Existing law, the California Farmland Conservancy Program Act, establishes within the Department of Conservation the California Farmland Conservancy Program. Existing law authorizes the program to offer financial assistance, including grants or contracts, for projects and activities on agricultural lands, as defined, that support agricultural conservation and sustainable land management. This bill would require the department, in collaboration with the California Agricultural Land Equity Task Force, to establish the Farmland Access and Conservation for Thriving Communities Program in the department to provide financial and technical assistance to support agricultural land acquisition and protection. The bill would require the department, subject to specified requirements, to provide financial assistance under the program to qualified entities for the purpose of acquiring agricultural lands to transfer or provide long-term leases to qualified farmer participants, as specified. The bill would establish the Farmland Access Fund in the State Treasury and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for program expenditures. The bill would authorize the department to contract with one or more nonprofit organizations to administer the program. The bill would make the operation of the program contingent upon the Legislature making an appropriation for purposes of the program.
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 the lead agency 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 establishes the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation, under the direction of the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, who is required to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells so as to permit the owners or operators of those wells to use all methods and practices known to the industry for the purpose of increasing the ultimate recovery of geothermal resources, as provided. Existing law requires the division to be the lead agency for all geothermal exploratory projects for purposes of CEQA, as specified, and authorizes the division to delegate its lead agency responsibility for geothermal exploratory projects to a county that has adopted a geothermal element for its general plan. Existing law also requires the county in which a geothermal project is located to assume the responsibilities of a lead agency for a geothermal exploratory project upon the request of an applicant, as specified. Existing law defines "geothermal exploratory project" in part as a project composed of not more than 6 wells and associated drilling and testing equipment whose chief and original purpose is to evaluate the presence and characteristics of geothermal resources. Existing law requires wells included within a geothermal exploratory project to be located at least one-half mile from geothermal development wells that are capable of producing geothermal resources in commercial quantities. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a well to keep, or to cause to be kept, a careful and accurate log, core record, and history of drilling the well and requires the log to show, among other things, the character and depth of the formation passed through or encountered in the drilling of the well. Upon completion or abandonment of a well, or upon the suspension of operations of a well, existing law requires true copies of the log, core record, and history to be filed with the district deputy of an oil and gas district, as specified. This bill would expressly include as part of a geothermal exploratory project, among other things, equipment and activities necessary to establish interconnectivity between wells and reservoirs. The bill would exclude certain wells connecting to geothermal reservoirs from the one-half mile limit described above. The bill would require the log for a well that is part of a geothermal exploratory project that is exempt from CEQA, as described below, to include the chemical and physical characteristics of well stimulation fluids. Upon completion or abandonment of a well, or upon the suspension of operations of a well, that is part of a geothermal exploratory project that is exempt from CEQA, as described below, the bill would require a project developer to disclose the composition of fluids used in all relevant hydraulic fracturing operations with the log for a well and would require the project developer to file a copy of the disclosure with the lead agency. This bill would, until January 1, 2031, exempt from CEQA geothermal exploratory projects that meet specified conditions and for which the county or the Geologic Energy Management Division is the lead agency. The bill would require a project developer to conduct a reconnaissance survey, that includes certain information, and to supply the lead agency with the reconnaissance survey when applying for an exemption from CEQA. The bill would require the lead agency to engage in a scoping consultation with any California Native American tribe that is traditionally and culturally affiliated with the geographic area of the proposed project, as provided. The bill would authorize the lead agency to require the project applicant to file an indemnity bond, as specified, before the lead agency determines that a geothermal exploratory project is exempt from CEQA. The bill would require a geothermal exploratory project that is exempt from CEQA to include full reclamation of the project site, as provided. The bill would require the lead agency, at least 30 days before making a determination to approve a geothermal exploratory project as exempt from CEQA pursuant to this exemption, to post a written notice of the intent to apply the exemption at the project site and to post a written notice of the intent to apply the exemption and the entire project application on its internet website. If the lead agency determines that the project is exempt from CEQA, the bill would require the lead agency to file a notice with the State Clearinghouse in the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and with the county clerk of the county in which the project is located, as provided, and to provide a copy of the notice to specified entities. Because the exemption would apply to projects where the county is the lead agency and the county would be required to engage in a scoping consultation and determine if a project qualifies for this exemption, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require a geothermal field development project located on a site where a geothermal exploratory project was deployed pursuant to the above-described CEQA exemption to use a baseline for CEQA review that reflects the site before the geothermal exploratory project occurred. Existing law requires the owner or operator of a well to file a written notice of intention to commence drilling with, and prohibits any drilling until approval is given by, the supervisor or district deputy. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2029, the Geologic Energy Management Division to promulgate regulations for enhanced geothermal system wells, as provided. Before the promulgation and implementation of those regulations, the bill would require an operator to provide specified information to the supervisor when the operator files the notice of intent to commence drilling for a well in a CEQA-exempt geothermal exploratory project that employs enhanced geothermal system technology. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law prohibits a person, a state or local governmental agency, or a public utility 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 depositing or disposing of debris, waste, or other material containing crumbled, flaked, or ground pavement where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, unless prescribed requirements are met, including written notification to the Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the activity. Existing law requires the department to determine whether the activity may substantially adversely affect an existing fish and wildlife resource and, if so, to provide a draft lake or streambed alteration agreement to the person, agency, or utility. Existing law prescribes various requirements for lake and streambed alteration agreements. Existing law also establishes various exemptions from these provisions. This bill would, until January 1, 2027, exempt from these provisions, subject to certain requirements, projects to repair or reconstruct a bridge 30 feet long or less or a culvert 70 feet long or less within the County of Sutter that has been damaged or destroyed as a result of fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or landslide, between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024, inclusive, except as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sutter.
(1) Existing law, the Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act, prohibits any person or public agency from importing into the state, exporting out of the state, or taking, possessing, purchasing, or selling within the state, a western Joshua tree or any part or product of the tree, except as provided. Under existing law, the Department of Fish and Wildlife may authorize, by permit, the taking of a western Joshua tree if certain conditions are met, including, among other conditions, that the permittee mitigates all impacts to, and the taking of, the western Joshua tree. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with any county or city to delegate to the county or city the ability to authorize the taking of a western Joshua tree associated with developing single-family residences, multifamily residences, accessory structures, and public works projects concurrent with its approval of the project if certain conditions are met. Existing law authorizes any person or public agency receiving a take authorization for a project to pay specified fees in lieu of satisfying the mitigation obligation on several bases, including if the project receives a permit issued by a county or city. This bill would additionally authorize the department to enter into an agreement with any city to delegate to the city the ability to authorize the taking of western Joshua trees associated with developing commercial and industrial projects. The bill would, relative to other project types subject to delegated local mitigation authority, limit the bases for commercial or industrial projects to pay specified fees in lieu of satisfying the mitigation obligation, as provided. (2) Existing law authorizes the department to issue a permit to authorize either the removal or trimming of a dead western Joshua tree or the trimming of a live western Joshua tree. This bill would remove the reference to a dead or live western Joshua tree, thereby authorizing the department to issue a permit to authorize either the removal or trimming of any western Joshua tree. Existing law authorizes the department to issue a permit for these purposes, without the payment of fees or other mitigation, provided that a dead western Joshua tree or any limbs to be removed meet at least one of a specified list of conditions. This bill would revise and recast this provision to instead authorize the department to issue a permit, without the payment of fees or other mitigation, if either the western Joshua tree is located within 100 feet of an existing single-family home and any associated accessory structure or that removal or trimming is necessary for the homeowner to meet defensible space requirements, as provided.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the California regional water quality control boards prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. Under federal law, any applicant seeking a federal license or permit for an activity that may result in any discharge into the navigable waters of the United States is required to first seek a state water quality certification, as specified. The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act authorizes the state board to certify or provide a statement to a federal agency, as required pursuant to federal law, that there is reasonable assurance that an activity of any person subject to the jurisdiction of the state board will not reduce water quality below applicable standards. The federal act provides that if a state fails or refuses to act on a request for this certification within a reasonable period of time, which shall not exceed one year after receipt of the request, then the state certification requirements are waived with respect to the federal application. This bill would require the state board, if requested by the applicant within 14 days of an initial draft certification being issued, to hold a public hearing at least 21 days before taking action on an application for certification for a license to operate a hydroelectric facility, as provided. The bill would, if a public hearing is requested on the draft certification, prohibit the authority to issue a certification for a license to operate a hydroelectric facility from being delegated. The bill would authorize the state board to include in its fee schedule for hydroelectric facility applicants an amount up to the reasonable costs incurred by the state board in implementing these provisions.
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, until January 1, 2030, exempts from its requirements active transportation plans, pedestrian plans, or bicycle transportation plans for the restriping of streets and highways, bicycle parking and storage, signal timing to improve street and highway intersection operations, and the related signage for bicycles, pedestrians, and vehicles. This bill would extend the operation of the above-mentioned exemption indefinitely. The bill would also exempt a transit comprehensive operational analysis, as defined, a transit route readjustment, or other transit agency route addition, elimination, or modification, from the requirements of CEQA. Because a lead agency would be required to determine whether a plan qualifies for this exemption, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. CEQA, until January 1, 2030, exempts from its requirements certain transportation-related projects, such as pedestrian and bicycle facilities, transit prioritization projects, public projects located on a site that is wholly within the boundaries of an urbanized area or urban cluster, as provided, for the institution or increase of bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail service, including the construction or rehabilitation of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, and public projects for the construction or maintenance of infrastructure of facilities to charge, refuel, or maintain zero-emission public transit buses, trains, or ferries, as provided. CEQA requires, except as provided, those exempted projects to be carried out by a local agency and meet certain requirements, including certain labor requirements. This bill would extend the operation of the above-mentioned exemption until January 1, 2040. The bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA a public project for the protection and improvement of bus rapid transit, bus, or light rail service, including the protection, operation, and maintenance, public projects for the protection, improvement, institution, or increase of microtransit, paratransit, shuttle, and ferry, and for the protection, maintenance, construction, operation, or rehabilitation of stops that will be exclusively used by zero-emission, near-zero-emission, low oxide of nitrogen engine, compressed natural gas fuel, fuel cell, or hybrid powertrain vehicles, rail or cable cars, rolling stock, or vessels. The bill would, until January 1, 2032, exempt from the requirements of CEQA a public project for the protection, improvement, institution, or increase of microtransit, paratransit, shuttle, bus, ferry, bus rapid transit, or light rail service, including the protection, maintenance, construction, operation, or rehabilitation of stops, stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, if used primarily by near-zero-emission, low oxide of nitrogen engine, compressed natural gas fuel, or hybrid powertrain vehicles, except as provided. The bill would exclude from this exemption certain public projects for the construction or rehabilitation of a ferry terminal, as provided, and, except as provided, public projects for transit services operated by a transportation network company, as defined. 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. CEQA exempts from its requirements a project that consists exclusively of a combination of any of the components of specified transportation-related projects. This bill would extend the operation of the above-mentioned exemption until January 1, 2040. The bill would, until January 1, 2040, exempt from the requirements of CEQA a project that combines any of those specified transportation-related projects and a housing development project that is either subject to a nondiscretionary approval or is exempt from CEQA, as provided. 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. Existing law exempts from the requirements of CEQA public projects for the institution or increase of passenger rail service, other than light rail service that is eligible for a specified exemption, including the construction or rehabilitation of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, which will be exclusively used by zero-emission trains. This bill would extend the operation of the above-mentioned exemption until January 1, 2040. The bill would exempt from the requirements of CEQA public projects for the improvement of passenger rail service, other than light rail service eligible for a specified exemption, including the maintenance of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities, which will be exclusively used by zero-emission trains, public projects for the maintenance, construction, or rehabilitation of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities which will be exclusively used by zero-emission certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives, as provided. The bill would exclude from this exemption public projects located in certain air basins for the maintenance, construction, or rehabilitation of stations, terminals, or existing operations facilities that will be used by certified Tier 4 or cleaner rolling stock or locomotives that are not zero-emission rolling stock or locomotives. 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. Existing law requires certain CEQA-exempt projects exceeding specified dollar amounts to meet certain criteria, as provided. This bill would instead require certain CEQA-exempt projects that are, based on the project engineer's cost estimate, anticipated to exceed a specified dollar amount, to meet certain criteria, as provided. The bill would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, beginning January 1, 2026, and every two years thereafter, to adjust these amounts to reflect changes in the Consumer Price Index, as provided, and publish the updated amounts on its internet website. The bill would authorize the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to implement, interpret, or make specific that provision without taking any regulatory action. This bill would declare that its provisions are severable. 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 provides various provisions applicable to all public transit and transit districts and includes specific requirements applicable to public entities that operate commuter rail or rail transit systems. This bill would prohibit a public entity that owns diesel-powered on-track equipment from selling, donating, or otherwise transferring ownership of that equipment for continued use after the public entity decommissions the equipment. The bill would exempt the sale, donation, or transfer of the ownership of that equipment from the prohibition if the equipment is deemed to be in one of specified categories of emissions standards designated by the federal government for locomotives, the equipment produces emissions equivalent to any equipment within any of those federal categories, or the diesel engine is removed from the equipment, as specified.
Existing law requires each utility, on and after January 1, 2017, to, upon the request and authorization of the owner, owner's agent, or operator of a covered building, as defined, deliver or otherwise provide aggregated energy usage data for a covered building to the owner, owner's agent, or building operator, or to the owner's account in the ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, as specified. This bill would authorize a utility to satisfy that requirement by delivering or otherwise providing aggregated energy usage data to the owner's account in any alternative system or tool approved by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission.
Existing law prohibits requiring a person desiring to use an electric vehicle charging station that requires payment of a fee from paying a subscription fee in order to use the station, or requiring the person to obtain membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using the station. Existing law authorizes an electric vehicle charging station to offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis, if the station provides nonsubscribers or nonmembers the ability to use the station through a contactless payment method that accepts major credit and debit cards, as specified, and either an automated toll-free telephone number or a short message system (SMS) that provides the electric vehicle charging customer with the option to initiate a charging session and submit payment. Existing law requires a direct current fast charging station that is first installed or made publicly available on or after July 10, 2023, to also include Plug and Charge payment capabilities, as specified. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to add to or subtract from these payment methods by regulation that is effective no earlier than January 1, 2028, as provided. This bill would create an exception to the above-described provisions to authorize an electric vehicle charging station to require that payment for charging services be made through the use of an internet-based application if the charging station is on the premises of an arena that has a seating capacity of at least 15,000 seats and can only be accessed through the use of that internet-based application. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by AB 1423 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1423 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 generally regulates solid waste disposal, management, and recycling. The act requires each city, county, and regional agency to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan. The act requires that element to include a 50% solid waste diversion requirement, as specified, and provides that up to 10% may be achieved through biomass conversion under certain conditions, with biomass conversion defined as the production of heat, fuels, or electricity by certain means from specified materials. One of the conditions for using biomass conversion to satisfy a portion of the solid waste diversion requirement is that pyrolysis not be included in the source reduction and recycling element. Pyrolysis is not defined for that purpose or for other purposes in the act. This bill would define pyrolysis for purposes of the act as the thermal decomposition of material at elevated temperatures in the absence or near absence of oxygen. (2) Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to adopt regulations, as specified, to achieve specified reductions in the organic waste disposed of in landfills. The department's regulations provide for, among other things, the calculation by the department of recovered organic waste product procurement targets for each local jurisdiction and a list of eligible recovered organic waste products for purposes of the procurement targets. This bill would require the department, no later than January 1, 2027, to amend those regulations to include, as a recovered organic waste product attributable to a local jurisdiction's procurement target, pipeline biomethane converted exclusively from organic waste, as specified. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 42652.5 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 786 to be operative only if this bill and AB 786 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
