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.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to prescribe, by regulation, standards for minimum levels of operating efficiency, and authorizes the Energy Commission to prescribe other cost-effective measures, to promote the use of energy- and water-efficient appliances whose use requires a significant amount of energy or water. Existing law prohibits the sale, and the offering for sale, of new appliances unless their manufacturers certify that they comply with the standards in effect at the time the appliances are manufactured. Existing law defines "sold or offered for sale in the state" to mean any sale of or offer to sell an appliance for end use in the state, regardless of the seller's physical location. This bill would expand the above-described provisions to also include the rental, importation, distribution, or lease of, or an offer for the rental, importation, distribution, or lease of, those appliances, as provided.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a distributor of beverage containers to pay to the department a redemption payment for every beverage container sold or offered for sale, as provided. The act requires the department to deposit those amounts into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund. The act requires the fund to be continuously appropriated to the department for specified purposes, including, among other things, to pay refund values, administrative fees, and processing payments associated with the collection and recycling of empty beverage containers. Until July, 1, 2027, the act authorizes the department to pay a market development payment to a reclaimer for empty plastic beverage containers and to a product manufacturer for plastic flake, pellet, sheet, or other form of plastic purchased from a reclaimer, as provided. Through the 2025–26 fiscal year, the act continuously appropriates money from the fund to the department for market development payments to reclaimers and product manufacturers for empty plastic beverage containers, as provided. This bill would extend the department's authorization to make these market development payments until July 1, 2029, and would require the department to establish a singular market development payment for empty polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic beverage containers collected for recycling and a singular market development payment for PET plastic collected and processed into flake or pellet, as specified. By authorizing a new use for continuously appropriated funds, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would authorize the department to expend up to $35,000,000 annually for market development payments to reclaimers and product manufacturers. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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.
This measure would declare the month of March 2026 to be March4Water Month in California and would encourage all residents, businesses, and local leaders to participate in activities and programs that promote water efficiency, support workforce development in the water sector, and prioritize water solutions as essential investments in the state's economic future.
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 establishes the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy and prescribes the membership, functions, and duties of the conservancy regarding the acquisition, preservation, and improvement of real property within the Santa Monica Mountains Zone, as defined. Existing law establishes within the conservancy the Upper Los Angeles River and Tributaries Working Group with designated membership of no more than 23 appointed representatives. Existing law requires the working group to develop, through watershed-based planning methods and community engagement, a revitalization plan for the Upper Los Angeles River, the tributaries of the Pacoima Wash, Tujunga Wash, and Verdugo Wash, the Arroyo Seco, and any additional tributary waterway that the working group determines to be necessary. Existing law requires the working group to submit the revitalization plan to the conservancy for adoption, and requires the conservancy to submit a copy of the revitalization plan to the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife and the Senate Committee on Natural Resources and Water, as specified. This bill would add an additional member to the working group, for a total of no more than 25 appointed representatives. The bill would require one of the representatives appointed to the working group to represent the city council district within the City of Los Angeles with the greatest number of Upper Los Angeles River miles. The bill would require the working group to meet at least once each year to evaluate and report on implementation of the revitalization plan to the conservancy, and propose amendments to the revitalization plan to the conservancy for adoption. The bill would require the working group to submit proposed amendments to the revitalization plan to the conservancy, and would require that the conservancy take action to adopt the proposed amendments, as specified.
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.
Existing law prohibits a person from operating or leaving standing upon a highway a motor vehicle that is required to be equipped with a motor vehicle pollution control device or any other certified motor vehicle pollution control device, as specified, unless the motor vehicle is equipped with the required motor vehicle pollution control device that is correctly installed and in operating condition, and prohibits a person from disconnecting, modifying, or altering that device. Existing law also prohibits a person from installing, selling, offering for sale, or advertising any device, apparatus, or mechanism intended for use with, or as a part of, a required motor vehicle pollution control device or system that alters or modifies the original design or performance of the motor vehicle pollution control device or system. Existing law exempts from these provisions an alteration, modification, or modifying device, apparatus, or mechanism found by resolution of the State Air Resources Board to not reduce the effectiveness of a required motor vehicle pollution control device or to result in emissions from the modified or altered vehicle that comply with existing state or federal standards, as specified. A violation of these provisions is a crime. This bill would additionally exempt from the above-described provisions an alternative fuel retrofit system for a light-duty or medium-duty gasoline-fueled vehicle that converts the vehicle to a dual-fueled vehicle that can utilize gasoline or E85 fuel if the alternative fuel retrofit system has been certified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency as a clean alternative fuel conversion system, as specified, and would prohibit the State Air Resources Board from requiring state certification, executive order approval, or any additional testing or demonstration for such an alternative fuel retrofit device.
