Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to update every 5 years the plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state, which is known as "The California Water Plan." Existing law requires the department to include a discussion of various strategies in the plan update, including, but not limited to, strategies relating to the development of new water storage facilities, water conservation, water recycling, desalination, conjunctive use, and water transfers, that may be pursued in order to meet the future needs of the state. Existing law requires the department to establish an advisory committee to assist the department in updating the plan. This bill would revise and recast certain provisions regarding The California Water Plan to, among other things, require the department to expand the membership of the advisory committee to include, among others, tribes, labor, and environmental justice interests. The bill would require the department, as part of the 2033 update to the plan, to update the interim planning target for 2050, as provided. The bill would require the target to consider the identified and future water needs for all beneficial uses, including, but not limited to, urban uses, agricultural uses, tribal uses, and the environment, and ensure safe drinking water for all Californians, among other things. The bill would require the plan to include specified components, including a discussion of the estimated costs, benefits, and impacts of any project type or action that is recommended by the department within the plan that could help achieve the water supply targets. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature the amendments, supplements, and additions included in the updates of the plan, together with a summary of the department's conclusions and recommendations, in the session in which the updated plan is issued. The bill would also require the department to conduct public workshops to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the plan.
(1) Existing law requires the Director of Fish and Wildlife, within 24 hours of notification of a spill or discharge, as described, to close certain waters to the take of all fish and shellfish. Existing law provides that closure is not required if the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) finds, within 24 hours of the notification, that a public health threat does not or is unlikely to exist. Existing law requires the director, in consultation with OEHHA, to make specific determinations with regard to the spill or discharge within 48 hours of the notification. Existing law requires the director, within 48 hours of notification or as soon as is feasible, in consultation with OEHHA, to assess and determine the potential danger from consuming fish contained in a recirculating seawater tank onboard a vessel. Existing law requires the director to seek full reimbursement from the responsible parties for the spill or discharge for all reasonable costs incurred by the department in carrying out these provisions. A violation of the Fish and Game Code is a crime. This bill would revise those provisions by, among other things, authorizing, instead of requiring, after a notification of a spill or discharge the director to close certain waters to the take of all fish or shellfish or to otherwise restrict the take and possession of all fish or shellfish in those waters. The bill would require closure if OEHHA finds that a public health threat exists or is likely to exist, and would require the director, in determining the need for a closure, to initiate consultation with OEHHA no later than 24 hours after a notification of a spill or discharge regarding the likelihood of a public health threat, if specified conditions are met. The bill would also authorize OEHHA to seek full reimbursement for all reasonable costs it incurs. The bill would make it unlawful to take any fish or shellfish from any waters closed pursuant to these provisions or to otherwise violate any restriction imposed pursuant to these provisions. By creating a new crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law authorizes the administrator for oil spill response (administrator) to offer grants to a local government, Native American tribe, or other public entity with jurisdiction over or directly adjacent to waters of the state to provide oil spill response equipment to be deployed by a certified local spill response manager, as provided. This bill would provide that a federally recognized tribe, instead of a Native American tribe, is eligible to receive those grants. Existing law requires the administrator, taking into consideration the California oil spill contingency plan, to promulgate regulations regarding the adequacy of oil spill elements of area plans adopted pursuant to specified existing law. Existing law authorizes the administrator to offer, to a unified program agency with jurisdiction over or directly adjacent to waters of the state, a grant to complete, update, or revise an oil spill element of the area plan. Existing law establishes the Environmental Enhancement Grant Program and requires grants to be awarded to nonprofit organizations, cities, counties, cities and counties, districts, state agencies, and departments. This bill would provide that a federally recognized tribe is also eligible to receive the above-described grants. (3) Existing law makes a responsible party, as defined, absolutely liable without regard to fault for any damages incurred by any injured person that arise out of, or are caused by, a spill, with specified exemptions including the discharge or leaking of oil or natural gas from a private pleasure boat or vessel. This bill would remove the discharge or leaking of oil or natural gas from a private pleasure boat or vessel from those exemptions from liability. (4) 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 a person from offering for sale or distribution, or otherwise entering into commerce in the state, bulk hydrofluorocarbons or bulk blends containing hydrofluorocarbons that exceed a specified global warming potential limit beginning January 1, 2025, and lower global warming potential limits beginning January 1, 2030, and January 1, 2033. Existing law exempts from that prohibition hydrofluorocarbons that are reclaimed, as defined under a specified federal regulation. Under existing law, a violation of these prohibitions is a crime. This bill would eliminate the exemption for reclaimed hydrofluorocarbons and would instead create new exemptions for certain refrigerants, as specified. By eliminating the exemption for reclaimed hydrofluorocarbons, the bill would expand the scope of a crime and thereby 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to adopt regulations and implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program. A city or local agency that meets specified requirements is authorized to apply to the secretary to implement the unified program, and every county is required to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program as a Certified Unified Program Agency (CUPA) . Existing law establishes the Rural CUPA Reimbursement Account in the General Fund, and requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to allocate funds to counties with populations of less than 150,000 persons for which a CUPA has not been certified on or before January 1, 2000, and in which the unified program has been implemented by a CUPA designated by the secretary, as specified, in amounts not to exceed designated percentages of budgeted costs. This bill, contingent on an appropriation for its purposes, would make every county with a population of less than 150,000 persons eligible for these funds without regard to the date of certification or the qualification regarding CUPA implementation of the unified program.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose taxes 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 California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. The act authorizes, until January 1, 2026, the authority to provide financial assistance to a participating party by authorizing exclusions from sales and use tax for certain projects, including those that promote California-based manufacturing, California-based jobs, advanced manufacturing, the reduction of greenhouse gases, or a reduction in air and water pollution or energy consumption. The Sales and Use Tax Law, for the purposes of the taxes imposed pursuant to that law, until January 1, 2026, excludes the lease or transfer of title of tangible personal property constituting one of those projects to any contractor for use in the performance of a construction contract for a participating party that will use that property as an integral part of the approved project. This bill would extend to January 1, 2028, the authorization to provide financial assistance in the form of a sales and use tax exclusion for projects approved by the authority. The bill would add electrical generation facilities using nuclear fusion technology to the types of projects qualifying for this sales and use tax exclusion. The bill would, on and after January 1, 2026, for an applicant that, together with its parent corporation and subsidiaries, employs 500 or more employees, prohibit the authority from approving a project unless the applicant certifies that the applicant and its subcontractors will comply with certain labor requirements. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to prescribe, by regulation, lighting, insulation, climate control system, and other building design and construction standards, and energy and water conservation design standards, for new residential and new nonresidential buildings to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy, as specified. This bill would require the commission to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of passive house energy efficiency standards by California climate zone, using commission-adopted metrics such as long-term system cost. The bill would require the commission to evaluate the use of the 2 passive house energy models currently required for passive house certification in its analysis and the cost-effectiveness of passive house construction compared to existing construction, as specified. The bill would require the commission, on or before July 1, 2028, to submit a report to the Legislature documenting its findings and recommendations.
Existing law prohibits requiring a person desiring to use an electric vehicle charging station, as defined, that requires payment of a fee from paying a subscription fee in order to use the station, or requiring the person to obtain membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using the station. Existing law authorizes an electric vehicle charging station to offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis if the station allows nonsubscribers or nonmembers to use the station through a contactless payment method that accepts major credit and debit cards, as specified, and either an automated toll-free telephone number or a short message system (SMS) that provides the customer with the option to initiate a charging session and submit payment. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, by regulation that is effective no earlier than January 1, 2028, to add to or subtract from those required payment methods, as specified. This bill would instead authorize the commission to modify, add to, or subtract from those required payment methods, as appropriate in light of changing technologies or cost impacts. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 533 to be operative only if this bill and SB 533 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law, the Personal Income Tax Law and the Corporation Tax Law, in conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded, and provides various exclusions from gross income. Existing federal law authorizes an applicable entity, as defined, to receive a refund for specified environmental credits against the taxes imposed under federal law and excludes a refund payment made pursuant to that law from gross income. Existing federal law also authorizes an eligible taxpayer, as defined, to transfer the value of that refundable credit and exempts from gross income payment received by the transferor as consideration for the transfer. Existing federal law prohibits the transferee from deducting the amount paid as consideration for the transfer. This bill, in conformity with federal law, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would exclude from gross income a refund payment made for the specified federal environmental credits described above and any payment received by a transferor as consideration for a transfer, as provided. The bill would also prohibit a transferee from deducting the amount paid as consideration for the transfer, in conformity with federal law. Existing law requires a 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 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 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations for greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in furtherance of achieving the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined. The act authorizes the state board to revise regulations or adopt additional regulations to further the act. The act authorizes that state board to include in those regulations the use of a market-based compliance mechanism to comply with those regulations. Existing law requires the state board, in regulations implementing the market-based compliance mechanism to, among other things, establish limits on the use of offset credits as a means for a covered entity to meet its compliance obligations. Existing law requires moneys 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 and continuously appropriates a portion of the moneys in the fund for various purposes. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to direct specific percentages of the revenues deposited into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to individual funds dedicated to funding clean transportation, housing and community investment, clean air and water, wildfire prevention and resilience, agriculture, clean energy, and climate-focused innovation. The bill would make the continuous appropriations from the fund inoperative on July 1, 2026. The bill would, beginning with the 2026–27 fiscal year, allocate moneys in the fund in a specified priority and would continuously appropriate a certain amount of moneys in the fund for certain purposes. This bill would require the state board, no later than December 31, 2026, to conduct a study and report to the Legislature evaluating and making recommendations on the use of offsets. The bill would require the state board, no later than January 1, 2029, to update all existing compliance offset protocols to reflect the best available science. The bill would require the state board, no later than January 1, 2034, and every 5 years thereafter, to evaluate all compliance offset protocols and to consider whether updates are necessary to ensure the protocols reflect the best available science. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations for greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in furtherance of achieving the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined. The act authorizes the state board to revise regulations or adopt additional regulations to further the act. The act authorizes that state board to include in those regulations the use of a market-based compliance mechanism to comply with those regulations. This bill would require the state board to adopt regulations for greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to instead achieve certain emissions reductions goals and the purposes of the act. The bill would require the state board, in adopting regulations, to design the regulations in a manner that transitions support from gas corporations to electrical distribution utilities to minimize ratepayer impacts and meet the emissions reduction goals of the act. The bill would require the state board to consider the effects of the regulations on affordability, cost-effectiveness, minimization of leakage in California, and achieving the emissions reduction goals of the act. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the market-based compliance mechanism be known as the California Cap-and-Invest Program. The act, until January 1, 2031, authorizes the state board to adopt a regulation establishing a market-based compliance mechanism that is a system of market-based declining aggregate emissions limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gases meeting certain requirements, including the establishment of a price ceiling, as provide, the allowance price containment reserve, and a requirement for state board, if the allowance from the allowance price containment reserve is exhausted, to offer covered entities additional allowances at the price ceiling if need for compliance. The act requires that moneys generated by the sale of those additional allowances be expended by the state board to achieve emissions reductions, as provided. The act, until January 1, 2031, establishes the Compliance Offsets Protocol Task Force to provide guidance to the state board in approving new offset protocols for the market-based compliance mechanism for purposes of increasing offset projects, as provided. The act, until January 1, 2031, establishes the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee within the California Environmental Protection Agency and requires the committee to annually report to the state board and the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies on the environmental and economic performance of the regulation establishing the market-based compliance mechanism and other relevant climate change policies. The act, until January 1, 2031, requires the state board to designate the market-based compliance mechanism as the rule for petroleum refineries and oil and gas production facilities to achieve their greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act provides that a violation of any rule, regulation, order, emissions limitation, emissions reduction measure, or other measure adopted by the state board under the act is a crime. Existing law requires moneys 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 and continuously appropriates a portion of the moneys in the fund for various purposes. This bill would extend the above-described provisions until January 1, 2046. The bill would require the state board, in adopting those regulations, to additionally do certain things, including establish offset credit limits from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2045, inclusive, as provided. The bill would require that moneys generated from the sale of additional allowances at the price ceiling be deposited into the California Climate Mitigation Fund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would require moneys in the California Climate Mitigation Fund be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of providing direct rebates and investments to reduce household energy costs. Because a violation of the market-based compliance mechanism whose operation would be extended by the bill would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By extending the operation of the market-based compliance mechanism, thereby extending the deposit of moneys from that market-based compliance mechanism into the fund, the bill would make an appropriation. This bill would specify that the members of the Independent Emissions Market Advisory Committee are to be considered designated employees of the California Environmental Protection Agency for purposes of the Political Reform Act of 1974. This bill would, if the state board initiates a regulatory process to update those regulations that is expected to be a major regulation for purposes of the Administrative Procedure Act, require the chairperson of the state board, until January 1, 2046, to present to the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies and other relevant policy committees of the Legislature on the current state of the market-based compliance mechanism and provide the rationale for updating the regulations, as provided, and to transmit certain information to the joint legislative committee and the relevant budget subcommittees, including the economic analysis required by the Administrative Procedure Act of the proposed amendments to the regulations. The bill would require the state board and other state agencies implementing programs that are funded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, upon request, to appear annually before the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies and the relevant budget subcommittees to give a presentation on the expenditures of those moneys. The act requires the state board, on or before January 1, 2009, to prepare and adopt a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years. This bill would require the state board, until January 1, 2046, to include in the updates to the scoping plan the progress towards meeting certain greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets and recommendations to the Legislature on necessary statutory changes to the market-based compliance mechanism to further cost-effectively reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to allocate 15% of the revenues received by electrical corporations as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electric corporations for clean energy and energy efficiency projects that are administered by the electrical corporations or a qualified third-party administrator and that are not otherwise funded by other funding sources. Existing law requires the commission to require the balance of those revenues to be credited directly to the residential, small business, and emissions-intensive, trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission to require the adoption and implementation of a customer outreach plan for each electrical corporation for purposes of obtaining the maximum feasible public awareness of the crediting of greenhouse gas allowance revenues. This bill would require the credits provided to residential customers to be provided on the bills of those customers in no more than 4 high-billed months of each year to maximize customer electric bill affordability or as otherwise directed by the commission to address extreme, unforeseen, and temporary circumstances. The bill would instead authorize the commission to require those revenues to be credited to small businesses and emission-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporations. The bill would require the commission, not later than January 1, 2027, to require each electrical corporation to update its customer outreach plan, as provided. This bill would make the 15% allocation for clean energy and energy efficiency projects inoperative on July 1, 2026. The bill would require, from July 1, 2026, to January 1, 2031, inclusive, 5% of those revenues be remitted to the State Treasury for deposit into the California Transmission Accelerator Revolving Fund and be available to California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank for purposes of the California Transmission Accelerator Revolving Fund Program. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain provisions of the bill would be part of the Public Utilities Act and a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require local publicly owned electric utilities receiving a direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances in addition to the greenhouse gas allowance totals specified in the regulations implementing the market-based compliance mechanism to provide a credit, as provided. The bill would require local publicly owned electric utilities to report to the state board on the uses of all revenues received by those utilities as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances under those regulations and would require the state board to annually submit a report to the Legislature on the uses of those revenues. By imposing additional duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, 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 specified reasons. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
