The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. This bill would prohibit the state board from adopting any regulation or rule that would add more than $0.02 to the cost of a gallon of gasoline or add $2,000 or more to the cost to build any home. The bill would require the state board to submit data to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature that demonstrates how a proposed regulation is compliant with this prohibition. Existing law, the Lewis-Presley Air Quality Management Act, establishes the South Coast Air Quality Management District in those portions of the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino included within the South Coast Air Basin as the local agency with the responsibility for comprehensive air pollution control within the basin. This bill would prohibit the south coast district from adopting any regulation or rule that would add more than $0.02 to the cost of a gallon of gasoline, add $2,000 or more to the cost to build any home, or add $5,000 or more to the cost to build a nonresidential building. The bill would require the south coast district to submit data to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature that demonstrates how a proposed regulation is compliant with this prohibition. To the extent it would impose additional duties on a local entity, 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.
California Assembly Resolution 141 expresses concern that the state's new energy efficiency standards for replacement tires may impose significant financial burdens on consumers and businesses. The resolution cites industry data suggesting tire costs could rise by up to $365 per set, contradicting official estimates of a smaller increase, and argues that the program's environmental benefits have not fully accounted for the impacts of manufacturing, transporting, and disposing of additional tires. It urges the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to reassess the program by conducting a comprehensive evaluation of affordability, tire safety, and full life-cycle environmental effects.
(1) 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. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. Pursuant to the act, the state board has adopted the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations. The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulation of those emissions the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This bill would suspend the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations for one year. The bill would also exempt suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for the use of market-based compliance mechanisms for one year. This bill would direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a partially continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction. This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws. This bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax, the suspension of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations, and the exemption of suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for use of market-based compliance mechanisms by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, the commission administers, or otherwise oversees, various public purpose programs, including energy efficiency and conservation programs, cost-effective energy efficiency programs, the Family Electric Rate Assistance program, the California Alternate Rates for Energy program, rate assistance programs for eligible food banks, and home insulation financial assistance programs. Under existing law, those programs are generally funded through a charge on electrical service, which is collected through customer rates. This bill would require the commission, no later than 180 days after filing, to consider and approve an electrical or gas corporation's application to discontinue administration of an energy efficiency program or an energy efficiency portfolio because the program is not cost effective, not reliable, or, in the case of an electrical corporation, because the program is not being used to meet unmet resource needs in its integrated resources planning framework, as provided. Because a violation of a commission order implementing this provision 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.
The Planning and Zoning Law enacts various laws relating to land use, including statewide land use planning, transportation planning, local planning, zoning regulations, and housing development, among other things. This bill would prohibit state agencies and local governments from adopting or enforcing a rule, regulation, resolution, or ordinance that directly or indirectly results in prohibiting the use of gas appliances in residential or nonresidential buildings. Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission (commission) within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code (code) . Existing law, the State Housing Law, establishes statewide construction and occupancy standards for buildings used for human habitation. Existing law requires the building standards adopted and submitted by the department for approval by the commission, as specified, to be adopted by reference, with certain exceptions. Existing law authorizes any city or county to make modifications or changes in those building standards that are published in the code, including to green building standards, upon making an express finding that those modifications or changes are reasonably necessary because of local climatic, geological, or topographical conditions. Existing law requires a copy of those findings, together with the modification or change, to be filed with the commission. Existing law, from June 1, 2025, until June 1, 2031, inclusive, prohibits a city or county from making a modification or change to the building standards described above that are applicable to residential units, unless one of specified conditions are met, and requires the commission to reject a modification or change to any building standard affecting a residential unit and filed by the governing body of a city or county, unless one of those specified conditions are met. This bill would prohibit a city or county from making a change or modification to the above-described building standards that prohibits the use of natural gas in a residential unit. The bill would also require the commission to reject a modification or change to any building standard affecting a residential unit and filed by the governing body of a city or county that prohibits the use of natural gas in that residential unit. This 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 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.
Existing law prohibits the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission from certifying a nuclear fission thermal powerplant, except for specified powerplants, and provides that a nuclear fission thermal powerplant, except specified powerplants, is not a permitted land use in California unless certain conditions are met regarding the existence of technology for the construction and operation of nuclear fuel rod processing plants and of demonstrated technology or means for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste, as specified. This bill would exempt a nuclear microreactor, as defined, from those provisions.
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.
This measure would request that the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management hold public hearings in California on the proposed 2026–2031 National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program, prepare an environmental impact statement to accompany the program, and provide the public the opportunity to comment on a draft programmatic environmental impact statement for potential offshore oil and gas leasing in California. The measure would strongly and unequivocally oppose any new offshore drilling and declare unequivocal support for the current federal prohibition on new oil or gas drilling in federal waters offshore of the Pacific coast.
Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and confers the state board various regulatory authorities, including the authority to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions, as specified. This bill would revoke all authority of the state board to adopt, revise, or repeal regulations and would declare that any law granting authority to or requiring the state board to adopt, revise, or repeal regulations, or take an action that requires exercising regulatory authority, instead be read as only authorizing the state board to provide advice and propose measures to the Legislature for statutory enactment. The bill would require the state board to, as necessary, provide advice and propose measures to the Legislature for statutory enactment regarding its duties, as provided. The bill would declare that it does not invalidate or repeal any regulation adopted by the state board before January 1, 2026.
