This measure would express the Legislature's commitment to advancing innovative solutions that reduce enteric methane emissions while preserving the economic sustainability of the cattle industries. The measure would urge the United States Congress to explore advancing innovative solutions in enteric methane emission reduction while preserving the economic sustainability of the cattle industries.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Controller, and the Director of Finance to develop and update as necessary, standards and criteria to be reviewed and adopted by the State Board of Education and to be used by local educational agencies in the development of annual budgets and the management of subsequent expenditures from that budget, as specified. Existing law requires these standards and criteria to include, among other things, multiyear commitments, including cost-of-living adjustments. This bill would specify that the multiyear commitments are for only the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would require the state board, on or before March 1, 2027, to amend specified related regulations, as provided, and would require the State Department of Education to modify the Standardized Account Code Structure reporting software infrastructure to eliminate reporting fields for a 2nd subsequent fiscal year and, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, ensure that the system reflects a 2-year operational and forecasting structure. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district and each county board of education, on or before July 1 of each year, to adopt a budget, as specified, and requires that budget to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, as applicable, to, among other things, examine the adopted budget to determine whether it complies with the standards and criteria adopted by the state board for local educational agency budgets and determine whether the adopted budget (1) will allow the school district or county office of education to meet its financial obligations during the fiscal year and (2) is consistent with a financial plan that will enable the school district or county office of education to satisfy its multiyear financial commitments. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools to certify whether the school district or county office of education is able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year and for the subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires (1) a negative certification to be assigned to any school district or county office of education that will be unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year or the subsequent fiscal year, (2) a qualified certification to be assigned to the school district or county office of education that may not meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year or 2 subsequent fiscal years, and (3) a positive certification to be assigned to a school district or county office of education that will meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires a copy of the school district's or county superintendent's certification to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. The bill would instead only require certification for the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year, and would require determinations for qualified and positive certifications to instead be assigned based only on the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions.
The California FAIR Plan Association is a joint reinsurance association in which all insurers licensed to write basic property insurance participate in administering a program for the equitable apportionment of basic property insurance for persons who are unable to obtain that coverage through normal channels. Existing law requires the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided. Existing law requires, on or before March 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, the task force to update the action plan. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, on or before June 30, 2027, and in consultation with the Department of Insurance and the California FAIR Plan Association, to make recommendations to the task force regarding specific wildfire risk reduction measures that would reduce the regional risk profile for high-hazard landscapes and communities, particularly those ZIP Codes that have seen the largest increases in FAIR Plan policies sold since 2019.
Existing law establishes the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund, and moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the State Water Resources Control Board for the provision of grants and revolving fund loans to provide for the design and construction of projects for public water systems that will enable suppliers to meet safe drinking water standards. Existing law provides that moneys in the fund and its special accounts may be expended for additional purposes provided in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. This bill would provide that moneys in the fund and its special accounts may be considered eligible and expended for projects that address perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances in drinking water. By expanding the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would authorize the state board to implement the bill through updating an existing policy handbook, which would be exempt from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.
Under existing law, the State Water Resources Control Board and the 9 California regional water quality control boards regulate water quality and prescribe waste discharge requirements in accordance with the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (act) and the national pollutant discharge elimination system permit program. The act requires mandatory minimum penalties to be assessed for serious violations, as defined, relating to waste discharge requirements, and for certain violations relating to waste discharge requirements and reports whenever there are 4 or more violations in a period of 6 consecutive months, except as provided. The act authorizes the state board or regional board, in lieu of assessing all or a portion of those mandatory minimum penalties against a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community, to instead require the publicly owned treatment works to spend an equivalent amount towards the completion of a compliance project proposed by the publicly owned treatment works if the state board or regional board make specified findings. The act defines "a publicly owned treatment works serving a small community" for these purposes to mean a publicly owned treatment works serving a population of 20,000 persons or fewer or a rural county, with a financial hardship as determined by the state board after consideration of specified factors. This bill would expand the authorization for the state board or regional board to require funding of a compliance project in lieu of the otherwise mandatory penalty to apply to a publicly owned treatment works serving a population of 3,000 persons or fewer, with a financial hardship, determined by the state board, within the 10 years preceding the assessment of the penalty.
Existing law establishes in the Department of Conservation the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes by improving ecosystem health, community wildfire preparedness, and fire resilience. Existing law requires the department, upon appropriation, among other things, to provide block grants to regional entities, as defined, to develop regional strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes, as provided. Existing law authorizes regional entities to implement collaborative planning efforts with specified local entities and develop regional priority strategies that develop and support specified goals. This bill would revise and recast the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program. The bill would, among other things, authorize regional entities to (1) implement collaborative planning efforts with insurance companies, private and public utilities, and other private and public entities, and (2) develop regional priority strategies that develop and support fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings, as provided. The bill would authorize a public regional entity, or an entity or entities designated by a public regional entity, to organize a regional wildfire partnership, defined as either a partnership between a public regional entity and specified private entities or a joint powers authority, as provided, in order to support the regional priority strategies. The bill would require a regional wildfire partnership to submit an annual report to the Department of Conservation, as provided, and would require the department to make the reports publicly available on its internet website. Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) within the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and, 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, as provided. This bill would authorize the I-Bank, in coordination with the Treasurer and the Department of Conservation, to issue revenue bonds to finance regional priority strategies developed by regional wildfire partnerships. The bill would establish the Regional Wildfire Partnership Revolving Fund (revolving fund) in the State Treasury, require moneys generated from the sale of bonds to be deposited in the revolving fund and used exclusively to support a regional wildfire partnership, and continuously appropriate moneys in the revolving fund to the I-Bank to support a regional wildfire partnership. By establishing a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would make an appropriation. The bill would require a regional wildfire partnership receiving funds from the I-Bank to enter into a repayment and participation agreement with the bank, specifying the funding commitments and reporting obligations. The bill would also authorize the I-Bank to provide technical assistance to regional wildfire partnerships.
Existing law requires a refinery-related community air monitoring system to be installed near each refinery, as provided, and requires the monitoring system to include equipment capable of measuring compounds emitted to the atmosphere from refinery processes. Existing law requires owners or operators of petroleum refineries to develop, install, operate, and maintain a fence-line monitoring system in accordance with guidance developed by the appropriate regional air pollution control district or regional air quality management district. This bill would require guidance adopted to implement the fence-line monitoring system to include a process for a petroleum refinery to provide substantial evidence to the appropriate air district to exclude a pollutant for monitoring in a fence-line monitoring system and would authorize the air district to exclude a pollutant for monitoring at a petroleum refinery fence-line monitoring system if the air district determines that substantial evidence supports certain considerations. Because the bill would require air districts to revise their guidance related to the fence-line monitoring system, 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.
Existing law authorizes, when a release of waste occurs and remedial action is required, a responsible party, as defined, to request a local officer to supervise the remedial action if the site is not already overseen by the Department of Toxic Substances Control or a regional water quality control board. Existing law authorizes the department or a regional water quality control board to retain or assume oversight authority from a local officer, as specified. This bill would require the State Water Resources Control Board, working jointly with the department and in consultation with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, to develop guidelines for developers and for agencies overseeing development-specific site remediations and making determinations of site suitability, as provided. The bill would require the board, in conjunction with the department, to develop thresholds of significance for contaminants from different sources and for different future uses, as provided. The bill would specify that sites with contamination above those thresholds shall be deemed not suitable for residential use.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , to develop uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards for electric vehicle chargers and charging stations. This bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before December 31, 2028, to conduct and publish on its internet website an assessment of, among other things, the electrical grid energy supply, reliability, and cost implications associated with the state's transition to 100% renewable and zero-carbon energy sources and the target level of grid-integrated vehicle technology vehicle use and grid-integrated charging technology-enabled vehicle use necessary to address those needs, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before December 31, 2029, to adopt and implement standards, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, the PUC, and other relevant local and state agencies, for grid-integrated vehicle technology and associated grid-integrated charging technology of new vehicles, as provided. The bill would require that these standards establish requirements for on-road vehicles of any weight class sold within the state to incorporate grid-integrated vehicle technology and grid-integrated charging technology to achieve those targets, except as specified, and include specified provisions relating to, among other things, classes and types of grid-integrated vehicle technologies that can satisfy those requirements and alternative compliance mechanisms, as provided. The bill would exempt specified types of vehicles from these requirements adopted by the Energy Commission, including, among others, authorized emergency vehicles, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, if it adopts requirements that would require the inclusion of grid-integrated charging technology or grid-integrated vehicle technology on a specific vehicle model or type within a weight class, to adopt a process for a manufacturer to apply for a waiver from that requirement if implementation is not feasible for the vehicle model.
Existing law establishes the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in state government in the Governor's office to serve the Governor and Governor's Cabinet as staff for long-range planning and research, and constitute the comprehensive state planning agency. Existing law provides state goals for the installation of solar energy systems through, among other programs, the California Solar Initiative. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2029, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Office of Land Use and Climate Change to complete a study on the impacts of large-scale solar on the land use planning, environment, and economy of the Central Valley region. The bill would require the Office of Land Use and Climate Change, in conducting the study, to consult interested parties, as specified. The bill would require the study to include an analysis of the impacts of large-scale solar on regional land use planning, the regional environment, and the regional economy. The bill would require the study to include recommendations on how to mitigate impacts of large-scale solar through changes to existing or the adoption of new state, regional, and local policy, as provided. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Central Valley region.
