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.
(1) Existing law imposes various functions and duties on the State Air Resources Board relating to reducing emissions of air pollutants. Existing law requires the state board to identify toxic air contaminants that are emitted into the ambient air of the state and to adopt airborne toxic control measures to reduce emissions of toxic air contaminants. Pursuant to its authority, the state board has adopted the Transport Refrigeration Unit Regulation to reduce emissions of toxic air contaminants and other pollutants from diesel-fueled transport refrigeration units used to power electrically driven refrigerated shipping containers and trailers that are operated in California. Existing law authorizes the state board under certain circumstances to impose a fee to cover the cost of its regulation of specified activities. This bill would authorize the state board to impose a fee on any entity regulated by the state board under the Transport Refrigeration Unit Regulation for the state board's reasonable regulatory costs associated with the implementation, administration, and enforcement of that regulation, as specified. The bill would require the revenues collected from the fee to be deposited into the Certification and Compliance Fund and to be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for those costs. (2) Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited into the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation. Existing law continuously appropriates specified portions of the annual proceeds in the fund to various programs, including 5% for the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program, which is administered by the Department of Transportation and provides operating and capital assistance for transit agencies to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and improve mobility. Existing law requires the Controller to allocate funding under the program for the 2019–20 to 2022–23, inclusive, fiscal years to recipient transit agencies pursuant to specified individual operator ratios published by the Controller. This bill would extend the application of those individual operator ratios to the allocation of that funding through the 2025–26 fiscal year. (3) Under existing law, public transportation systems funded under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act that provide charter bus services are required to establish rates for those services that, among other things, are either at least equal to the average of the 3 lowest current rates charged by private charter bus carriers operating charters in the same service area of the system or at least equal to the fully allocated cost of each charter operated, as specified. This bill would revise that rate requirement to instead require rates to be established that are either at least equal to the average of the 3 lowest current rates charged by private charter bus carriers operating charters in the same service area of the system or at least equal to the marginal cost of each charter operated, as specified. (4) Existing law authorizes the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority, as the successor entity to the Southern California Rapid Transit District, to operate charter bus service, subject to certain limitations. This bill would authorize the authority to provide charter bus service for the 2026 FIFA World Cup during the period from June 1, 2026, to July 31, 2026, inclusive, in the County of Los Angeles, subject to certain conditions, and would also authorize other public transportation providers, operating under contract with the authority, to provide charter bus services in the County of Los Angeles for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, as specified. The bill would also exempt the operation of these charter bus services from certain requirements applicable to charter bus services performed by public transportation systems receiving funding under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act if the operator establishes rates for those services that meet specified requirements. (5) Existing law authorizes the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority and the San Mateo County Transit District to operate charter bus service, subject to certain limitations. This bill would authorize those entities and any other public transportation operator providing public transit services in any portion of the greater San Francisco Bay area, as defined, to provide charter bus service for the 2026 FIFA World Cup during the period from June 1, 2026, to July 31, 2026, inclusive, subject to certain conditions. The bill would also exempt the operation of these charter bus services from certain requirements applicable to charter bus services performed by public transportation systems receiving funding under the Mills-Alquist-Deddeh Act if the operator establishes rates for those services that meet specified requirements. (6) Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to establish a pilot program to evaluate the use of optional mobile or digital alternatives to driver's licenses and identification cards, subject to certain requirements, including, but not limited to, the voluntary participation of persons in the program and a limitation on the percentage of licensed drivers who can participate in the program. This bill would expand the percentage of licensed drivers who can participate in the program from 5% to 15%. (7) Existing law authorizes the Department of Transportation, upon adoption of an ordinance or resolution by certain cities, to issue a special permit to the operator of a vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment, permitting the operation and movement of the vehicle, combination, or equipment, and its load, on specified portions of state highways, if the vehicle, combination, or equipment, meets specified criteria. This bill would additionally authorize the department to issue the above-described special permit to operate and move a vehicle, combination of vehicles, or mobile equipment, and its load, on the 1.7-mile portion of State Route 185 that is between High Street and Hegenberger Road, known as International Boulevard in the City of Oakland, if the vehicle, combination, or equipment meets that specified criteria. The bill would authorize the department to issue those permits until December 31, 2031, or until an alternate truck route to San Leandro Street becomes available, as specified. The bill would require the City of Oakland to report certain data to the Legislature and the Department of Transportation on or before January 1, 2031. By increasing the duties of a city, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) The Administrative Procedure Act sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. Existing law, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, appropriates $132,175,000 from the Air Pollution Control Fund to the State Air Resources Board when funds are available from the Hino Consent Decree, to be administered through the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, as provided. This bill would exempt from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act guidelines or other standards adopted and used in administering those appropriated moneys. (9) 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. (10) Existing law establishes the Air Pollution Control Fund for the California Air Resources Board to carry out its duties and functions. This bill would appropriate, for the 2025–26 fiscal year, $1,000 from the Air Pollution Control Fund to the California Air Resources Board for the Transport Refrigeration Unit Program. (11) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
(1) Existing law, until January 1, 2030, generally prohibits a person from possessing, importing, shipping, or transporting in the state, or from placing, planting, or causing to be placed or planted in any water within the state, dreissenid mussels, and authorizes the Director of Fish and Wildlife or the director's designee to engage in various enforcement activities with regard to dreissenid mussels. Existing law requires any person, or federal, state, or local agency, district, or authority that owns or manages a reservoir, as defined, where recreational, boating, or fishing activities are permitted, except as specified, to develop and implement a program designed to prevent the introduction of nonnative dreissenid mussel species, as provided. Under existing law, except as otherwise provided, any violation of the Fish and Game Code, or of any rule, regulation, or order made or adopted under the code, is a crime. This bill would expand the scope of the above-described provisions relating to dreissenid mussels to instead apply to invasive mussels, defined to mean any nonnative detrimental mussel species, as provided. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires a public or private agency that operates a water supply system to cooperate with the Department of Fish and Wildlife to implement measures to avoid infestation by dreissenid mussels and to control or eradicate any infestation that may occur in a water supply system, and, if dreissenid mussels are detected, to prepare and implement a plan, as specified, to control or eradicate dreissenid mussels within the system. Existing law requires any person or entity that manages any aspect of the water in a reservoir, as defined, where recreational, boating, or fishing activities are permitted, to be eligible to receive a grant for the reasonable regulatory costs incident to the implementation of a dreissenid mussel infestation prevention plan. This bill would instead apply the above-described provisions to invasive mussels, as defined. The bill would require the department to, on or before December 31, 2026, review all approved plans and require all plans that do not specifically address all invasive mussel species known to be present in bodies of water in the state as of January 1, 2026, to be updated or revised, as provided. The bill would require every invasive mussel species to be addressed in a plan within a specified timeframe. By expanding the scope of a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the department to either approve the plan or provide written comments and suggestions on plan review deficiencies, as provided. Existing law requires the owner of a vessel, as described, to register the vessel in accordance with prescribed requirements governing the registration and transfer of vessels. Existing law requires vessel registration to be renewed every 2-year period, as specified. Existing law establishes a registration fee and a renewal fee for vessels, and imposes an additional fee, known as the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention fee, in specified amounts, as determined by the Division of Boating and Waterways in the Department of Parks and Recreation, on a vessel required to pay the registration fee or renewal fee. Existing state regulations require the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention fee to be payable in specific instances of vessel registration or renewal. Existing law requires that all revenues collected from the quagga and zebra mussel prevention fee be deposited into the Harbors and Watercraft Revolving Fund created in the State Treasury, and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expended for specified purposes. This bill would instead apply the above-described provisions to invasive mussels, as defined, including renaming the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention fee as the invasive mussel infestation prevention fee. The bill would, for invasive mussel infestation prevention fees due in the 2026 calendar year, and each year thereafter, increase the fee in specified amounts, and would require the amounts to be adjusted for inflation, as provided. Existing law authorizes a vessel operator to be issued a citation for operating a recreational vessel in nonmarine waters without a valid state-issued quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention sticker. This bill would instead rename the quagga and zebra mussel infestation prevention sticker the invasive mussel infestation prevention sticker and would require the department to issue the sticker upon payment of the invasive mussel infestation prevention fee. (2) Existing law, the Farmer Equity Act of 2017, requires the Department of Food and Agriculture to ensure the inclusion of socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, as defined, in the development, adoption, implementation, and enforcement of food and agriculture laws, regulations, and policies and programs, as specified. This bill would require the department, in consultation with certain entities, to establish the Regional Farmer Equipment and Cooperative Resources Assistance Pilot Program as part of the Farmer Equity Act of 2017 to provide financial and technical assistance to support regional farm equipment sharing and enhance cooperative benefits for socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, with preference to be provided under the program in accordance with specified requirements. The bill would specify the entities eligible for financial assistance under the program and would require that applications for financial assistance to develop and expand equipment sharing programs include certain information. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon the Legislature making an appropriation for purposes of the program. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030. (3) Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection. Existing law requires CAL-FIRE, in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to, among other things, provide fire prevention and firefighting implements, organize crews and patrols, and employ people to effect the plan. Existing law requires CAL-FIRE, subject to an appropriation of funds, to begin to employ sufficient permanent firefighting personnel to increase the base period hand crew staffing levels. This bill would instead require CAL-FIRE, subject to an appropriation of funds, to begin to employ sufficient permanent firefighting personnel to increase the base period staffing levels, without the limitation to hand crew staffing levels. (4) 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 the lead agency 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 from its requirements activities or approvals necessary to the bidding for, hosting or staging of, and funding or carrying out of an Olympic Games under the authority of the International Olympic Committee, except for the construction of facilities necessary for the Olympic Games. This bill would revise the above-described exemption to exempt from CEQA activities or approvals for the bidding, hosting or staging of, and funding of an Olympic Games or a Paralympic Games under the authority of the International Olympic Committee or the International Paralympic Committee. The bill would also exempt from CEQA the construction of temporary facilities, as defined, for the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. The bill would require public notice of any confirmed changes to the location of competition venues of the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, as specified. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project qualifies for this exemption, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law, the California Coastal Act of 1976, among other things, requires anyone wishing to perform or undertake any development in the coastal zone, except as specified, in addition to obtaining any other permit required by law from any local government or from any state, regional, or local agency, to obtain a coastal development permit from the California Coastal Commission or a local government, as provided. The act provides that a coastal development permit is not required for specified types of development in specified areas, including, among other things, any proposed development that the executive director of the commission finds to be a temporary event that does not have any significant adverse impact on coastal resources, as provided. This bill would specify that all temporary development undertaken under the authority of the International Olympic Committee, the International Paralympic Committee, or the Los Angeles Organizing Committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games as part of hosting, staging, and carrying out the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are considered temporary events and are exempt from the requirement to obtain a coastal development permit. The bill would require those temporary developments to avoid and minimize significant impacts to coastal resources to the extent feasible. The bill would specify that the exemption does not apply to development intended to last after December 31, 2028. The bill would be repealed by its own terms on January 1, 2029. To the extent this bill would create additional duties for a local government, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (5) The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 (act) , 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 and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. This bill would authorize certain regulations needed to effectuate or implement the programs of the act to be adopted as emergency regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, as provided. The bill would require those emergency regulations to be filed with the Office of Administrative Law and would require the emergency regulation to remain in effect until repealed or amended by the adopting state agency. The act makes $135,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for deposit into the California Ocean Protection Trust Fund for grants to increase resilience from the impacts of climate change, as specified. This bill would instead make those funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Ocean Protection Council for those purposes. The act requires $20,000,000, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be deposited into the Invasive Species Account for purposes of funding invasive species projects and activities recommended by the Invasive Species Council of California, as specified. This bill would instead make those funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Department of Food and Agriculture for those purposes. The act makes $870,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Wildlife Conservation Board for grant programs to protect and enhance fish and wildlife resources and habitat and achieve the state's biodiversity, public access, and conservation goals, as provided. This bill would appropriate the sum of $20,000,000, pursuant to the above provision, from the Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Fund to the Wildlife Conservation Board to be granted to the Department of Fish and Wildlife for the 2025–26 fiscal year to address invasive mussel infestations, including the golden mussel. (6) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games. (7) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 21080 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 1156 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1156 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (8) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
This measure would proclaim that the State of California celebrates the numerous contributions of public and private sector nuclear fusion organizations within California for advancing fusion energy research and development, applauds recent scientific advances in magnetic fusion energy and inertial confinement at public research facilities in San Diego and Livermore, recognizes the vast potential of fusion energy for addressing key climate and national security goals and the contributions of California's private fusion industry, commends the University of California's Office of the President for its leadership in establishing the Pacific CREST Fusion initiative, and supports developing the fusion energy ecosystem with the goal of siting a first-of-a-kind fusion pilot plant in California by the 2040s.
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 authorizes the preparation and certification of an EIR for a program, plan, policy, or ordinance, commonly known as a "program EIR," and requires a lead agency to examine later activities in the program in light of the program EIR to determine whether an additional environmental document is required to be prepared. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2027, the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to update the California Vegetation Treatment Program Final Program Environmental Impact Report (FPEIR) to, among other things, expand the area that is treatable landscape under the FPEIR to portions of the state suitable for vegetation treatment consistent with the FPEIR, regardless of fire suppression responsibility designation, and recognize cultural burning conducted pursuant to a specified law as a covered treatment activity. The bill would authorize a public agency to partner with a federally recognized California Native American tribe to conduct a project under the FPEIR in the agency's jurisdiction.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to declare a state of emergency during conditions of disaster or extreme peril to persons or property. Existing law authorizes the Governor, during a state of emergency, to suspend any regulatory statute, or statute prescribing the procedure for conduct of state business, or the orders, rules, or regulations of any state agency, if the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with any statute, order, rule, or regulation would in any way prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency. Under the authority of the California Emergency Services Act, on March 1, 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom issued a proclamation of a state of emergency that suspends applicable state statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements that fall within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, and offices within the California Environmental Protection Agency or the Natural Resources Agency to the extent necessary for expediting critical fuels reduction projects, as provided. The proclamation requires an individual or entity desiring to conduct a critical fuels reduction project to request the secretary of the appropriate agency to make a determination that the proposed project is eligible for the suspension and requires the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency to maintain on their respective internet website a list of all suspensions approved. This bill would, on or before January 31, 2026, require the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency to each report to the Legislature information on the implementation of the above-described proclamation of emergency, as provided. 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 from its requirements certain projects. This bill would, until January 1, 2028, exempt from CEQA critical fuels reduction projects conducted in communities located in very high fire hazard severity zones, as provided. The bill would require the lead agency to hold a noticed public meeting to hear and respond to public comments before determining that a project is exempt and would require the lead agency to provide notice of the public meeting on its internet website at least 30 days before the public meeting. The bill would require the lead agency, if it determines that a project is not subject to CEQA and approves or carries out that project, to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and with the clerk of the county in which the project will be located. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a project qualifies for this exemption, 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 Urban Forestry Act of 1978 has a stated purpose of the promotion of the use of urban forest resources for the purpose of increasing integrated projects with multiple benefits in urban communities, including, but not limited to, the benefit of expanded urban forest canopy and community greening. This bill would also include school greening, as defined, as a benefit of the act. The act requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to implement a program in urban forestry to encourage better tree management and planning in urban areas to increase integrated, multiple benefit projects by assisting urban areas with innovative solutions to problems including, among other things, improved capture of storm water and dry weather runoff, addressing water shortages. This bill would provide improving school greening as a problem to be addressed by the program. The act requires the department to complete a statewide strategic plan, as specified, and to submit the plan to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2025. This bill would require the plan to be submitted to the Legislature on or before June 30, 2026. The act requires the department to provide technical assistance to urban areas with respect to, among other things, improvement and enhancement of local water capture for urban forest maintenance, and requires the department to provide advice and guidance to cities, counties, districts, and other specified entities on, among other things, best practices and metrics for maintaining urban forest health. This bill would require the department to also provide technical assistance to urban areas with respect to improvement of public schools to create tree-shaded, natural school grounds, as specified, and to provide advice and guidance on use of trees in urban areas to promote community resilience and adaptation. The act authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to make grants to provide assistance for specified projects, including, but not limited to, tree planting projects and other categories of projects recommended by the director, as provided. This bill would include, as part of that assistance, funding for school greening to optimize tree canopy cover and nature-based learning. The bill would authorize the director to authorize a negotiated indirect cost rate agreement within an approved project that is funded with state or federal dollars. The bill would also make conforming changes.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act establishes stewardship programs for various products, including, among others, carpet. The act includes a product stewardship for carpet program and a successor carpet producer responsibility program, and requires the product stewardship for carpet program to become inoperative upon the completion of certain conditions related to the implementation of the successor carpet producer responsibility program. Existing law, the product stewardship for carpet program, requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit a carpet stewardship plan to the department, which is required to include specified elements, including achieving specified carpet recycling rates and a funding mechanism that provides sufficient funding to carry out the plan. Existing law authorizes the department to administratively impose a civil penalty of $10,000 per day on any person in violation of the program or $25,000 per day if the violation is intentional, knowing, or negligent, as specified. This bill would instead authorize the department to impose administrative, rather than civil, penalties in those amounts, and to impose an administrative penalty of $25,000 per day if the violation is intentional or knowing. Existing law requires a carpet stewardship organization to include nonvoting board members with representation from, among others, a retailer that sells carpet. This bill would instead require the stewardship organization to create a governing board for the stewardship program, as specified. Existing law requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit to the department an annual report describing its activities to achieve the purposes of the program, as provided. Existing law authorizes a carpet stewardship organization to award grants and subsidies to incentivize the recycling of carpet materials that have the highest recyclability. This bill would require a carpet stewardship organization to include in its annual report specified information related to the grants and subsidies provided pursuant to the program, as specified. (2) Existing law, the successor carpet producer responsibility program, requires producers of covered products to form and join a single producer responsibility organization (PRO) for the collection and recycling of a covered product. Existing law defines a "covered product" as carpet, as defined, and requires the PRO to develop a producer responsibility plan for the collection, transportation, recycling, and the safe and proper management of covered products in the state. Existing law requires, no later than January 1, 2029, a person who removes a covered product as part of the installation of a covered product to transport, or contract to transport, all of the removed covered product to an approved collection site, as provided. Under existing law, an approved collection site is a solid waste facility that has agreed to be a collection site for the PRO. This bill would exempt a covered product from this transport requirement if certain conditions are met, including that it is returned to the producer. The bill would expand approved collection sites to include certain carpet recycling centers, municipal facilities, and retailers. Existing law requires the governing board of a PRO to include 4 nonvoting members, including, but not limited to, a nonvoting member representing a nonprofit organization established to promote a circular economy and to address environmental issues. Existing law requires the PRO to submit an annual report to the department on or before July 1 of each year, as provided. Existing law requires a producer to publish on its internet website, for each of its covered products, an environmental product declaration that identifies a covered product's components, as provided. This bill would instead require one voting and 5 nonvoting members, as specified. The bill would require the annual report to be submitted on or before September 1 of each year, instead of July 1 of each year. The bill would instead require a producer to publish on its internet website, for each of its covered products, the components that constitute more than 1% of the product's weight and any component that is a hazardous chemical, as specified. Existing law requires the PRO to submit to the department an annual report, as specified, and to make the report publicly available on the PRO's internet website. Existing law requires the PRO to provide annual grants to apprenticeship programs for training carpet installers in proper carpet recycling techniques, as provided. This bill would require the PRO to include in its annual report specified information related to the grants and incentive payments provided pursuant to the program, as specified. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan, among other things, to explain how producers will use standardized stamping or some other means to provide a visual mark on the back of a covered product that is a synthetic material to allow expeditious sorting of the carpet, as provided. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations to implement the program with an effective date no earlier than December 31, 2026. This bill would instead require a producer responsibility plan to explain how producers will use standardized stamping or some other means to provide a visual mark on the back of a covered product that provides the name of the producer, the date of manufacture, and a listing of the types of face fibers and backing materials contained in the product. The bill would instead require the department to adopt the regulations no later than December 31, 2026. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan in effect as of January 1, 2025, to continue in effect, as provided, until it expires or is revoked, except that the PRO is required to submit an amendment to conform the producer responsibility plan to certain requirements. This bill would eliminate the requirement to submit an amendment to the producer responsibility plan.
Under existing law, the Department of Toxic Substances Control generally regulates the management and handling of hazardous waste and hazardous materials. Existing law authorizes certain entities to operate household hazardous waste collection facilities, as defined, under permits issued by the department. A violation of the hazardous waste control laws is a crime. This bill would, until January 1, 2029, require the department to evaluate opportunities to increase safety and convenience related to the management and disposal of vape pens confiscated from students by a school, as provided, and identify any recommendations that require future legislative action. The bill would authorize a household hazardous waste collection facility to conduct physical treatment activities involving the disassembly of household hazardous waste to separate batteries, valves, electronic components and other parts containing liquids or gases, including, but not limited to, the disassembly of vape pens, in a manner that does not result in the unauthorized release of hazardous materials. Existing law authorizes a public agency, or its contractor, to conduct a materials exchange program at a household hazardous waste collection facility to make reusable household hazardous products or materials available to recipients, as a part of its household hazardous waste collection program, if the public agency, or its contractor, complies with specified requirements. The bill would prohibit a public agency, or its contractor, from including vape pens in a materials exchange program. Because a violation of these provisions 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 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 authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in regulating those emissions. The implementing regulations adopted by the state board provide for the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electrical corporations pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism. Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to continue a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, as specified, which is referred to as the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program. Existing law also requires the PUC to continue a program of assistance to residential customers of the state's 3 largest electrical corporations consisting of households of 3 or more persons with total household annual gross income levels between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline level, which is referred to as the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program. Existing law, except as provided, requires revenues received by an electrical corporation as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to be credited directly to residential, small business, and emissions-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporation, commonly known as the California Climate Credit. This bill would exclude residential customers from receiving the California Climate Credit if they are not enrolled in the CARE or FERA program and their total electricity bills for the previous year were less than $300. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be part of the Public Utilities Act, and a violation of a commission action implementing its 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.
