Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to gather and correlate information and data pertinent to an annual forecast of seasonal water crop. Existing law also requires the department to update every 5 years the plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state, which is known as "The California Water Plan." This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2027, to update its water supply forecasting models and procedures to address the effects of climate change and implement a formal policy and procedures for documenting the department's operational plans and the department's rationale for its operating procedures, including the department's rationale for water releases from reservoirs. The bill would also require the department to establish, and publish on the department's internet website, the specific criteria that it will employ to determine when its updated water supply forecasting model has demonstrated sufficient predictive capability to be ready for use in each of the watersheds. The bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report on its progress toward implementing the new forecasting model and to post the report on the department's internet website. The bill would also require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, and annually thereafter, to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report that explains the rationale for the department's operating procedures specific to the previous water year.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, on or before December 31, 2018, and biennially thereafter, as part of a specified report, to identify and report to the Legislature on electrical and gas corporation ratepayer-funded energy efficiency programs that are similar to programs administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the State Air Resources Board, and the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority. This bill would instead require the commission to identify and report to the Legislature on those programs on an annual basis.
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 certain projects from its requirements, including actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of a line, plant, or system, or extensions of those facilities without first obtaining from the Public Utilities Commission a certificate that the present or future convenience and necessity require or will require the construction. Existing law specifies that the certificate is not required for the extension, expansion, upgrade, or other modification of existing electrical transmission facilities. This bill would require the commission to determine whether to certify the environmental impact report for an electrical infrastructure project that is a priority project, as defined, no later than 270 days after the commission determines that an application for an electrical infrastructure project is complete, except as specified. The bill would require a project applicant to identify an electrical infrastructure project that is a priority project and the basis for the designation in the application to the commission. The bill would require commission staff to review an application for a priority project no later than 30 days after it is filed and notify the applicant in writing of any deficiencies in the information and data submitted in the application. The bill would require the applicant to correct any deficiencies or notify the commission in writing why it is unable to correct those deficiencies, as specified, within 60 days of that notification. The bill would require the commission to deem an application for a priority project complete with a preliminary ruling setting the scope and schedule, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's 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.
Existing law requires the Strategic Growth Council to develop and administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development, and that support other related and coordinated public policy objectives. Existing law specifies the types of projects eligible for funding under the program, including, among others, transit capital projects, active transportation capital projects, and transit-oriented development projects, as provided. This bill would expressly include certain transit capital projects and transit-oriented development projects near planned high-speed rail stations that meet specific criteria as eligible for funding under the program.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in coordination with specified agencies, to develop a strategic plan for offshore wind energy developments installed off the California coast in federal waters, and requires the Energy Commission to submit the strategic plan to the Natural Resources Agency and the Legislature on or before June 30, 2023, as specified. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in coordination with relevant state and local agencies, to develop a plan to improve waterfront facilities that could support a range of floating offshore wind energy development activities, as specified. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and biennially thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report that contains an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, presents policy recommendations based on an in-depth and integrated analysis of the most current and pressing energy issues facing the state, and includes an assessment and forecast of system reliability and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Commission, as part of the 2027 edition of the integrated energy policy report and each edition thereafter, and contingent upon an appropriation for this purpose, to include an assessment of funding needs for port infrastructure for offshore wind energy development, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with specified entities, to include in the assessment any federal, state, and local funding opportunities, including general obligation bonds and funding from the private sector, that can help build port infrastructure for offshore wind energy development.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board, on or before July 1, 2025, to develop and adopt regulations requiring specified partnerships, corporations, limited liability companies, and other business entities with total annual revenues in excess of $1,000,000,000 and that do business in California, defined as "reporting entities," to publicly disclose starting in 2026 or on a date to be determined by the state board, and annually thereafter, their scope 1 and scope 2 greenhouse gas emissions, as defined, and, starting in 2027 and annually thereafter, their scope 3 greenhouse gas emissions, as defined, for the reporting entity's prior fiscal year, as provided. Existing law prescribes additional duties on specific industries for a variety of purposes, including those that promote the public health, safety, and welfare relating to issues that are unique to that industry. Existing law, for example, requires any tanning device used by a tanning facility to comply with all applicable federal laws and regulations. This bill would enact the Fashion Environmental Accountability Act of 2025 and would require fashion sellers to carry out effective environmental due diligence, as provided. The bill would vest the Department of Toxic Substances Control with jurisdiction over fashion sellers' compliance with ensuring that a fashion seller's covered fashion products, as defined, do not contain any regulated chemicals, as defined, above thresholds the act would establish, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to adopt regulations to implement, enforce, interpret, or make specific portions of the act under its jurisdiction, as provided. The bill would vest the state board with jurisdiction over a fashion seller's environmental due diligence under the act pertaining to emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill would require a fashion seller, in carrying out its effective environmental due diligence, to comply with certain environmental guidelines that, at a minimum, require the fashion seller to, among other things, embed responsible business conduct in its policies and management systems, identify areas of significant risks of societal and ecological harms from its own activities and its supply chain relationships, identify, prioritize, and assess the significant potential and actual adverse impacts of those risks, and cease, prevent, or mitigate those risks, as provided. The bill would require a fashion seller, beginning July 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, to submit to the department and the state board an Environmental Due Diligence Report pertaining to the effective environmental due diligence performed by the fashion seller for the prior calendar year, as provided. The bill would specify that fashion sellers are reporting entities for purposes of above-described public disclosure requirement for emissions of greenhouse gases and would require the disclosure be reported on their Environmental Due Diligence Report. The bill would require a fashion seller, in carrying out its environmental due diligence, to establish, on or before July 1, 2027, a quantitative baseline for their emissions of greenhouse gases and targets for reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases in the near-term and long-term covering their scopes 1, 2, and 3 emissions, as provided. The bill would require a fashion seller, on or before January 1, 2027, to ensure that their covered fashion products do not contain any regulated chemicals above the act's thresholds, as provided. The bill would prohibit, on and after January 1, 2028, a person from manufacturing, selling, or distributing in commerce any covered fashion product that contains any regulated chemicals above those thresholds, as specified. The bill would authorize the department or the Attorney General to enforce the act's thresholds, as specified, and would punish violations of the threshold requirements and of the act that are enforced by the department with an administrative or civil penalty not to exceed $5,000 for a first violation, and not to exceed $10,000 for each subsequent violation, as specified. The bill would subject a fashion seller in violation of the act to a civil penalty, as provided, for violations enforced by the state board. The bill would authorize the department and the state board, as appropriate, to seek appropriate equitable remedies for a violation of the act. The bill would require the civil penalties collected by the state board to be deposited into the Fashion Environmental Remediation Fund, which the bill would establish in the General Fund. The bill would require moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be expended for purposes of implementing the act and one or more environmental benefit or environmental remediation projects.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to establish a Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization, and Storage Program to capture, remove, and store carbon dioxide, as provided. Existing law requires the state board to develop a centralized public database to track the deployment of specified carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology or equipment and carbon dioxide removal activities that use technologies or engineered strategies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as specified, and the development of carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration projects throughout the state. This bill would require the state board to establish the Marine Carbon Initiative and would set forth the objectives of the initiative, including advancing the body of research and scientific understanding of marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration. The bill would require the initiative to include the Marine Carbon Council (council) and the Marine Carbon Research Program (program) . The bill would require the state board, on or before July 1, 2027, to establish the council to advance the science and understanding of marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration methods and technologies. The bill would require the council to consist of 7 members chosen by the state board who would be selected on or before August 1, 2027, and would specify the selection process for, and the qualifications of, the council. The bill would require the council, by July 1, 2028, to report to the state board with recommendations on marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration, as specified. The bill would require the state board, on or before August 1, 2028, to establish the program, and would require the state board to administer the program in consultation with the council. The bill would require the program to award grants on a competitive basis, and other financial incentives the state board may designate, for eligible marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration projects, as specified. The bill would require the council, on or before January 1, 2029, and biennially thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature that, at minimum, summarizes the findings and progress of the council in its work, as provided. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the sum of $2,000,000 to be allocated to the state board annually for no less than 7 years to fund the program.
Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Wildlife has jurisdiction over the conservation, protection, and management of fish, wildlife, native plants, and habitat necessary for biologically sustainable populations of those species. This bill would establish the San Gabriel Valley Bear Management and Community Safety Act, which would require, on or before January 1, 2027, the department to develop a regional plan specific to the cities located within the San Gabriel Valley in the County of Los Angeles to address issues relating to bears in the community. The bill would require the plan to include various components, including, among other things, an overview of the behaviors of the bears in the San Gabriel Mountains. The bill would require the department to establish measurable performance goals for reducing bear encounters within the cities located in the San Gabriel Valley in the County of Los Angeles, and to report those goals to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2027. The bill would require the department to tag and track any bear that enters a residential neighborhood in a city located within the San Gabriel Valley in the County of Los Angeles using innovative technologies, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for County of Los Angeles.
The Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, governed by a board of directors. The act, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities. The Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund Act of 2020 authorizes the I-Bank, under the Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund Program, to provide financial assistance to any eligible sponsor or participating party in connection with the financing or refinancing for eligible climate catalyst projects, as defined, either directly to the sponsor or participating party or to a lending or financial institution, as specified. The act, beginning in the 2021–22 fiscal year, requires the I-Bank to adopt a climate catalyst financing plan, as specified, after meeting and conferring with prescribed authorized consulting agencies concerning specific categories of climate catalyst projects. The act establishes the Climate Catalyst Revolving Loan Fund as a continuously appropriated fund for the purpose of implementing the objectives and provisions of the act. This bill would authorize the I-Bank to provide financial assistance in connection with the financing or refinancing of an additional category of climate catalyst projects, those projects that enable the capture and conversion of data centers' waste heat, with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) as the consulting agency. If multiple projects seek funding under this category of climate catalyst projects, the bill would require the consulting agencies to prioritize funding based on state policy and on financial considerations, as determined by the Energy Commission. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in the fund may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to evaluate each customer renewable energy subscription program to determine if the program meets certain goals and determine whether it would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish a new tariff or program or modify an existing tariff or program to establish a community renewable energy program consistent with certain requirements, including a requirement that the program provides bill credits to subscribers based on the avoided costs of the program's facilities, as provided. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has adopted a community renewable energy program. This bill would revise and recast the requirements for the customer renewable energy subscription program to, among other things, specify that the avoided costs include certain avoided cost values. The bill would impose additional requirements that the program is required to meet, including requiring facilities participating in the program to have no more than 5 megawatts of generation capacity and no more than 5 megawatts of storage, and capping the total program capacity at 5 gigawatts or ending program subscription after 7 years, when either limit is first reached. The bill would require the PUC, on or before September 1, 2026, to adopt or modify the community renewable energy program to ensure consistency with certain requirements, as provided. The bill would require each community choice aggregator and electric service provider, within 180 days of the adoption or modification of the program, to notify the PUC regarding whether it will participate in the program. The bill would authorize a community choice aggregator or electric service provider to begin participating in, or end its participation in, the program at any time by notifying the PUC. The bill would require the PUC, beginning 2 years from the adoption or modification of the program, to evaluate the program to ensure consistency with the program's requirements and would require the PUC to authorize the termination or modification of the program if the PUC determines that the program does not meet those requirements. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to evaluate community solar and storage projects as a load-modifying resource so that those projects may be counted as a load-modifying resource. The bill would require the Energy Commission to undertake the evaluation and issue a determination on or before September 1, 2026, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC action implementing this bill's 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.
