Existing law requires, by December 31, 2026, the State Air Resources Board, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, as provided, to develop a framework for measuring the average carbon intensity of the materials used in the construction of new buildings, including those for residential uses. Existing law requires, by December 31, 2028, the state board to develop a comprehensive strategy for the state's building sector to achieve a 40% net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of building materials, as specified, as soon as possible, but no later than December 31, 2035. Existing law authorizes the state board to establish an embodied carbon trading system, as defined, in compliance with these requirements, as provided. This bill would require the state board to determine whether using building materials with lower embodied carbon would be cost effective during the first 2-year period of their use compared to using conventional building materials before implementing the above-described provisions. If the state board determines that using building materials with lower embodied carbon would not be cost effective during the first 2-year period of their use compared to using conventional building materials, the bill would require the state board to delay or suspend, as applicable, implementation of those provisions for not less than 5 years, not to exceed 10 years in total.
Existing law, the California Clean Energy Jobs Act, expresses a goal of creating good-paying energy efficiency and clean energy jobs in California. Existing law establishes in state government the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, under the supervision of the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, which consists of the Office of the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development and the California Workforce Development Board, among others. Existing law creates the position of Deputy Secretary for Climate within the agency, subject to appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of assisting in the oversight of California's workforce transition to a sustainable and equitable carbon neutral economy. This bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, establish an Electric Vehicle Economic Opportunity Zone (EVEOZ) for the County of Riverside, administered by the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, for the purpose of creating programs to make electric vehicle manufacturing jobs and education more accessible to lower income communities. The bill would require the agency to collaborate with the County of Riverside in determining the geographical boundaries of the EVEOZ. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would authorize the agency to partner with educational institutions, electric vehicle manufacturing businesses, and local and national financial intuitions to develop EVEOZ education, training, and investment programs, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Riverside. 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.
Existing law establishes the state flag and the state's emblems, including, among other things, the golden poppy as the official state flower, the California redwood as the official state tree, and the California gray whale as the official state marine mammal. Existing law establishes the California State Library within the state government and vests control of the library to the State Librarian. Existing law authorizes the California State Library to serve as the central reference and research library for the departments of state government and maintain adequate legislative reference and research library services for the Legislature. This bill would require the California State Library to conduct a study, in consultation with the public, on the best candidate for the official state energy. The bill would require the California State Library, on or before January 1, 2028, to submit a report to the Legislature with the California State Library's recommendations based on the study. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.
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 Governor to certify projects meeting certain requirements as infrastructure projects and provide those certified projects with certain streamlining benefits, including requiring the lead agency to prepare the record of proceedings concurrently with the environmental review process and requiring the resolution of an action or proceeding challenging the certification of an EIR for certified projects or the granting of any project approvals, to the extent feasible, within 270 days of the filing of the record of proceedings with the court, as specified. Existing law requires the lead agency, within 10 days of the certification of an infrastructure project, to provide a public notice of the certification, as provided. If a lead agency fails to approve a project certified as an infrastructure project before January 1, 2033, existing law specifies that the certification is no longer valid. This bill would authorize the Governor to certify up to 3 sustainable aviation fuel projects, as defined, meeting certain requirements, as infrastructure projects, thereby providing the above streamlining benefits to those projects. By expanding the duties of a lead agency as they relate to infrastructure projects and to sustainable aviation fuel projects, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
(1) Existing law requires the Wildlife Conservation Board to establish and administer, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the California Riparian Habitat Conservation Program with the purpose and goal of protecting, preserving, and restoring riparian habitats throughout the state, as specified. Existing law authorizes the board to authorize the department to award grants and loans for the purposes of the program to specified entities. This bill would authorize the board to authorize the department to make those awards to federally recognized tribes. (2) Existing law establishes the Inland Wetlands Conservation Program under the board with the purpose and goal of carrying out the programs of the Central Valley Habitat Joint Venture. Existing law authorizes the board to make grants or loans for the purpose of wetland and associated upland habitat acquisition, restoration, or enhancement to specified entities. This bill would authorize the board to make those grants or loans to federally recognized tribes. (3) Existing law authorizes the department to enter into contracts or other agreements with nonprofit conservation groups or resource conservation districts for the management and operation of department-managed lands. This bill would authorize the department to also enter into those contracts or other agreements with federally recognized tribes.
Existing law, the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program and requires the department to adopt rules and regulations, as necessary, to carry out the act. Existing law requires each city, county, and regional agency, if any, to develop a source reduction and recycling element, household hazardous waste element, and nondisposal facility element of an integrated waste management plan. The act requires the source reduction and recycling element to divert from disposal 50% of all solid waste subject to the element through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities, with specified exceptions. This bill would require a city or county that requires a refundable deposit, performance security, or similar financial guarantee as a condition of issuing a construction, demolition, or building permit for the purpose of ensuring compliance with a construction or demolition debris requirement to return the full amount of the deposit if documentation demonstrating compliance with the terms of the deposit is provided, as specified.
Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. 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 authorizes certain regulations needed to effectuate or implement programs of the act to be adopted as emergency regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, as provided. Existing law requires the emergency regulations to be filed with the Office of Administrative Law and requires the emergency regulations to remain in effect until repealed or amended by the adopting state agency. This bill, notwithstanding the above, would exempt the adoption of regulations for purposes of developing and adopting program guidelines and selection criteria needed to effectuate or implement programs of the act from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, as provided. The bill would require a state entity that receives funding to administer a competitive grant program established using the Administrative Procedure Act exemption to do certain things, including, among other things, to develop draft project solicitation and evaluation guidelines, to transmit copies of the draft guidelines to the fiscal committees and to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, to hold a noticed public meeting on the draft guidelines, and to submit the final guidelines to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, except as provided. The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to post an electronic form of the guidelines submitted by a state entity and the subsequent verifications on the Natural Resources Agency's internet website. The bill would authorize the use of certain previously developed program guidelines and selection criteria for these purposes, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , the Independent System Operator, and the State Air Resources Board, on or before December 31, 2023, to submit to the Legislature an assessment of the firm zero-carbon resources that support a clean, reliable, and resilient electrical grid in the state and will achieve the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of all retail sales of electricity to the state's end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Commission, working with the PUC, to prepare and submit to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2028, a statewide assessment of the role and necessity of firm zero-carbon resources in meeting the state's clean energy and reliability objectives, potential technologies and strategies for integrating firm zero-carbon resources into the state's energy mix, recommendations on procurement, policy, and planning actions to deploy and support firm zero-carbon resources, and current and projected renewable and firm zero-carbon generation capacity, reliability requirements under varying system conditions, and the cost and emission implications of firm zero-carbon resources.
Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene State School Building Lease-Purchase Law of 1976, effectuates the declaration of the Legislature that it is in the interest of the state and its people to reconstruct, remodel, or replace existing school buildings that are educationally inadequate or that do not meet present-day structural safety requirements, and to acquire new schoolsites and buildings for the purpose of making them available to local school districts for the pupils of the public school system. Existing law authorizes the State Allocation Board, by adoption of rules, to establish priorities for the construction and leasing of projects to schools districts whose pupils will benefit most. This bill would authorize the board to include, as priorities for projects, an efficient response to extreme heat and climate change. If the board adopts priorities related to an efficient response to extreme heat and climate change, the bill would require those priorities to apply only to project applications received after January 1, 2027.
(1) Existing state and federal law provides for the enforcement of laws related to elections. This bill would prohibit a peace officer from interfering with the administration of an election, as specified. This bill would authorize certain persons to enforce those prohibitions by filing a civil action, as specified. This bill would also prohibit any individual from permitting an agent of a law enforcement agency, as specified, to access, disrupt, modify, or take possession of rosters, combined rosters, or voter lists unless authorized by a court order or to investigate certain types of voting fraud. The bill would additionally require the Attorney General to provide guidance and information regarding how to respond to requests by law enforcement, as defined, to access areas where ballots are present. (2) Existing law requires an elections official, upon receiving a vote by mail ballot, to compare the signature on the identification envelope with the voter's prior signatures, and it also provides a mechanism by which a voter can verify their signature and cure this defect. Existing law provides that the processing of vote by mail ballots is open to the public and permits specified persons and organizations to observe this processing. This bill would prohibit a vote by mail observer from challenging a signature on a vote by mail ballot that has been verified by the voter. (3) Under existing law, it is a crime for a person in possession of a firearm, a uniformed peace officer, private guard, or security personnel, or any person wearing the uniform of a peace officer, guard, or security personnel, to be stationed in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without authorization from the appropriate elections official. It is also a crime for a person to hire or arrange for such a person to be stationed in the immediate vicinity of, or posted at, a polling place without authorization from the elections official. This bill would authorize the Secretary of State or Attorney General to object to authorization provided by the appropriate elections official, in which case the person stationed or posted at the polling place, or the person who hired or arranged for such a person to be stationed or posted at the polling place, is guilty of a crime. By expanding the scope of these crimes, the bill would create a state-mandated local program. (4) Existing law authorizes the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and any local elections official in the county in which the act occurs, to bring a civil action against an individual, business, or other legal entity that commits any specified act of tampering with a voting system or voting equipment before, during, or after an election. This bill would additionally authorize the Secretary of State, Attorney General, and the appropriate local elections official to bring a civil action against a person, business, or entity that takes a package containing ballots from the custody of an elections official. (5) Existing law makes it a crime for an individual to undertake a number of enumerated actions that would result in interference with an election, including displaying a container for the purpose of collecting ballots with the intent to deceive a voter into casting a ballot in an unofficial ballot box. This bill would also make it a crime to take a package containing voted ballots out of the custody of an elections official. By expanding the scope of this crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (6) Existing law requires the elections official of any county or city using a voting system to inspect the machines or devices at least once every 2 years. This bill would prohibit an individual from permitting an agent of a law enforcement agency, as defined, to access, disrupt, modify, or take possession of certified voting technology unless authorized by a court order. To the extent this bill would establish new procedures for the conduct of elections, it would create a state-mandated local program. (7) 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. (8) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
