safety, as provided. The act authorizes the State Fire Marshal to exempt the application of those regulations to any pipeline, or portion thereof, when it is determined that the risk to public safety is slight and the probability of injury or damage remote. The act requires any new or replacement pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone to use best available technology based on a risk analysis conducted by the operator to reduce the amount of oil released in an oil spill to protect state waters and wildlife. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided. This bill would make an application for a specified exemption pursuant to these provisions subject to a 60-day public comment period and, upon request of any interested person, require it to be considered at a public hearing. The bill would make a project that has received an exemption from the State Fire Marshal, as described above, subject to the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill would make any repaired pipeline near environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas in the coastal zone subject to the requirement to use best available technology based on a risk analysis conducted by an independent expert, rather than the operator, and require that analysis to address prevention, as well as reduction, of the amount of oil released in an oil spill, as described above, and make related changes. The bill would prohibit idled, inactive, or out-of-service hazardous liquid pipelines under the jurisdiction of the State Fire Marshal that have experienced a reportable incident, such as a hazardous liquid spill, from being reactivated or operated, unless specified conditions are met. The bill would require, for any idled, inactive, or out-of-service pipeline that has spilled 10,000 gallons or more of hazardous liquid, the operator to permanently abandon the pipeline by July 1, 2027, or within 6 months of the pipeline's most recent incident, and require the operator to restore the site to its natural condition no later than one year following permanent abandonment. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require the State Fire Marshal to require permanent abandonment of a pipeline if the best available technology is not achievable for a pipeline because of operational aspects, pipeline or regional conditions, or other factors. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to suspend the operations of any pipeline that is not in compliance with the requirements to use best available technology no later than January 1, 2027. Existing law establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells, as provided. A person who violates, fails, neglects, or refuses to comply with the oil and gas laws, or who fails, neglects, or refuses to furnish any report or record required pursuant to those laws, is guilty of a crime. This bill would require an operator seeking approval for a new well, production facility, or specified pipelines in the coastal zone to submit an oil leak detection and response plan, as specified, and obtain approval from the division before obtaining approval for the new well, production facility, or specified pipeline. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law authorizes the Department of Parks and Recreation to grant permits and easements to an oil and gas lessee of the state for pipeline right-of-way purposes. This bill would prohibit any intrastate oil pipeline that has spilled 10,000 gallons or more of oil cumulatively since its construction from operating within 0.5 miles of a state park, a designated ecological reserve, as defined, or a wildlife area, as determined by the Fish and Game Commission. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes. This bill would, on and after July 1, 2026, provide an exemption from the taxes imposed by the Sales and Use Tax Law for the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, hydrogen fuel, as defined. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. This bill would provide that the exemption created by the bill does not apply to local sales and use taxes or transactions and use taxes. Existing law imposes or dedicates certain state sales and use tax rates for local funding, including through the Local Revenue Fund 2011. This bill would provide that the exemption created by the bill does not apply to those state sales and use tax rates imposed or dedicated for local government funding, including those rates for which revenues are deposited into the Local Revenue Fund 2011. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax credit will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would also include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases and requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. Existing law requires the state board, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to develop a standardized system for quantifying the direct carbon emissions and decay from fuel reduction activities for purposes of meeting the accounting requirements for Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund expenditures, as specified. This bill would require the state board, on or before January 1, 2028, to publish on its internet website an assessment of the life-cycle emissions from alternative uses of forest and agricultural biomass residues, as specified. The bill would require the state board, on or before January 1, 2029, to publish on its internet website a strategy to support beneficial carbon removal products, including, but not limited to, biochar, that are generated from agricultural or forest biomass resources. The bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to require, to the extent feasible, all state-funded forest health projects to include an appropriate forest biomass resource disposal component that includes a scientifically based, verifiable method to determine the amount of biomass to be physically removed and the amount to be burned by prescribed burn. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to include the value proposition of using agricultural and forest biomass resources for low- and negative-carbon liquid and gaseous fuels, including hydrogen, from noncombustion conversion technology methods and other emerging and innovative approaches in relevant reports and other agency-sponsored documentation.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt rules and regulations that will achieve ambient air quality standards required by the federal Clean Air Act, as specified. Existing law requires the state board, following a noticed public hearing, to adopt airborne toxic control measures to reduce emissions of toxic air contaminants from nonvehicular sources. Pursuant to this authority, the state board has adopted the Airborne Toxic Control Measure for Fuel Sulfur and Other Operational Requirements for Ocean-Going Vessels within California Waters and 24 Nautical Miles of the California Baseline regulation to require the use of low-sulfur marine distillate fuels in order to reduce emissions of particulate matter, diesel particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides from the use of auxiliary diesel and diesel-electric engines, main propulsion diesel engines, and auxiliary boilers on oceangoing vessels. This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in coordination with the State Lands Commission, the Transportation Agency, and the state board, to develop a plan on or before December 31, 2030, for the alternative fuel needs of oceangoing vessels that call at California's public seaports and that enables the seaports to meet their emission reduction goals. The bill would require that the plan do specified things, including, among other things, identify barriers to permitting alternative fuel facilities at seaports and opportunities to address those barriers. The bill would require the Energy Commission to convene a working group to advise the Energy Commission on the development of the information required to be included in the plan, as specified. The bill would require the state board to provide the Energy Commission with information regarding fuels for oceangoing vessels that comply with the state board's regulations for those vessels.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment. CEQA exempts certain projects from its requirements, including actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of a line, plant, or system, or extensions of those facilities without first obtaining from the Public Utilities Commission a certificate that the present or future convenience and necessity require or will require the construction. Existing law specifies that the certificate is not required for the extension, expansion, upgrade, or other modification of existing electrical transmission facilities. This bill would require the commission to determine whether to certify the environmental impact report for an electrical infrastructure project that is a priority project, as defined, no later than 270 days after the commission determines that an application for an electrical infrastructure project is complete, except as specified. The bill would require a project applicant to identify an electrical infrastructure project that is a priority project and the basis for the designation in the application to the commission. The bill would require commission staff to review an application for a priority project no later than 30 days after it is filed and notify the applicant in writing of any deficiencies in the information and data submitted in the application. The bill would require the applicant to correct any deficiencies or notify the commission in writing why it is unable to correct those deficiencies, as specified, within 60 days of that notification. The bill would require the commission to deem an application for a priority project complete with a preliminary ruling setting the scope and schedule, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in coordination with specified agencies, to develop a strategic plan for offshore wind energy developments installed off the California coast in federal waters, and requires the Energy Commission to submit the strategic plan to the Natural Resources Agency and the Legislature on or before June 30, 2023, as specified. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in coordination with relevant state and local agencies, to develop a plan to improve waterfront facilities that could support a range of floating offshore wind energy development activities, as specified. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and biennially thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report that contains an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, presents policy recommendations based on an in-depth and integrated analysis of the most current and pressing energy issues facing the state, and includes an assessment and forecast of system reliability and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Commission, as part of the 2027 edition of the integrated energy policy report and each edition thereafter, and contingent upon an appropriation for this purpose, to include an assessment of funding needs for port infrastructure for offshore wind energy development, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified entities, to include in the assessment any federal, state, and local funding opportunities, including general obligation bonds and funding from the private sector, that can help build port infrastructure for offshore wind energy development.
The Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, governed by a board of directors. The act, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities. The Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund Act of 2020 authorizes the I-Bank, under the Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund Program, to provide financial assistance to any eligible sponsor or participating party in connection with the financing or refinancing for eligible climate catalyst projects, as defined, either directly to the sponsor or participating party or to a lending or financial institution, as specified. The act, beginning in the 2021–22 fiscal year, requires the I-Bank to adopt a climate catalyst financing plan, as specified, after meeting and conferring with prescribed authorized consulting agencies concerning specific categories of climate catalyst projects. The act establishes the Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund as a continuously appropriated fund for the purpose of implementing the objectives and provisions of the act. This bill would authorize the I-Bank to provide financial assistance in connection with the financing or refinancing of an additional category of climate catalyst projects, those projects that enable the capture and conversion of data centers' waste heat, with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) as the consulting agency. If multiple projects seek funding under this category of climate catalyst projects, the bill would require the consulting agencies to prioritize funding based on state policy and on financial considerations, as determined by the Energy Commission. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in the fund may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law vests the state board with the authority to regulate transportation fuels and requires the state board to adopt standards and regulations providing for specification for vehicular fuel composition to achieve the maximum degree of emission reduction possible from vehicular sources to attain the state air quality standards. This bill would require the state board, on a quarterly basis, to submit to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature a report providing data and describing the impacts of its regulations of transportation fuels on the prices of those fuel to California consumers.
Existing law establishes a state policy that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2040, 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2045, and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2035, as provided. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , and State Air Resources Board to issue a joint report to the Legislature by January 1, 2021, and every 4 years thereafter, that includes specified information relating to the implementation of that state policy. Existing law requires the PUC and the Energy Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. This bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with specified agencies, to develop a strategic plan for new in-state geothermal energy in California, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission to submit the strategic plan to the Natural Resources Agency and the Legislature on or before June 30, 2027. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with specified agencies, to work with stakeholders, other relevant federal, state, and local agencies, interested Native American tribes, California load-serving entities, and the geothermal energy industry to identify suitable and recommended locations for the development of new in-state geothermal energy, to establish state lands leasing goals for new in-state geothermal energy development for 2035 and 2045, as specified, and to identify opportunities to work with federal agencies on the timing, scope, and prioritization of geothermal lease sales to support geothermal development on federal lands within California, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC and the Independent System Operator (ISO) , to assess the transmission investments and upgrades necessary to support new in-state geothermal energy. The bill would require the PUC to designate new in-state geothermal energy as a long lead-time resource in its recurring input to the ISO's system need scoring for the interconnection and transmission planning process. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with specified entities, to develop and produce a permitting roadmap that describes timeframes and milestones for a coordinated, comprehensive, and efficient permitting process for new in-state geothermal energy exploration and field development and associated electricity and transmission infrastructure, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with the State Lands Commission, the Department of Conservation, and the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, to assess the level at which new and existing geothermal rentals and royalties would best support California's long-term renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals while maintaining competitiveness with rentals and rates on federal lands and in other states, as provided. The bill would require the information described in this paragraph, an assessment of known impacts to Native American and Indigenous peoples and biological resources, and strategies for addressing those impacts, and an assessment, led by the Geologic Energy Management Division, using the best available data, of the in-state geothermal resource potential, to be included in the strategic plan, as specified.
The hazardous waste control laws require the Department of Toxic Substances Control to regulate the handling and management of hazardous waste and hazardous materials. Existing law requires a generator of hazardous waste to pay to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration a generation and handling fee for each generator site, and requires the Board of Environmental Safety to establish a schedule of rates for the fee, as provided. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. Existing law generally exempts geothermal waste that is generated from the exploration, development, or production of geothermal energy and that does not result from drilling for geothermal resources from the hazardous waste control laws. Existing law limits that exemption under various circumstances, including, among other circumstances, when the waste is no longer contained in a piping system, nonearthen trench, or other specified form of containment, or is left in a lined surface impoundment 18 months after the date the surface impoundment has last received waste. This bill would limit the generation and handling fee rate for geothermal waste that is not exempt from the hazardous waste control laws to no more than $10 per ton.
