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.
Existing law, the Leroy F. Greene State School Building Lease-Purchase Law of 1976, effectuates the declaration of the Legislature that it is in the interest of the state and its people to reconstruct, remodel, or replace existing school buildings that are educationally inadequate or that do not meet present-day structural safety requirements, and to acquire new schoolsites and buildings for the purpose of making them available to local school districts for the pupils of the public school system. Existing law authorizes the State Allocation Board, by adoption of rules, to establish priorities for the construction and leasing of projects to schools districts whose pupils will benefit most. This bill would authorize the board to include, as priorities for projects, an efficient response to extreme heat and climate change. If the board adopts priorities related to an efficient response to extreme heat and climate change, the bill would require those priorities to apply only to project applications received after January 1, 2027.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases and requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level no later than December 31, 2030. The act declares the policy of the state to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and to achieve and maintain net negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter. The act also requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with specified entities, to determine an ambitious range of targets for natural carbon sequestration, and for nature-based climate solutions, that reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2030, 2038, and 2045 to support state goals to achieve carbon neutrality and foster climate adaptation and resilience. The act requires the Natural Resources Agency and the state board to establish an expert advisory committee composed of specified entities to provide recommendations on addressing barriers to efficient implementation of the provisions relating to climate targets. This bill would additionally require that expert advisory committee to include an expert in soil carbon sequestration. The bill would establish the Climate-smart Organics Management for Protecting Our Soil and Terrain (COMPOST) Act of 2026. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with specified entities, to, on or before January 1, 2028, develop an integrated nature-based climate strategy to link waste diversion goals with soil health practices on natural and working lands. The bill would require the strategy to include multiagency recommendations and incentives to increase climate-friendly on-farm compost production and use, including compost application on grasslands and priority rangeland for improved vegetation and carbon storage. The bill would require the recommendations to be consistent with specified publications, standards, and strategies, including the reduction of at least 5,000,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions in the state annually. This bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to use best available science, mapping, and land management planning tools to support prioritization, siting, and deployment of soil amendment strategies to maximize climate benefits. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to publish, and annually update, the nature-based climate strategy for compost on its internet website.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, the commission administers, or otherwise oversees, various public purpose programs, including energy efficiency and conservation programs, cost-effective energy efficiency programs, rate assistance programs for eligible food banks, and home insulation financial assistance programs. Under existing law, those programs are generally funded through a charge on electrical service, which is collected through customer rates. This bill would establish the Public Utilities Public Purpose Programs Fund. The bill would require the commission, no later than January 1 of each year, commencing January 1, 2027, to determine and publish the amount necessary to fund certain public purpose programs and programs administered by electrical regional energy networks for the following fiscal year, as provided. The bill would require the Controller to transfer, on July 1 of each fiscal year, from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the Public Utilities Public Purpose Programs Fund moneys appropriated by the Legislature for that purpose. The bill would require all moneys in the Public Utilities Public Purpose Programs Fund to be allocated by the commission, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to fund the public purpose programs and programs administered by electrical regional energy networks, as provided. The bill would repeal various charges on electrical service that fund public purpose programs and, instead, provide mechanisms for funding those public purpose programs through the Public Utilities Public Purpose Programs Fund, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be part of the act and 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 state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state of, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes, including a partial exemption for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person to be used primarily in any stage of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of tangible personal property, beginning at the point any raw materials are received by the qualified person and introduced into the process and ending at the point at which the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling has altered tangible personal property to its completed form, including packaging, if required. Existing law (backfill requirement) requires an amount that equals the estimated revenue loss to the General Fund from the allowance of the above-described exemptions, with the concurrence of the Department of Finance, to be transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the General Fund, as prescribed. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2027, define "processing" to include the altering, converting, conditioning, or other preparation of hydrogen or electricity for the purposes of selling the hydrogen for fueling or the electricity for charging a vehicle and would define "qualified tangible personal property" to include hydrogen fueling station equipment and charging station equipment and component parts used as an integral part of those activities. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that the backfill requirement does not apply with respect to the exemptions allowed by the bill, as specified. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
This measure would recognize hydrogen as a key decarbonization tool when produced, transported, and utilized in accordance with a carbon intensity standard that ensures verifiable lifecycle greenhouse gas reductions; supports the continued development and refinement of carbon intensity frameworks to guide hydrogen policy, investment, and deployment; encourages state agencies to prioritize hydrogen deployment; and urges coordination to ensure hydrogen projects advance economic development, workforce opportunities, and environmental justice outcomes.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations for greenhouse gas emissions limits and emissions reduction measures to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions in furtherance of achieving the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined. The act authorizes that state board to include in those regulations the use of a market-based compliance mechanism, known as the California Cap-and-Invest Program, to comply with those regulations. Existing law requires moneys collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of the California Cap-and-Invest Program to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and continuously appropriates a portion of the moneys in the fund for various purposes. Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the state board, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, an expert advisory committee established, as provided, and other relevant state agencies, to determine an ambitious range of targets for natural carbon sequestration, and for nature-based climate solutions that reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2030, 2038, and 2045 to support state goals to achieve carbon neutrality and foster climate adaptation and resilience. Existing law defines "nature-based climate solutions" for these purposes to mean activities, such as restoration, conservation, and land management actions, that increase net carbon sequestration or reduce greenhouse gas emissions in natural and working lands. This bill would annually appropriate the sum of $250,000,000 from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund in the annual Budget Act each fiscal year from the 2027–2028 to the 2045–46 fiscal year, inclusive, to achieve nature-based climate solutions on natural, working, and urban lands, including $150,000,000 to be allocated to the Natural Resources Agency to fund nature-based climate solutions, as provided, and $100,000,000 to be allocated for nature-based climate solutions at the discretion of the Legislature, as provided. The bill would additionally appropriate, after those amounts are allocated, the sum of $150,000,000 from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund in the annual Budget Act each fiscal year from the 2027–2028 to the 2045–46 fiscal year, inclusive, to the Department of Food and Agriculture to fund sustainable agricultural practices and nature-based climate solutions, as provided.
(1) Existing law requires certain transportation planning agencies to prepare and adopt regional transportation plans directed at achieving a coordinated and balanced regional transportation system. Existing law requires a regional transportation plan to include a policy element, a sustainable communities strategy prepared by a metropolitan planning organization, an action element, and a financial element, as provided. Existing law requires those transportation planning agencies to adopt and submit every 4 years, except as provided, an updated regional transportation plan to the California Transportation Commission and the Department of Transportation. Existing law requires a sustainable communities strategy to achieve regional targets set by the State Air Resources Board for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from the automobile and light truck sector in the region for 2020 and 2035, respectively, and requires the state board to update those targets every 8 years, consistent with each metropolitan planning organization's timeframe for updating its regional transportation plan, as specified. Existing law establishes certain procedural requirements for setting and updating those targets and authorizes the state board to revise the targets every 4 years based on changes in specified factors. Existing law, to the extent the sustainable communities strategy is unable to achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, requires a metropolitan planning organization to prepare an alternative planning strategy to the sustainable communities strategy showing how the targets would be achieved through alternative development patterns, infrastructure, or additional transportation measures or policies. Existing law requires the state board to review each metropolitan planning organization's sustainable communities strategy and alternative planning strategy to determine whether the strategy, if implemented, would achieve the greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. This bill would revise and recast the requirements for a sustainable communities strategy, including, among other things, (A) requiring a sustainable communities strategy every 8 years with a progress report after 4 years instead of requiring a sustainable communities strategy every 4 years, (B) requiring the state board to provide each region with greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for 2035 and 2045, and (C) requiring the state board to hold technical workshops before providing those targets. The bill would also revise the state board's process for reviewing sustainable communities strategies and alternative planning strategies, as specified. Because the bill would expand duties of local agencies, it would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires, commencing January 1, 2020, the San Diego Association of Governments to begin developing an implementation report that tracks the implementation of its most recently adopted sustainable communities strategy, as provided. Existing law requires the Sacramento Area Council of Governments to report on the regional implementation of its most recently adopted sustainable communities strategy, as provided. This bill would repeal those provisions. (3) Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to prepare the California Transportation Plan for submission to the Governor and the Legislature as a long-range planning document that incorporates various elements and is consistent with specified expressions of legislative intent. Existing law requires the plan to identify the statewide integrated multimodal transportation system needed to achieve statewide greenhouse gas emission reduction targets and to attain state and national air quality standards. This bill would also require the plan to, among other things, incorporate performance measures into planning that informs delivery of transportation capital projects to help achieve the goals of the plan. The bill would, commencing with the 3rd update to the plan, revise the information that the department is required to include in the plan to include, among others, relevant performance measures within each district of the department. (4) Existing law requires certain funds appropriated by the Legislature from the Public Transportation Account to be made available for specified purposes, including, among other purposes, for the department's planning activities, mass transportation responsibilities, and assistance in regional transportation planning, as specified. This bill, for any activities within the region of a metropolitan planning organization, would require the department to limit funding to activities that are consistent with an applicable sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy, as specified. (5) Existing law creates the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Program to address deferred maintenance on the state highway system and the local street and road system. Existing law provides for the deposit of various moneys for the program into the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account. Existing law requires funds in the account to be allocated for various purposes, including, among others, $25,000,000, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for local planning grants to encourage local and regional planning that furthers state goals, as provided. Existing law requires the department to develop a grant guide for the allocation of these grants. This bill, for areas within a metropolitan planning organization, would require the grant guide to encourage planning that furthers the goals of a sustainable communities strategy or alternative planning strategy. (6) Existing law requires the commission, under a program commonly known as the Trade Corridor Enhancement Program, to allocate certain state and federal funds to infrastructure projects located on or along specified transportation corridors. Existing law establishes the Solutions for Congested Corridors Program and requires the commission to allocate state funds made available to the program to projects designed to achieve a balanced set of transportation, environmental, and community access improvements within highly congested travel corridors throughout the state. Under both programs, existing law requires projects within the boundaries of a metropolitan planning organization to be included in an adopted regional transportation plan that includes a sustainable communities strategy determined by the state board to achieve the region's greenhouse gas emission reduction targets. For purposes of those programs, this bill would instead require, if the metropolitan planning organization has adopted an alternative planning strategy, the projects to meet prescribed requirements, including that the predominant purpose of the project is to implement a specific greenhouse gas emission reduction strategy or addresses an impediment to achieving an applicable greenhouse gas emission reduction target identified in the alternative planning strategy. (7) Existing law requires funding to be available under the Solutions for Congested Corridors Program for projects that make specific performance improvements and are part of a comprehensive corridor plan designed to reduce congestion in highly traveled corridors. Existing law authorizes the department and certain regional transportation planning agencies to nominate projects for funding through the program. This bill would require funding to be available under the program for projects that, among other things, make specific performance improvements and support the implementation of a regional transportation plan. The bill would revise the requirements applicable to a project nomination under the program. The bill would require the commission to allocate program funds to projects that, among other things, are included in an adopted regional transportation plan, as specified. (8) 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.
Under existing law, the purpose of the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act is to advance the state's goals of reducing the levels of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the deployment of sustainable and renewable energy sources, implementing measures that increase the efficiency of the use of energy, creating high quality employment opportunities, and lessening the state's dependence on fossil fuels and to that end to provide an alternative method of financing in providing and promoting the establishment of facilities utilizing alternative methods and sources of energy and facilities needed for the development and commercialization of advanced transportation technologies. Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to carry out that purpose. Existing Public Utilities Commission decisions established the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing program, administered by the authority and funded through charges collected by specified electrical corporations and gas corporations from their ratepayers. This bill would require the authority to administer the GoGreen Program, previously known as the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing program, and would authorize the authority to use moneys collected from the ratepayers of electrical and gas corporations, as directed by the commission, and other available funding sources, consistent with the program's purposes. The bill would require the program to provide financing assistance to participating lenders to support residents in financing eligible energy efficiency and decarbonization measures at costs that are competitive with or below market rates. The bill would authorize the authority to receive, administer, and deploy additional moneys from federal, state, local, or private sources to support and expand the GoGreen Program, if those moneys are used in a manner consistent with the program's goals and the parameters of the funding source. The bill would create the GoGreen Program Fund in the State Treasury and would make all moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the authority for expenditure, as provided.
(1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to provide transmission-focused guidance to the Independent System Operator (ISO) about resource portfolios of expected future renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, including the allocation of those resources by region based on technical feasibility and commercial interest in each region to allow the ISO to identify and approve transmission facilities needed to interconnect resources and reliably serve the needs of load centers, as specified. On December 23, 2022, the PUC, the Energy Commission, and the ISO entered into a memorandum of understanding related to resource and transmission planning, transmission development and permitting, procurement, and interconnections to achieve reliability and policy needs and to coordinate the timely development of resources, resource interconnections, and needed transmission infrastructure. Existing law requires the Energy Commission and the PUC, in coordination with the ISO, every 5 years, to review the memorandum of understanding and a related workplan to ensure the memorandum and workplan reflect the coordination that is needed to help meet the state's energy goals. This bill would require those entities, on or before January 1, 2028, to update the memorandum and workplan to, among other things, ensure that the memorandum and workplan reflect the requirements of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Order 1920, as applicable. (2) Existing law vests the PUC with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to identify a diverse and balanced portfolio of resources needed to ensure a reliable electricity supply that provides optimal integration of renewable energy and resource diversity in a cost-effective manner, as specified. This bill would require that the portfolio provide optimal integration in a cost-effective and risk-prudent manner, as specified. (3) Existing law requires that the above-described transmission-focused guidance provided to the ISO provide projections each year to support planning and approvals by the ISO in its annual transmission planning process, including projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region for at least 15 years into the future, as specified. Existing law expresses the state policy that planning for new transmission facilities include consideration of the goal of increasing systemwide reliability and cost efficiency, among other state policy goals. This bill would require that the transmission-focused guidance takes into account uncertainty and optionality, is risk prudent, and supports compliance with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders, as specified. The bill would remove the requirement that the projections be provided annually and would require the projections of resource portfolios and electricity demand by region to be for at least 20, rather than 15, years into the future. The bill would add to those state policy goals reducing resource interconnection timelines and supporting achievement of the state's energy, climate change, and air quality goals. (4) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code proposed by AB 2369 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2369 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (5) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a PUC action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.
