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 establishes within the California Environmental Protection Agency the State Air Resources Board. Existing law provides for the establishment of air pollution control districts and air quality management districts. Existing law generally vests regulatory jurisdiction over stationary sources of air pollution in the air pollution control districts and air quality management districts and regulatory jurisdiction over mobile sources of air pollution in the State Air Resources Board. This bill, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another act for its purposes, would create the Office of Civil Rights within the state board. The bill would set forth the responsibilities of the office, including providing training on civil rights obligations to board staff, grantees, contractors, and subrecipients. The bill would require the state board to post on its internet website an annual summary of information regarding the office, including a summary of civil rights complaints received by the office and a description of compliance and enforcement efforts by the office relating to civil rights.
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 task force, on or before July 1, 2028, and in cooperation with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment, the State Air Resources Board, and the State Department of Public Health, to assess the health costs and impacts of wildfire smoke using existing wildfire smoke and health data, as provided. The bill would require the task force, in developing this assessment, to, among other things, develop a model to determine the approximate health benefits of achieving the goals identified in the action plan and make recommendations on how the action plan can increase its health benefits. The bill would authorize the task force to enter into contracts with an independent group to assist with this assessment. The bill would require the task force to include this assessment and additional actions to reduce the health impact of wildfire smoke in the next update to the action plan, as provided.
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 requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and the Natural Resources Agency, on or before July 1, 2026, and every 3 years thereafter, to update the Extreme Heat Action Plan to promote comprehensive, coordinated, and effective state and local government action on extreme heat. This bill would require the office and the agency, on or before July 1, 2028, to conduct an assessment of the disparate and differentiated gendered impacts and risks of extreme heat, as provided, for purposes of integration into updates to the Extreme Heat Action Plan. The bill would require the office and the agency to post the gender assessment on their respective internet websites and to provide the assessment to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature. Existing law provides that it is the intent of the Legislature to prioritize the most vulnerable communities, ecosystems, and economic sectors in the state' climate adaptation and resilience strategy set forth in the Safeguarding California Plan and that the Natural Resources Agency consider developing policies to address the impacts of climate change and climate adaptation with a focus on equity and that actions taken to address climate adaptation should be consistent with the plan and specifies that in developing these policies and taking these actions, the agency include the adoption of strategies that seek to address and, at a minimum, avoid worsening social and racial inequities. This bill would additionally state the intent of the Legislature that those strategies shall seek to address and, at a minimum, avoid worsening gender inequities. Existing law requires the office, through the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, to develop the California Climate Change Assessment to provide an integrated suite of products that report the impacts and risks of climate change, based on the best available science, and identify potential solutions to inform legislative policy. Existing law requires the office to complete the assessment no less frequently than every 5 years. Existing law requires the products in the assessment to include, among other things, reports on issues of statewide significance, including, but not limited to, environmental justice considerations. This bill would expressly require the reports on issues of statewide significance to include gender impact considerations.
(1) 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 (NPDES) permit program. Under the act, the State Water Resources Control Board is authorized to adopt water quality control plans for waters for which quality standards are required by the federal Clean Water Act, as specified, and that in the event of a conflict, those plans supersede regional water quality control plans for the same waters. This bill would authorize the state board to adopt water quality control plans for nexus waters, which the bill would define as all waters of the state that are not also navigable, except as specified. The bill would require any water quality standard that was submitted to, and approved by, or is awaiting approval by, the United States Environmental Protection Agency or the state board that applied to nexus waters as of May 24, 2023, to remain in effect, as provided. The bill would require the state board and regional boards to include nexus waters in all federal Clean Water Act processes, including, but not limited to, the California Integrated Report and the establishment of total maximum daily loads, as specified. (2) Existing law requires a regional board, after any necessary hearing, to prescribe requirements as to the nature of any proposed discharge, existing discharge, or material change in an existing discharge, except discharges into a community sewer system, with relation to the conditions existing in the disposal area or receiving waters upon, or into which, the discharge is made or proposed and sets forth what the requirements are to include. This bill would require the above-described discharge requirements to, in the case of discharges from any point source to nexus waters, implement, at a minimum, the requirements of provisions implementing the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto. (3) The act authorizes the imposition of civil penalties for violations of certain waste discharge requirements, including violation of a cease and desist order or a cleanup and abatement order, and requires that penalties imposed pursuant to these provisions be deposited into the Waste Discharge Permit Fund, to be expended by the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for specified purposes related to water quality. For violations of certain other waste discharge requirements, the act imposes specified civil penalties, the proceeds of which are deposited into the continuously appropriated State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account. This bill would require, commencing January 1, 2026, and each calendar year thereafter, the state board's executive director to adjust civil monetary penalties, as specified, including the civil penalties for the above-described provisions. The bill would require moneys collected in accordance with these annual adjustments to be deposited into the Penalty Adjustment Account, that the bill would establish within the Waste Discharge Permit Fund, and upon appropriation by the Legislature, be expended by the state board for purposes of cleaning up and abating the effects of waste on waters of the state. (4) Existing law generally provides for enforcement and implementation of the act. This bill would authorize specified entities, including the Attorney General and the state board, to bring an action to enforce certain provisions related to nexus waters or waste discharge requirements for nexus waters, as provided. (5) The act provides various provisions related to waste discharge to ensure consistency with the requirements for state programs implementing the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto. The act defines the terms "navigable waters," "administrator," "pollutants," "biological monitoring," "discharge," and "point sources" as having the same meanings as in the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. This bill would provide that "waste discharge requirements" include waste discharge requirements issued for discharges to nexus waters, and "discharge" includes any addition of a pollutant to a nexus water from any point source. The bill would provide that for purposes of compliance with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, nexus waters shall be treated as though they are navigable waters and navigable waters of the United States. The bill would require waste discharge requirements adopted or amended for discharges to nexus waters to be adopted pursuant to and in accordance with the requirements of provisions implementing the Federal Water Pollution Control Act and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, as specified. (6) The act requires a person who discharges pollutants or proposes to discharge pollutants to the navigable waters of the United States within the jurisdiction of this state or a person who discharges dredged or fill material or proposes to discharge dredged or fill material into the navigable waters of the United States within the jurisdiction of this state to file a report of the discharge, except as specified. The act prohibits the discharge of pollutants or dredged or fill material or the operation of a publicly owned treatment works or other treatment works treating domestic sewage by any person, except as authorized by waste discharge requirements or dredged or fill material permits. This bill would require a person to file a report for discharges to nexus waters. The bill would apply the above-described prohibition to nexus waters.
Existing law establishes the California Community Colleges, under the administration of the Board of Governors of the California Community Colleges, as one of the 3 segments of public postsecondary education in this state. Existing law establishes community college districts throughout the state, and authorizes them to provide instruction to students at community college campuses. One of these districts is the Los Angeles Community College District. Existing law appropriates $5,000,000 to the Los Angeles Community College District for the development and initial operations of the California Center for Climate Change Education at the West Los Angeles College with the mission to promote climate change education at the California Community Colleges and establish opportunities for students to engage in hands-on internships and other learning opportunities. This bill would codify the establishment of the center. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Los Angeles Community College District.
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.
