Existing law creates the Low Carbon Transit Operations Program to provide operating and capital assistance for transit agencies to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and improve mobility. Existing law requires the Department of Transportation to administer the program and to adopt guidelines, in coordination with the State Air Resources Board, that describe the methodologies to be used by a recipient transit agency to demonstrate that proposed expenditures will meet specified program expenditure requirements and establish the reporting requirements for documenting ongoing compliance with those expenditure requirements. This bill would repeal the requirement for the department to adopt guidelines. Existing law continuously appropriates a specified amount of money from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for the program and requires the Controller to allocate those moneys according to the requirements of the program. Existing law requires a recipient transit agency to demonstrate that expenditures of program moneys allocated to the agency reduce the emission of greenhouse gases and do not supplant other sources of funds. Existing law requires moneys for the program to be expended to provide transit operating or capital assistance that directly enhances or expands transit services, increases transit mode share, or is related to the purchase of zero-emission buses, as specified. Before seeking a disbursement of funds pursuant to the program, existing law requires a recipient transit agency to submit to the department a list of proposed expense types and documentation required by the guidelines that demonstrates compliance with the above-described expenditure requirements. For capital projects funded by the program, existing law requires a transit agency to specify the phases of work for which an allocation of program moneys is sought, identify sources and timing of all moneys required for those phases of work, and describe intended sources and timing of funding for subsequent phases of work, as provided. Existing law requires a recipient transit agency to provide an annual report to the department, as provided. Existing law requires the department and a recipient transit agency to comply with guidelines developed by the State Air Resources Board to ensure that the requirements of a certain investment plan are met to maximize the benefits to disadvantaged communities, as provided. This bill would revise and recast the program to, among other things, require program funds to be expended only on maintenance or expansion of bus, rail, or ferry services, transit fare subsidies, and network and fare integration technology improvements. By altering the permissible uses for which continuously appropriated funds may be used, the bill would make an appropriation. Before receiving program funds, the bill would require a recipient transit agency to submit to the department a list of services or programs to be funded by those funds, as specified. The bill would require the department to report to the Controller the recipient transit agencies that have submitted the list, and would, upon receipt of the report from the department, require the Controller to allocate program funds. The bill would require a recipient transit agency to report to the department on the expenditure of program funds, as specified.
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.
(1) The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, generally regulates the disposal, management, and recycling of solid waste. The act establishes stewardship programs for various products, including, among others, carpet. The act includes a product stewardship for carpet program and a successor carpet producer responsibility program, and requires the product stewardship for carpet program to become inoperative upon the completion of certain conditions related to the implementation of the successor carpet producer responsibility program. Existing law, the product stewardship for carpet program, requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit a carpet stewardship plan to the department, which is required to include specified elements, including achieving specified carpet recycling rates and a funding mechanism that provides sufficient funding to carry out the plan. Existing law authorizes the department to administratively impose a civil penalty of $10,000 per day on any person in violation of the program or $25,000 per day if the violation is intentional, knowing, or negligent, as specified. This bill would instead authorize the department to impose administrative, rather than civil, penalties in those amounts, and to impose an administrative penalty of $25,000 per day if the violation is intentional or knowing. Existing law requires a carpet stewardship organization to include nonvoting board members with representation from, among others, a retailer that sells carpet. This bill would instead require the stewardship organization to create a governing board for the stewardship program, with 14 voting members, as specified. Existing law requires a manufacturer of carpets sold in this state, individually or through a carpet stewardship organization, to submit to the department an annual report describing its activities to achieve the purposes of the program, as provided. Existing law authorizes a carpet stewardship organization to award grants and subsidies to incentivize the recycling of carpet materials that have the highest recyclability. This bill would require a carpet stewardship organization to include in its annual report specified information related to the grants and subsidies provided pursuant to the program, as specified. (2) Existing law, the successor carpet producer responsibility program, requires producers of covered products to form and join a single producer responsibility organization (PRO) for the collection and recycling of a covered product. Existing law defines "PRO" to include, among others, the carpet stewardship organization, as defined by the product stewardship for carpet program. Existing law defines a "covered product" as carpet, as defined, and requires the PRO to develop a producer responsibility plan for the collection, transportation, recycling, and the safe and proper management of covered products in the state. This bill would remove the carpet stewardship organization from the definition of PRO. The bill would redefine "carpet" to have the same definition used by the product stewardship for carpet program. Existing law requires an assessment to be added to the price of all covered products sold in the state to fund the program. Existing law also requires the costs of the program to be borne by producers of covered products, as provided. This bill would eliminate the requirement for the costs of the program to be borne by producers of covered products. Existing law requires, no later than January 1, 2029, a person who removes a covered product as part of the installation of a covered product to transport, or contract to transport, all of the removed covered product to an approved collection site, as provided. Under existing law, an approved collection site is a solid waste facility that has agreed to be a collection site for the PRO. This bill would exempt a covered product from this transport requirement if certain conditions are met, including that it is returned to the producer. The bill would recast approved collection sites and would expand them to include certain carpet recycling centers, municipal facilities, and retailers. Existing law requires the governing board of a PRO to include 4 nonvoting members, including, but not limited to, a nonvoting member representing a nonprofit organization established to promote a circular economy and to address environmental issues. Existing law requires the PRO to submit an annual report to the department on or before July 1 of each year, as provided. Existing law requires a producer to publish on its internet website, for each of its covered products, an environmental product declaration that identifies a covered product's components, as provided. This bill would instead require the PRO to create a governing board for the program, with 14 voting members, as specified. The bill would require the annual report to be submitted on or before September 1 of each year, instead of July 1 of each year. The bill would instead require a producer to publish on its internet website, for each of its covered products, the components that constitute more than 1% of the product's weight and any component that is a hazardous chemical, as specified. Existing law requires the PRO to submit to the department an annual report, as specified, and to make the report publicly available on the PRO's internet website. Existing law requires the PRO to provide annual grants to apprenticeship programs for training carpet installers in proper carpet recycling techniques, as provided. This bill would require the PRO to include in its annual report specified information related to the grants and incentive payments provided pursuant to the program, as specified. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan, among other things, to explain how producers will use standardized stamping or some other means to provide a visual mark on the back of a covered product that is a synthetic material to allow expeditious sorting of the carpet, as provided. This bill would instead require a producer responsibility plan to explain how producers will use standardized stamping or some other means to provide a visual mark on the back of a covered product that provides the name of the producer, the date of manufacture, and a listing of the types of face fibers and backing materials contained in the product. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan to describe how the PRO will provide free dropoff and convenient collection system for covered products. This bill would require a producer responsibility plan to instead provide the ability for people to drop off postconsumer carpet, free of charge, at collection sites that are open according to a prescribed schedule. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan to provide annual grants to apprenticeship programs, as provided. This bill would require a producer responsibility plan to additionally allocate $2,000,000 annually to apprenticeship programs operated by labor organizations, as provided. Existing law requires the department to review a submitted producer responsibility plan and to approve or disapprove the producer responsibility plan, as provided. Existing law requires, if the PRO subsequently submits a revised producer responsibility plan and the department disapproves the revised plan, the PRO to revise and resubmit the revised plan consistent with the department's direction. This bill would authorize, rather than require, the PRO to resubmit one additional revised producer responsibility plan if the initial revised plan is disapproved and would delete the requirement for the revised plan to be consistent with the department's direction. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan in effect as of January 1, 2025, to continue in effect, as provided, until it expires or is revoked, as provided. This bill would repeal this provision. Existing law requires a producer responsibility plan to prioritize expenditure of assessments collected pursuant to the product stewardship for carpet program on activities to carry out the producer responsibility plan, including grants for apprenticeship programs. This bill would instead require a producer responsibility plan to require the expenditure of assessments collected pursuant to the carpet producer responsibility program to be used for activities that support the implementation of the producer responsibility plan, including grants for apprenticeship programs. Existing law authorizes the department to establish, review, and adjust performance standards, which may include, but are not limited to, collection, reduction in disposal, and maximizing recycling. Existing law requires the producer responsibility plan to meet any performance standards published by the department. Existing law requires the department to use sales data to establish the performance standard for recycling carpet, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement for the department to use sales data to establish the performance standard for recycling carpet. Existing law authorizes the department to determine the PRO ineligible to act as the PRO if the PRO violates the provisions of the carpet producer responsibility program 3 or more times. This bill would require the above-described violations to be knowing or intentional violations. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations to implement the program with an effective date no earlier than December 31, 2026. This bill would instead require the department to adopt the regulations no later than January 1, 2029.
Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, which is known as and may be referred to as CAL-FIRE. Existing law establishes in CAL-FIRE the Office of the State Fire Marshal and requires that office to establish the Community Wildfire Mitigation Assistance Program to coordinate regional and local efforts with state policies, strategies, and programs for community wildfire mitigation in order to improve wildfire preparedness and prevention, with an emphasis on the most vulnerable communities. This bill would require that, notwithstanding any other law, any state-level environmental and resource permits, approvals, consultations, and reviews required for a covered wildfire mitigation project, as defined, be consolidated into a single coordinated review by a project review team, as defined, and administered jointly by the consolidated review agencies, defined as the Natural Resources Agency in coordination with the California Environmental Protection Agency. The bill would require an applicant seeking authorization to undertake a covered wildfire mitigation project to submit a single, consolidated application package to the consolidated review agencies. The bill would require a decision to be rendered by the consolidated review agencies within 60 calendar days of the consolidated review agencies deeming an application is complete, as provided, and would authorize the applicant and the consolidated review agencies to agree to extend the 60-day timeline if both parties agree to the extension. The bill would require the approvals to be in writing and to include specified information, including, among other things, a description of the project and a list of permits, agreements, consultations, or approvals waived by the review agencies' authorization. This bill would further provide for an expedited authorization, as defined, issued pursuant to these requirements, which would waive the requirement that the covered wildfire mitigation project comply with statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements, within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, commissions, offices, and agencies within the consolidated review agencies, except as provided. The expedited authorization would replace any other permit, agreement, or authorization required by state statutes, rules, regulations, and requirements that falls within the jurisdiction of boards, departments, commissions, offices, and agencies within the consolidated review agencies. The bill would require covered wildfire mitigation projects to be conducted in compliance with specified requirements and would impose a civil penalty not to exceed $10,000 for each intentional, knowing, or negligent violation, as provided. The bill would require covered wildfire mitigation projects to be limited in project size based on the type of project, as specified, and completed within 5 years, for prescribed fire projects, or 2 years, for all other projects, of approval by the consolidated review agencies. The bill would further require CAL-FIRE to provide a cost-benefit analysis to estimate a project's return on investment for risk reduction or an explanation of why an estimate could not be assigned for each department state-funded grant project. This bill would specify that the authority to issuance expedited authorizations becomes inoperative on January 1, 2029. This bill would provide that the above-described provisions do not preclude compliance with applicable local and federal statutes, rules, and regulations. This bill would also require, on or before July 1, 2028, the consolidated review agencies to report to the Legislature on, among other required things, the implementation of all wildfire mitigation projects that were permitted pursuant to the above-described provisions, as provided. This bill would repeal the above provisions on January 1, 2034. 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 Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify a regulatory program that meets specified requirements as a certified regulatory program. For actions taken under a certified regulatory program, CEQA exempts those actions from certain of its provisions. Existing law authorizes the Director of the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to enter into an agreement for prescribed burning or other hazardous fuel reduction with any person to conduct prescribed burning operations and joint prescribed burning operations that serve the public interest and are beneficial to the state. Existing law requires, to the extent feasible, that the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection's Vegetation Treatment Program Programmatic Environmental Impact Report serve as the programmatic environmental document for prescribed fires initiated by a third party for a public purpose, as provided. This bill would require the board to develop the Nontimber Vegetation Management Program for nontimber vegetation management activities that are not subject to specified forest practice rules for permitting of activities on local, nonfederal, private, and state-owned lands. The bill would authorize an eligible entity proposing to conduct those vegetation management activities to seek authorization under the program. The bill would require the board, on or before July 1, 2028, to adopt emergency regulations for the program, as provided, that qualifies for certification by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency as a certified regulatory program under CEQA and would require the board to submit those emergency regulations to the secretary for review and certification. The bill would require the board, in developing the emergency regulations to conduct no fewer than 3 public meetings to receive public comments with one of those meetings occurring in southern California. The bill would require the board, following the adoption of the emergency regulations to adopt permanent regulations in compliance with the Administrative Procedure Act before July 1, 2030. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2035.
The Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Act authorizes a project proponent to submit a habitat restoration or enhancement project to the Director of Fish and Wildlife for approval. The act requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to assess an application fee for a project submitted to the department consistent with specified fees adopted by the department, as provided. Under the act, a habitat restoration or enhancement project is defined as a project with the primary purpose of improving fish and wildlife habitat. The act requires the director to approve a habitat restoration or enhancement project if the director determines that specified conditions are met. The act makes moneys in the Habitat Restoration and Enhancement Account available to the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of administering and implementing the act. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2027. This bill would extend the operation of the act until January 1, 2032, and would require the department to submit a report on the implementation of the act to the Legislature no later than December 31, 2029. The bill would maintain the requirement for the application fee to be consistent with other specified fees adopted by the department until the department establishes, on or before January 1, 2030, an application fee schedule, as specified. The bill would revise the definition of a habitat restoration or enhancement project, would revise the required contents of an application for a habitat restoration or enhancement project, as provided, and would transfer the responsibilities of the director under the act to the department. Under the act, the approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project is in lieu of any other permit, agreement, license, or other approval issued by the Department of Fish and Wildlife. This bill would provide that the department's approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project under the act only includes take authorization for the species listed by the project proponent in its application. The bill would require the department to ensure that each approved habitat restoration or enhancement project includes appropriate measures to avoid and minimize its adverse impacts to species protected by state law. The act establishes separate procedures for the approval of a habitat restoration or enhancement project depending on whether the project has received a specified certification pursuant to an order from the State Water Resources Control Board. As part of the procedures applicable to a project that has received that certification, the act requires the director to publish the receipt of certain information from the project proponent, and the director's determination on whether the application is complete, in the California Regulatory Notice Register. This bill would eliminate the requirement to publish that information in the California Regulatory Notice Register. The act requires the director to suspend the implementation of a project under certain circumstances, as specified. This bill would eliminate those 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 requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation to prepare, develop, and transmit to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for certification and adoption proposed revisions to the CEQA implementation guidelines to establish criteria for determining the significance of transportation impacts of projects within transit priority areas, and requires the criteria to promote the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, the development of multimodal transportation networks, and a diversity of land uses. CEQA requires the office to recommend potential metrics, including, among other metrics, vehicle miles traveled, to measure these transportation impacts. This bill would require the Department of Transportation, in consultation with specified entities, to, on or before December 31, 2030, develop guidance on vehicle-miles-travel mitigation measures for transportation projects in nonmetropolitan counties, as provided. The bill would require the department to publish the guidance on its internet website and add the guidance as an addendum to the Transportation Analysis Framework and the Transportation Analysis under CEQA. The bill would specify that a transportation project for which the lead agency has issued a notice of preparation for the project's environmental impact report on or before December 31, 2031 is presumed to have a less than significant transportation impact as determined by the vehicle-miles-traveled metric if at least 70% of the project lies within one or more nonmetropolitan counties. Because the bill would impose additional duties on a lead agency in its analysis of significant transportation impacts, 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.
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. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation relating to environmental quality.
Existing law authorizes various conservancies to acquire, manage, direct the management of, and conserve lands in the state. This bill would establish the Grassland Ecological Area Conservancy within the Natural Resources Agency, with jurisdiction over the Grassland Ecological Area and the Grassland Focus Area, as defined, for specified purposes, including to protect, conserve, and restore the physical, cultural, archaeological, historical, and living resources of the Grassland Ecological Area and the Grassland Focus Area and to provide increased opportunities for tourism and recreation. The bill would require the conservancy to be governed by a board composed of designated voting members, including certain members appointed by certain local agencies, and nonvoting liaison advisers. The bill would set forth the powers, duties, and limitations of the governing board and the conservancy, as provided. The bill would create the Grassland Ecological Area Conservancy Fund and would make moneys in the fund available for expenditure by the conservancy, upon appropriation by the Legislature, only for the purposes of these provisions. The bill would require all funds or income received by the conservancy, including proceeds from donations or a lease, rental, sale, exchange, or transfer of an interest or option in real property, to be deposited into the fund. By imposing new duties on local agencies, the bill would create 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, 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 Department of Fish and Wildlife to require the purchase of an entry permit for nonconsumptive uses of department-managed lands if the department finds that it is practical and would be cost effective for the state to collect entry permit fees, and imposes specified requirements if the department does so, including requiring the department to use the Automated License Data System to sell that entry permit. Existing law authorizes the department to lease department-managed lands for agricultural activities if certain conditions are met and requires money collected from the lease of these lands to be deposited by the department into the Wildlife Restoration Fund or the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and authorizes the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to use the funds to support the management, maintenance, restoration, and operations of department-managed lands. This bill would require the department to use the Automated License Data System to sell an entry permit for consumptive use and would authorize the department to use the Automated License Data System to sell an entry permit for nonconsumptive use if the department requires the purchase of an entry permit for nonconsumptive uses of department-managed lands, as described above. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the above-described agricultural lease funds to be used by the department to support the management, maintenance, restoration, and operations of department-managed lands. Existing law requires the department to annually provide an opportunity for licensed hunters to comment and make recommendations on public hunting programs, including anticipated habitat conditions in hunting areas on Type A and Type B Wildlife Areas, as provided. This bill would add wetland floodup to the topics that the department is required to provide an opportunity for comment and recommendation on as described above. This bill would create the Waterfowl Management Areas Operations and Maintenance Fund in the State Treasury and would require all revenues generated from the sale of waterfowl hunting reservation applications and daily and season long entry passes from Type A and Type B Wildlife Areas to be deposited into the fund. The bill would require the department to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, expend those revenues for the operation and maintenance of, and the reasonable administrative costs directly related to, the public hunting programs for Type A and Type B Wildlife Areas. The bill would require the department to, on or before October 1, 2033, prepare and submit a report to the appropriate policy and budget committees of the Legislature, as specified.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations, including developing microgrid service standards necessary to meet state and local permitting requirements and developing methods to reduce barriers for microgrid deployment without shifting costs between ratepayers. This bill would require a large electrical corporation, upon request, to collaborate with local governments, tribal governments, or community choice aggregators within its service area to support resiliency planning, as provided. The bill would require large electrical corporations to provide local governments, tribal governments, and community choice aggregators with access to data, including electrical distribution equipment data, transmission and distribution circuit data, grid hardening plans, and other information as directed by the commission, to support resiliency planning by local governments and tribal governments to ensure local governments, tribal governments, and community choice aggregators are able to plan potential microgrid projects to support critical facilities. The bill would authorize the commission to require large electrical corporations to share this information in aggregated and anonymized form to protect customer privacy and electrical grid security. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the violation of a PUC action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, 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.
