Existing law creates the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program to provide operating and capital assistance for transit agencies to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and improve mobility. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to administer the program and to adopt guidelines, in coordination with the State Air Resources Board, that describe the methodologies to be used by a recipient transit agency to demonstrate that proposed expenditures will meet specified program expenditure requirements and establish the reporting requirements for documenting ongoing compliance with those expenditure requirements. This bill would repeal the requirement for the department to adopt guidelines. Existing law continuously appropriates a specified amount of money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for the program and requires the Controller to allocate those moneys according to the requirements of the program. Existing law requires a recipient transit agency to demonstrate that expenditures of program moneys allocated to the agency reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and do not supplant other sources of funds. Existing law requires moneys for the program to be expended to provide transit operating or capital assistance that directly enhances or expands transit services, increases transit mode share, or is related to the purchase of zero-emission buses, as specified. Before seeking a disbursement of funds pursuant to the program, existing law requires a recipient transit agency to submit to the department a list of proposed expense types and documentation required by the guidelines that demonstrates compliance with the above-described expenditure requirements. For capital projects funded by the program, existing law requires a transit agency to specify the phases of work for which an allocation of program moneys is sought, identify sources and timing of all moneys required for those phases of work, and describe intended sources and timing of funding for subsequent phases of work, as provided. Existing law requires a recipient transit agency to provide an annual report to the department, as provided. Existing law requires the department and a recipient transit agency to comply with guidelines developed by the State Air Resources Board to ensure that the requirements of a certain investment plan are met to maximize the benefits to disadvantaged communities, as provided. This bill would revise and recast the program to, among other things, require program funds to be expended only on maintenance or expansion of bus, rail, or ferry services, transit fare subsidies, and network and fare integration technology improvements. By altering the permissible uses for which continuously appropriated funds may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. Before receiving program funds, the bill would require a recipient transit agency to submit to the department a list of services or programs to be funded by those funds, as specified. The bill would require the department to report to the Controller the recipient transit agencies that have submitted the list, and would, upon receipt of the report from the department, require the Controller to allocate program funds. The bill would require a recipient transit agency to report to the department on the expenditure of program funds, as specified.
Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to administratively approve an application to install an electric vehicle charging station through the issuance of a building permit or similar nondiscretionary permit, and requires every local government to adopt an ordinance that creates an expedited, streamlined permitting process for electric vehicle charging stations, as provided. Existing law defines "electric vehicle charging station" to mean any level of electric vehicle supply equipment station that is designed and built in compliance with specified provisions, and delivers electricity from a source outside an electric vehicle into a plug-in electric vehicle. Existing law requires fees charged by a local agency for specified purposes, including permits, to not exceed the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, unless a question regarding the amount of the fee charged in excess of this cost is submitted to, and approved by, 23 of the electors. Existing law, until January 1, 2034, prohibits a city, county, city or county, or charter city from charging a permit fee for a solar energy system that exceeds the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, which cannot exceed $450 plus $15 per kilowatt for each kilowatt above 15kW for residential solar energy systems, and $1,000 plus $7 per kilowatt for each kilowatt between 51kW and 250kW, plus $5 for every kilowatt above 250kW, for commercial solar energy systems, unless the city, county, city and county, or charter city provides substantial evidence of the reasonable cost to issue the permit as part of a written finding and an adopted resolution or ordinance, as provided. This bill, until January 1, 2036, would prohibit a city, county, city or county, or charter city from charging a permit fee for an electric vehicle charging station that exceeds the estimated reasonable cost of providing the service for which the fee is charged, which cannot exceed $500 plus $5 per kilowatt for each kilowatt between 51kW and 250kW, plus $2 for every kilowatt above 250kW, for a level 2 electric vehicle charging station installed at a new or existing multifamily housing development, unless the city, county, city and county, or charter city provides substantial evidence of the reasonable cost to issue the permit as part of a written finding and an adopted resolution or ordinance, as provided. The bill would make its provisions operative on July 1, 2027, but for every city, county, city and county, or charter city with a population of fewer than 200,000 residents, the provisions would apply beginning on January 1, 2028. By requiring local agencies to perform additional duties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would make related findings and declarations. The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. 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.
The Municipal Utility District Act establishes the formation of a municipal utility district for the provision of light, heat, water, or power within the district's jurisdiction. The act prohibits a district furnishing light, heat, water, or power from terminating residential service on account of nonpayment of a delinquent account unless the district provides a notice of delinquency and an opportunity to cure, as provided. This bill would authorize districts to offer customers the option of electronically receiving the required notice of delinquency, as specified. The bill would authorize districts furnishing service to fewer than 100,000 customers to offer residential customers a prepay option, as defined, for electrical service if certain conditions are met, including, among other things, that the district provides the customer with information on returning to standard billing and issues automated low-balance alerts to the customer before suspending the customer's electrical service, as provided. The bill would specify that the requirement to provide a notice of delinquency does not apply to customers participating in the prepay option.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, on or before January 1, 2024, and every 3 years thereafter, to submit an assessment to the Legislature that, among other things, identifies methods to ensure a reliable supply of affordable and safe transportation fuels in California and evaluates the price of transportation fuels, including branded and unbranded retail prices, alternate formulations of gasoline with lower carbon impact, and other products suitable for production from refineries in California, as provided. Existing law establishes the Division of Petroleum Market Oversight within the commission to, among other things, provide independent oversight and analysis of the transportation fuels market for the protection of consumers by identifying market design flaws, market power abuses, and any other manner by which market participants act to harm competition or act contrary to the best interests of the consumers in the state. Existing law requires the director of the division, when requested, to appear before the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature to provide an update on the division's performance as compared to its objectives, the status of competition in the transportation fuels markets, and other information the committees request. This bill would require the commission, on or before January 31, 2029, to seek to enter into memoranda of understanding with relevant air districts and local governments with transportation fuels refining facilities within their jurisdictions, as identified by the commission, to enable the further coordination that is needed to support management of the transportation fuels sector and to ensure the transportation fuels sector is successfully managed and maintains environmental, public health, labor, economic, and consumer protections.
The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity protection and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. Of these funds, the act makes $300,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for improving climate resilience and sustainability of agricultural lands, including, among other things, by making $15,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Department of Education, in consultation with the Department of Food and Agriculture, for purposes of providing grants to public postsecondary educational institutions that are designated as Agricultural Experiment Stations or Agricultural Research Institutes, to develop research farms to improve climate resiliency, as specified. Existing law authorizes a state agency to furnish services, materials, or equipment to, or perform work for, any other state agency upon terms and conditions and for the consideration as they may determine, and to enter into agreements for that purpose, subject to approval of the Director of General Services. Existing law requires a state agency that furnishes the services, materials, or equipment to, or performs the work for, the other state agency to compute charges in a manner approved by the Director of Finance. Existing law authorizes a state agency to provide for the advancing of funds, as provided, to defray those charges. This bill would authorize the State Department of Education to advance a payment for a contract or agreement made with the Department of Food and Agriculture pursuant to the research farm provisions of Proposition 4, described above, in the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years. The bill would exempt those contracts and agreements from the above-described requirement of approval by the Director of General Services. The bill would provide, for purposes of those contracts and agreements, that developing a research farm pursuant to the research farm provisions of Proposition 4 includes constructing a new research farm and maintaining, altering, or improving an existing research farm previously constructed by the Agricultural Experiment Station or the Agricultural Research Institute. This bill would provide, for purposes of the research farm grants, that Agricultural Experiment Stations and Agricultural Research Institutes are designated by the University of California and the California State University.
(1) The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations relating to intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of hazardous liquid substances or highly volatile liquid substances. The act requires these regulations to comply with federal law, which defines hazardous liquid to include, among others, petroleum, petroleum products, and ethanol or other nonpetroleum fuel. Federal law also defines highly volatile liquid substances to mean a hazardous liquid that will form a vapor cloud when released, as provided. The act governs various issues related to intrastate pipelines, including, among others, pipeline design and construction, pipeline testing, land use restrictions within pipeline easements, reporting and document retention requirements on pipeline operators, pipeline inspections, emergency protocols, and enforcement. This bill would enact the Hydrogen Pipeline Safety Act, a regulatory program, similar to the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act, governing pipelines dedicated to transporting hydrogen, to be administered by the State Fire Marshal, as specified. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations governing various issues related to the operation and safety of hydrogen pipelines, including those listed above. The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act authorizes the State Fire Marshal to assess and collect an annual fee from each operator of a pipeline regulated by the act for the purposes of carrying out the act, as provided, and requires those annual fees to be deposited into the Pipeline Operations Account within the California Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Fund. The act requires specified civil penalties provided for by the act to be deposited into the Local Training Account in the fund. Moneys in the accounts are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Fire Marshal for specified purposes. This bill would similarly authorize the State Fire Marshal to assess and collect an annual fee from each hydrogen pipeline operator for the purposes of carrying out the bill. The bill would require those annual fees to be deposited into the Pipeline Operations Account and specified civil penalties provided for by the bill into the Local Training Account. The bill would make the moneys in the accounts available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the State Fire Marshal for specified purposes relating to these pipeline regulatory programs. The bill would rename the California Hazardous Liquid Pipeline Safety Fund the California Pipeline Safety Fund. The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act requires that a person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act be subject to a fine of not more than $25,000, imprisonment, or both, as provided. The act requires a person who willfully and knowingly defaces, damages, removes, or destroys any hazardous liquid pipeline sign or right-of-way marker required by law to be subject to a fine of not more than $5,000, imprisonment, or both, as provided. This bill would require the same penalties described above to be imposed on a person who willfully and knowingly violates a provision of the bill or a regulation issued pursuant to the bill or defaces, damages, removes, or destroys any hydrogen pipeline sign or right-of-way marker required by law. By creating new crimes, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to submit to the Legislature a report with recommendations for the appropriate regulatory framework and division of jurisdictional responsibility applicable to certain pipelines carrying blends of hydrogen, as specified. (2) 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.
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 (EIR) 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 provides that when an EIR has been prepared for a project, no subsequent or supplemental EIR shall be required by a lead agency or responsible agency, unless specified events occur. This bill would require a lead agency, before issuing the initial discretionary approval for a large-volume bulk coal facility, defined as a facility with a design capacity exceeding 5,000,000 short tons per year of coal handling, storage, or export to prepare or cause to be prepared an EIR. The bill would prohibit a lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district from relying on an existing EIR to issue a discretionary approval for, or to, a large-volume bulk coal facility, and would require a subsequent or new EIR to be prepared, if any of a list of specified conditions are met, including that there is an increase in design capacity of a project that did not previously meet the definition of a large-volume bulk coal facility, as provided; there is a change in the type of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly address the type of coal handled, stored, or exported; or there is a significant increase in the quantity of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly disclose the quantity of coal to be handled, stored, or exported. The bill would require an EIR or subsequent EIR prepared pursuant to these provisions to, among other things, evaluate the large-volume bulk coal facility's potential to generate PM2.5 and PM10 fugitive dust emissions during construction and operations, and to require mitigation measures, as provided. The bill would apply these provisions to a discretionary approval that is pending or made after June 4, 2026, as specified. Because the bill would create new duties for a lead agency, 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.
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (act) , otherwise known as the Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to contract with a landowner to limit the use of agricultural land to agricultural use if the land is located in an agricultural preserve designated by the city or county, as specified. Existing law authorizes the county or city to cancel a contract under certain circumstances and conditions. Existing law requires the city or county to determine the amount of the cancellation fee, based on the assessor's determination of the fair market value of the land as though it were free of the contractual restriction, that the landowner shall pay if the city and county approves a cancellation of a contract, as specified. Existing law authorizes the city or county to waive the payment or extend the time for making payment if the cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or change in the use which may be made of land, the county or city has determined that it is in the best interest of the program to conserve agricultural land use that the payment be either deferred or not required, and the extension is approved by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, as provided. This bill would remove the ability of a city or county to waive payment or extend the time for making payment, as described above. The bill would instead authorize the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, upon application by the landowner, to waive payment or extend the time for making payment, as described above, if either the cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or change in the use which may be made of the land, as described above, or the cancellation is to facilitate a photovoltaic solar facility that meets specified conditions. The bill, until January 1, 2037, would require the secretary to approve a completed application for extension of making the payment by a landowner if it includes certain items, as provided, and would require the secretary to waive payment if the landowner attests and provides proof to the secretary that a solar project has been constructed on the property. The act deems a contract null and void upon acquisition of the land subject to the contract in an eminent domain action or upon acquisition of land in lieu of eminent domain, as provided. The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021 authorizes the Governor, until January 1, 2032, to certify, among other projects, a clean renewable energy project that generates electricity exclusively through wind or solar, as specified, for certain streamlining benefits. This bill would additionally deem a contract null and void when that land is approved for use as a photovoltaic solar facility certified under the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021, as provided.
Existing law makes void and unenforceable any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, or other instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that effectively prohibits or restricts certain land uses, including the installation or use of a solar energy system or construction or use of an accessory dwelling unit or junior accessory dwelling unit on certain lots. Existing law authorizes a person who holds or is acquiring an ownership interest of record in property that the person believes is the subject of an unlawfully restrictive covenant, as specified, to record a restrictive covenant modification document. Before recording the document, existing law requires the county recorder to submit the modification document and the original document to the county counsel, who is required to determine whether the original document contains an unlawful restriction. This bill would make void and unenforceable against an interested party any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, lease, or other recorded or unrecorded instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that effectively prohibits or restricts the use of that property as a grocery store or supermarket, as defined, if a grocery store or supermarket either previously operated on the property and has ceased operations or is no longer in actual operation within a commercial project or shopping center and an approved restrictive covenant modification document has been recorded in the public record. The bill would entitle an interested party, as defined, to establish that an existing restrictive covenant is unenforceable by submitting a restrictive covenant modification document to the county recorder, in accordance with certain procedures, to allow the grocery store or supermarket development to proceed. The bill would prohibit a person or entity, beginning on January 1, 2027, from creating or recording any covenant, restriction, or condition contained in any deed, contract, security instrument, lease, or other recorded or unrecorded instrument affecting the transfer or sale of any interest in real property that effectively prohibits or restricts the use of that property as a grocery store or supermarket if a grocery store or supermarket either previously operated on the property and has ceased operations or is no longer in actual operation within a commercial project or shopping center, except as prescribed. By imposing additional duties on county officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would include findings and declarations relating to these provisions. 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.
(1) Existing law creates the California Coastal Sanctuary and provides that it includes all state waters subject to tidal influence, except as provided. Existing law authorizes the State Lands Commission to enter into any lease for the extraction of oil or gas from state-owned tidelands and submerged lands in the California Coastal Sanctuary if the commission determines both that oil and gas deposits in the California Coastal Sanctuary are being drained by means of producing wells upon adjacent federal lands and that the lease is in the best interest of the state. This bill would prohibit the commission from entering into leases for the extraction of oil or gas, as described above, in areas designated as California marine protected areas or national marine sanctuaries, as provided. (2) Existing law prohibits the commission or a local trustee, as defined, of granted public trust lands from entering into a new lease or other conveyance authorizing new construction of oil- and gas-related infrastructure upon tidelands and submerged lands within state waters associated with Pacific Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after January 1, 2018, except as provided. Existing law requires the commission or a local trustee when approving or disapproving a lease renewal, extension, amendment, or modification authorizing new construction of oil- and gas-related infrastructure upon tidelands and submerged lands within state waters associated with Pacific Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after January 1, 2018, to follow a specified process. This bill would additionally prohibit leases and oil- and gas-related infrastructure located upon tidelands and submerged lands within state waters from being used to support Pacific Outer Continental Shelf leases issued after January 1, 2026, except as provided. The bill would additionally require the commission or the local trustee, in considering approval or disapproval, to consider additional factors, as specified. By imposing additional duties on local trustees in the consideration of a lease renewal, extension, amendment, or modification, this 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
