Existing law establishes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) in the Natural Resources Agency and requires CAL-FIRE to coordinate programs of fire protection, fire prevention, pest control, and forest and range maintenance and enhancement. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to establish a working group on expanding wood product markets that can utilize woody biomass, especially biomass removed from high fire hazard zones, as determined by CAL-FIRE. This bill would enact the Biomass Innovation Parks Act, which would establish the Biomass Innovation Park Grants and Financing Program, to be administered by the agency. The bill would require the agency, in coordination with the Department of Food and Agriculture (department) and CAL-FIRE, on or before September 30, 2027, to identify one or more biomass innovation parks, as provided. The bill would require the agency, in coordination with the department and CAL-FIRE, to develop guidelines and solicit proposals from an eligible applicant, as defined, to develop, operate, and manage a biomass innovation park, as provided. The bill would require the guidelines to include specified things, including, among other things, that each park shall only process wood waste, as defined, that originated in California, that each park only host projects that use a noncombustion technology to convert wood waste into carbon-beneficial products or end uses, as specified, and that each park establish a community benefits program. In order to facilitate a planning process for identifying parks, the bill would authorize the agency, in coordination with the department and CAL-FIRE, to develop guidance on specified things, including, among others, guidance for a public agency and private industry to partner on a park proposal. This bill would additionally require the agency, in coordination with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and CAL-FIRE, to, among other things, develop regional wood availability assessments and to adopt a tracking system to trace and authenticate forest biomass origins. The bill would require the agency to deliver a report to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2027, containing information pertaining to the identified parks.
Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations for the identification and management of hazardous wastes. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt regulations designating end-of-life photovoltaic modules that are identified as hazardous waste as a universal waste and subject to regulations applicable to universal waste management. Federal regulations identify solid wastes which are subject to regulation as hazardous wastes. Federal regulations exclude from the definition of solid waste for that purpose hazardous secondary material that is generated and then transferred to another person for the purpose of reclamation under specified circumstances. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2028, to convene one or more public workshops for interested parties to comment on the applicability of the above-described federal regulations to hazardous waste streams, including, but not limited to, solar photovoltaic modules, generated in California. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2029, to consider the feedback received and evaluate the applicability of those federal regulations to end-of-life solar photovoltaic modules as an alternative to one or more of the state standards governing hazardous waste and universal waste management. The bill would authorize the department, based on findings of the evaluation, to adopt, by regulation, the federal regulations, subject to revision as necessary, and apply them to end-of-life solar photovoltaic modules that are identified as hazardous waste under existing state law.
The California Endangered Species Act prohibits the take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, except as specified. Under the act, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize the take of listed species by certain entities through permits or memorandums of understanding for specified purposes. The act allows take of an endangered, threatened, or candidate species by permit if, among other things, the impact of the authorized take is minimized and fully mitigated. This bill would also allow the department to authorize by permit the take of a species proposed for listing, as defined, if specified conditions are met. The bill would provide that if a species proposed for listing becomes listed as an endangered, threatened, or candidate species, further authorization or approval shall not be required for a take of that species, if specified conditions are met, including that the species proposed for listing was included as a covered species in a permit previously issued by the department for incidental take and that the incidental take is caused by a renewable electrical generation facility. The bill would require the department to, on or before January 31, 2033, compile and post a summary table on its internet website with specified information for calendar years 2027 to 2032, inclusive.
Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of all state highways and all property and rights on property acquired for state highway purposes. Various provisions of existing law specifically provide for the acquisition, transfer, and use of property owned by the department. This bill would, with respect to a parcel that the department transferred to the City of Lynwood, require the department, upon request from the city, to develop and enter into an agreement with the city to release and remove a deed restriction imposed on that parcel if the city agrees to transfer the deed restriction to another specified parcel and other certain other requirements are met. If the city and department enter into this agreement, the bill would require the city to submit reports to the Legislature, and specified committees of the Legislature, at prescribed intervals on the use of this authority to develop those parcels. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the City of Lynwood.
(1) Existing law establishes the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund program, pursuant to which state and federal funds are continuously appropriated from the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund to the State Water Resources Control Board for loans and other financial assistance for purposes related to the federal Clean Water Act. Existing law establishes the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund Administration Fund (administration fund) to provide funds, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be expended by the state board for payment of the reasonable costs of administering the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund. Existing law authorizes the state board to assess an annual charge for financial assistance services, not to exceed 1% of the financial assistance repayment amount and computed according to the true interest cost method, as provided, and requires those annual charges to be deposited into the administration fund. Existing law authorizes the financial service rate to be applied at any time during the term of the financial assistance and requires the rate to remain unchanged for the duration of the financial assistance. Existing law prohibits the financial assistance rate from increasing the financial assistance repayment amount after being applied. Existing law requires the state board to, at least once each fiscal year, adjust the financial assistance service rate. Existing law requires the state board to set the total amount of revenue collected each year through the annual charges at an amount that is equal as practicable to the appropriation amount set forth in the annual Budget Act. This bill would additionally authorize the state board to assess fees in place of an annual charge for financial assistance and would authorize the fees or annual charge to be assessed at any rate as permitted by federal law. The bill would delete the provision prohibiting the changing of the financial assistance rate during the financial assistance and the increasing of the financial assistance repayment amount. The bill would delete the requirement relating to the appropriation amount set forth in the annual Budget Act. (2) Existing law authorizes moneys in the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund to be used for loans that meet specified requirements, including that the loans be made at or below market interest rates and, to the extent permitted by federal law, requiring that the combined interest and loan service rate be set at a rate not to exceed 50% of the interest rate paid by the state on the most recent sale of state general obligation bonds, as provided. Existing law requires the combined interest and loan service rate to be 0% for certain applicants who provide matching funds. This bill would delete the provision requiring that the combined interest and loan service rate be set at a rate not to exceed 50% of the interest rate paid by the state on the most recent sale of state general obligation bonds. The bill would require the loans to be made at below market interest rates. (3) Existing law prohibits a person or public agency, including a state agency, city, county, city and county, district, or any other political subdivision of the state, from using water from any source of quality suitable for potable domestic use for nonpotable uses, including, among other locations, parks, if suitable recycled water is available, as provided. Existing law provides that incidental amounts of spray, mist, or runoff are to be permitted to enter outdoor eating areas of parks and open spaces when irrigated with disinfected tertiary treated recycled water that complies with a specified regulation regarding irrigation. This bill would instead provide that incidental runoff is allowed to enter outdoor eating areas of parks and open spaces when irrigated with disinfected tertiary treated recycled water that complies with a specified regulation regarding irrigation. The bill would define "incidental runoff" as unintended amounts of runoff, such as unintended, minimal overspray from sprinklers that escapes the area of intended use.
The Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act of 1986, an initiative measure approved by the voters as Proposition 65 at the November 4, 1986, statewide general election, prohibits a person, in the course of doing business, from knowingly and intentionally exposing any individual to a chemical known to the state to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity without giving a specified warning, or from knowingly discharging or releasing that chemical into water, or into or onto land and passing into any source of drinking water, except as specified. The act authorizes a person, acting in the public interest, to bring an action to enforce the requirements of the act if specified requirements are met. If there is a settlement of an action brought by a person in the public interest, the act requires the plaintiff to submit the settlement to the court for approval upon noticed motion, and authorizes the court to approve the settlement only if the court makes specified findings, as provided, including that the award of attorney's fees is reasonable under state law. This bill would additionally require the court to find that the award of attorney's fees is appropriate under state law and that the settlement is in the public interest and provides a public benefit. The bill would further require, under a specified circumstance, the court to find that the settlement would require the defendant to reduce the exposure to the listed chemical from the level that existed before the settlement or provide a warning that complies with the act if that warning was not provided previously. The bill would also establish a procedure pursuant to which the court would be authorized to enter an award of attorney's fees if the Attorney General objects to the award of attorney's fees set forth in the settlement, as provided. Proposition 65 provides that it may be amended by a statute, passed by a 23 vote of each house of the Legislature, to further its purposes. This bill would find and declare that it furthers the purposes of Proposition 65.
This measure would urge the President of the United States and Congress of the United States to immediately restore full and consistent funding and staffing for the National Park Service.
Existing law, the Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act, establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and prescribes the authorities, duties, and responsibilities of the commission pertaining to energy matters. This bill would require the commission, in consultation with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and other relevant state agencies, to identify and designate Strategic Clean Energy and Critical Mineral Development Zones. The bill would authorize the county in which a proposed zone is located to submit a request for designation and would authorize the county board of supervisors to, by resolution, authorize the request for designation. The bill would authorize multiple counties to submit a request for designation if a proposed zone crosses the jurisdictional boundaries of the counties, as provided. The bill would require the commission to approve or deny a complete submission within 180 days. The bill would require a zone to consist only of geographic areas located within the jurisdictional boundaries of the county submitting the request for designation and would require that certain criteria be satisfied, including that the zone be in an area identified by state or federal agencies as containing significant deposits or identified production potential of critical minerals used in battery, clean energy, or advanced manufacturing supply chains, as specified. The bill would require the commission to review the designated zones at least every 5 years and authorize the commission to update the designated zones as appropriate based on changes in energy resources, infrastructure, or economic development planning. The bill would require state agencies administering programs related to economic development, advanced manufacturing, workforce development, or critical mineral supply chains to give priority consideration to projects, infrastructure investments, and technical assistance located within designated zones that support large-scale clean energy production or energy-intensive industrial development. The bill would require the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to consider designated zones when administering programs intended to support advanced manufacturing, clean technology industries, energy storage supply chains, and other energy-intensive industries. The bill would authorize the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development to coordinate with the commission and other relevant state agencies to support site readiness, infrastructure development, and attracting investment within designated zones. The bill would require the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and state agencies administering programs related to economic development, advanced manufacturing, workforce development, or critical mineral supply chains to give priority consideration to projects that will provide for the payment of prevailing wages, the employment of apprentices from state-approved projects, and the use of a skilled and trained workforce.
Existing law grants to the City of Martinez all right, title, and interest of the state to 4 specified parcels of land in the County of Contra Costa, to be held in trust by the city, as trustee, for the benefit of all the people of the state for purposes consistent with the public trust doctrine, including the protection of maritime or water-dependent commerce, navigation, and fisheries, and the preservation of the lands in their natural state for scientific study, open space, wildlife habitat, and water-oriented recreation. Existing law authorizes the city to lease the trust lands under specified conditions for purposes consistent with the trust grant for limited periods, not to exceed 49 years. Existing law requires the city to reimburse the commission for all expenses incurred in administering these provisions. This bill would instead authorize the city to lease the trust lands for up to 66 years, or, subject to State Lands Commission approval, for a term longer than 66 years if the commission finds that a longer lease term is in the best interest of the state. The bill would expressly require the city to bear the costs of any study or analysis that the commission undertakes, reviews, or requests in consideration of whether a longer lease term is in the best interest of the state, as provided.
(1) Existing law declares that all water within the state is the property of the people of the state, but the right to the use of the water may be acquired by appropriation in the manner provided by law. Existing law requires the appropriation to be for some useful or beneficial purpose. Existing law provides, however, that the diversion of floodflows for groundwater recharge does not require an appropriative water right if certain conditions are met, including that a local or regional agency that has adopted a local plan of flood control or has considered flood risks as part of its most recently adopted general plan has given notice, as provided, of imminent risk of flooding and inundation of lands, roads, or structures. Existing law defines "floodflow" for these purposes to include circumstances in which flows would inundate ordinarily dry areas in the bed of a terminal lake to a depth that floods dairies and other ongoing agricultural activities, or areas with substantial residential, commercial, or industrial development. Existing law applies those requirements to diversions commenced before January 1, 2029. 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. Existing law prohibits an entity from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or from depositing or disposing of certain material where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, without first notifying the Department of Fish and Wildlife of that activity, and entering into a lake or streambed alteration agreement if required by the department to protect fish and wildlife resources, except as specified. This bill would revise and recast those conditions required for the appropriative water right exemption for a diversion of floodflows for groundwater recharge, would apply the requirements to a diversion commenced before January 1, 2034, and would further exempt those diversions from the requirements of CEQA and requirements relating to lake or streambed alteration agreements, subject to conducting tribal consultation, as provided. The bill would expand the definition of "floodflow" to include flows downstream of a dam that is releasing water for flood control purposes, as provided. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to operate the State Water Resources Development System, known as the State Water Project, to supply water to persons and entities in the state. Existing law designates as the Central Valley Project a system of works for the conservation, development, storage, distribution, and utilization of water, with incidental generation, transmission, and distribution of electric power. This bill would provide that the inclusion of certain proposed terms in an application to divert water within or upstream of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta to underground storage pursuant to certain permits, and its adoption in the applicable permit, would satisfy the State Water Resources Control Board's finding that water may be diverted and used without injury to the legal users of water from the Central Valley Project or the State Water Project, including the United States Bureau of Reclamation, the Department of Water Resources, or any contractors to the project. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2037. (3) Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board to consider and act upon all applications for permits to appropriate water, and requires the Division of Water Rights to conduct a field investigation of all minor protested applications, except under a specified circumstance. Existing law defines a "minor application" to include an application by a groundwater sustainability agency or local agency for a diversion previously authorized by a conditional temporary permit for diversion of surface water to underground storage, as specified, without complying with other procedures or provisions previously authorized by a temporary permit. Existing law, the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act, requires all groundwater basins designated as high- or medium-priority basins by the Department of Water Resources to be managed under a groundwater sustainability plan or coordinated groundwater sustainability plans, except as specified. Existing law requires a groundwater sustainability plan to be developed and implemented to meet the sustainability goal, established as prescribed. This bill would expand that definition of minor application to include an application by a private entity under a memorandum of understanding or other agreement with a groundwater sustainability agency for specific diversions. The bill would create an additional exception from the requirement to conduct a field investigation if the application involves a diversion substantially similar to a diversion previously authorized by temporary permits for at least 5 years, involves no greater amount of diversion and no other points of diversion than authorized in the last preceding temporary permits, and includes specified information based on the applicant's experience under prior temporary permits, including specified documentation and proposed terms. The bill would also require the board to give public notice of the minor application within 30 days of the application's filing, to allow 45 days from the date of the notice for the filing of comments, as provided, and to issue a decision within 180 days of the deadline for submitting comments on the application, as provided. The bill would require the board to approve the application if it determines by a preponderance of the evidence that the proposed diversion would not injure a legal user of water, as specified, and would not unreasonably affect fish, wildlife, or other instream beneficial uses. The bill would exempt the permit issued by the board pursuant to these provisions from CEQA, except as specified, and requirements relating to lake or streambed alteration agreements, subject to specified conditions. The bill would make inoperative or repeal these provisions on January 1, 2037. The bill would require the board to, on or before January 1, 2035, compile information on the permits issued and diversions conducted pursuant to these provisions, and post the information on its internet website. Existing law authorizes any person who has an urgent need to divert and use water to apply for, and authorizes the board to issue, a conditional, temporary permit, as prescribed. Existing law defines "urgent need" for these purposes. This bill would expand the definition of "urgent need" to include, in a basin for which the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act requires a groundwater sustainability plan, the application of a local agency, groundwater sustainability agency, or private entity operating under a memorandum of understanding or other agreement with a groundwater sustainability agency, to divert and use water determined to be available using specified criteria, as provided, to augment the basin's recharge in order to support implementation of the sustainability goal in that basin. The bill would exempt the board's issuance of a temporary permit from CEQA and requirements relating to lake or streambed alteration agreements, subject to specified conditions. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2037. The bill would require the board to, on or before January 1, 2035, compile information on the permits issued and diversions conducted pursuant to a temporary permit and post the information on its internet website. (4) Existing law requires the state water board to appoint a deputy director for the Division of Water Rights. This bill would, for applications submitted before January 1, 2037, authorize a certain temporary permit to authorize the diversion to be initiated more than 180 days after date of issuance, except that authorization to divert would automatically expire 5 years after diversions commence, as provided. The bill would authorize the Chief Deputy Director of Water Rights to limit diversion under those temporary permits in favor of competing temporary permits based on, among other things, consideration of public interest, as provided. (5) Existing law requires each person or entity who holds a permit or license to appropriate water, and each lessor of water, as provided, to pay an annual fee according to a fee schedule established by the board, as specified. This bill would require the board, in setting fees for minor applications and for temporary urgency permits, to set those fees at a level that encourages those applications. The bill would prohibit the board from requiring a separate application or fee for consumptive and nonconsumptive uses of diverted water. The bill would make inoperative or repeal these provisions on January 1, 2037.
