Existing law establishes the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in the Governor's office for the purpose of serving the Governor and the Governor's cabinet as staff for long-range planning and research and constituting the comprehensive state planning agency. This bill would require the office, on or before July 1, 2028, to compile, standardize, maintain, and make publicly available through a consolidated online platform a core set of statewide standardized spatial planning datasets, as defined. The bill would require the datasets to include specified categories of information, including hazardous data, natural resource sensitivity data, and agricultural value data, as provided. The bill would also require the office, on or before January 1, 2029, to develop and provide guidance for agencies to inform how to use and integrate the datasets in regional planning processes and products. The bill would require the office to update those datasets as new or revised data becomes available from the originating state or federal agencies. This bill would permit state, regional, and local governments to consider use of the standardized spatial planning datasets published by the office in the development and production of land use and infrastructure plans, as specified. The bill would require the office to provide technical assistance, upon request, for use of the data from these provisions. The bill would specify that it does not create new regulatory requirements, regulate land use or zoning, establish land use designations, or preempt the local land use authority of cities and counties.
Existing law establishes the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, which is vested with the authority to regulate air emissions located in the boundaries of the Counties of Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, and Santa Clara and portions of the Counties of Solano and Sonoma. Under existing law, the Lewis-Presley Air Quality Management Act establishes the South Coast Air Quality Management District in those portions of the Counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, and San Bernardino included within the South Coast Air Basin as the local agency with the responsibility for comprehensive air pollution control within the basin. This bill would require the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, on or before December 31, 2027, to analyze specified policies to determine the cost of compliance, potential cost to consumers, impacts on state and local tax revenue, refinery employment, and impacts on the statewide gasoline supply, as provided. The bill would also require those districts, on or before January 1, 2028, to make a good faith effort to minimize any adverse impacts identified pursuant to that requirement. By requiring a higher level of service of local entities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires, whenever a district intends to propose the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule or regulation that will significantly affect air quality or emissions limitations, that district to perform an assessment of the socioeconomic impacts of the adoption, amendment, or repeal of the rule or regulation. Existing law defines "socioeconomic impact" for these purposes. With respect to the adoption, amendment, or repeal of a rule or regulation related to oil refineries by the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the bill would expand the definition of "socioeconomic impact" to also mean the cost to consumers, impacts on state and local tax revenue, and impacts on the statewide gasoline supply. The bill would also require those districts to actively consider those additional socioeconomic impacts and make a good faith effort to minimize any adverse impacts, as provided, before adopting, amending, or repealing a rule or regulation related to oil refineries. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the South Coast Air Quality Management District. 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, it is the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2040, 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2045, and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2035, as specified. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to procure eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources to satisfy those state agency obligations imposed on the State Water Resources Development System, commonly known as the State Water Project, pursuant to that policy. Existing law authorizes the department to defer, until no later than December 31, 2040, procuring zero-carbon electricity resource quantities equal to the amount of electricity provided under an existing contract to procure fossil generation entered into before January 1, 2010, if the department determines that the full achievement of the state agency obligations imposed on the State Water Project would require the early termination of the existing contract and that early termination of the existing contract would result in significant uneconomic costs. Existing law requires the department, in conducting procurement, to consider specified factors and requires that all resources procured be used first to meet the department's own electricity needs. This bill would require the department, in conducting that procurement, to also consider portfolio diversity, resource type, location, and hours of typical peak operation. The bill would expand the scope of the department's authorization to defer the procurement of those resource quantities to apply to an existing contract to procure fossil generation entered into before January 1, 2011, rather than January 1, 2010. The bill would authorize, on and after January 1, 2036, excess procurement of eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources, as defined, in one year to be applied to any subsequent year's obligation, as provided.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in regulating those emissions. The implementing regulations adopted by the state board provide for the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electrical corporations and gas corporations pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism. Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission to consider options to promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane, and that facilitate the development of a variety of sources of in-state biomethane. The commission has adopted 2 decisions implementing these requirements, the 2nd of which adopted a 5-year monetary incentive program effective June 11, 2015, for biomethane projects. Existing law requires the commission to modify the biomethane monetary incentive program in specified respects and to extend the program, as modified, until December 31, 2026, or until all available program funds are expended, whichever occurs first. This bill would require the commission to extend the biomethane monetary incentive program until December 31, 2030. The bill would authorize the commission to authorize additional funding of $50,000,000 for the program, of which no more than $10,000,000 would be authorized for dairy biomethane projects, using the revenues, including any accrued interest, received by a gas corporation as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances provided to gas corporations as part of the above-described market-based compliance mechanism. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing its 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.
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 makes various legislative findings and declarations regarding the maintenance of a quality environment for the people of this state and states the intent of the Legislature for state agencies to regulate activities so that major consideration is given to preventing environmental damage. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to those findings and declarations and to the statement of intent.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to establish a regulatory proceeding to develop and implement a comprehensive program to achieve greater energy savings in California's existing residential and nonresidential building stock. Existing law requires the PUC to investigate the ability of electrical corporations and gas corporations to provide various energy efficiency financing options to their customers for the purpose of implementing the program developed by the Energy Commission. Existing law imposes requirements for custom projects and other custom programs for industrial, agricultural, commercial, residential, and public sector customers. Existing law requires the PUC to develop and maintain rules for custom energy efficiency projects that include eligibility criteria or metrics for determining if a project is eligible for funding. This bill would delete the requirement on the PUC to develop and maintain those rules, and would instead require the commission, as part of the approval of the next Tier 2 advice letters submitted after January 1, 2027, by program administrators for mid-cycle review pursuant to a specific commission decision, to revise the rules adopted for custom agricultural and industrial efficiency projects to replace the commission's ex ante review process with a process that ensures the provision of incentives pursuant to these provisions for custom agricultural and industrial efficiency projects, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because a violation of a PUC 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 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.
(1) Existing law authorizes the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to engage in management of state forests and defines "management" for purposes of the state forests as a means of handling forest crop and forest soil to achieve maximum sustained production of high-quality forest products while giving consideration to values relating to, among other values, recreation, watershed, and wildlife, as provided. This bill would redefine "management" for purposes of state forests as the handling of forest vegetation, water, and soils within the demonstration state forest system for public benefits, as described to include, among other things, watershed health and wildfire resilience. (2) Existing law declares it is in the interest of the welfare of the people of the state and their industries and other activities involving the use of wood, lumber, poles, piling, wood pulp, and other forest products that desirable cutover forest lands be made fully productive and that the holding and reforestation of such lands is a necessary measure predicated on waning supplies of original old growth timber, as provided. Existing law further declares it is in the interest of the welfare of the people of the state that the state retain the existing land base of state forests in timber production for research and demonstration. Existing law requires the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the Secretary for Environmental Protection, to, on or before January 10 of each year, submit to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee a report on the activities of all state departments, agencies, and boards relating to forest and timberland regulation. Existing law requires this report to include, among other things, the number of timber harvest plans reviewed in the most recent fiscal year, as specified, and the average time for plan review. This bill would repeal these provisions and instead declare, among other things, that the purpose of the demonstration state forest system is to acquire lands, the reforestation or restoration of which is not assured under private ownership, to achieve the public benefits as described in paragraph (1) through means that include, but are not limited to, multibenefit forest management. The bill would authorize the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to enter into, and would require the secretary to make good faith efforts to collaboratively develop, comanagement agreements with California Native American tribes, as defined, to incorporate local traditional ecological knowledge and local indigenous knowledge into the management direction of a forest in the demonstration state forest system, as provided. The bill would require the annual report submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee to also include the number of timber harvest plans approved in the most recent fiscal year and the median time for plan review and would make other nonsubstantive changes relating to the report. The bill would require research to be allowed on land in the demonstration state forest system that informs forest management strategies, science-based decisionmaking, biodiversity, durable onsite carbon storage or sequestration, habitat, water and soil quality, watershed health, tribal stewardship, or other goals that further healthy and resilient ecosystems. The bill would authorize timber harvesting within the demonstration state forest system if in furtherance of specified objectives. (3) Existing law requires the management of state forests and the cutting and sale of timber and other forest products from state forests to conform with regulations prepared by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection. Existing law requires the regulations to conform with forest management practices designed to achieve maximum sustained production of high-quality forest products while giving consideration to values relating to, among other values, recreation, watershed, and wildlife, as specified. Existing law authorizes state forest lands to be used for grazing and mining purposes pursuant to regulations established by the board. Under existing law, a person who violates the rules and regulations pertaining to the state forests established by the board is guilty of a misdemeanor. The bill would instead require the management of demonstration state forests and the cutting and sale of timber and other forest products from demonstration state forests to conform with regulations prepared by the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection and approved by the board. The bill would repeal the authorization for state forest lands to be used for mining purposes, except as provided. The bill would require the regulations permitting prescribed herbivory, recreation concession, and surface mining for forest-related work and restoration purposes, including, but not limited to, the construction of watercourse crossings, on state forest lands to be updated to reflect the redefinition of management. Because a violation of these regulations would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the department to prepare a map and data relating to the forest conditions, as provided. Existing law requires the department, in preparing the map and data, to be guided by a specified report. This bill would require the department to be guided by consultation with the board instead of by the specified report. Existing law declares that it is the policy of the state to establish and preserve an intensively managed, multifaceted research forest, known as the Soquel Demonstration State Forest, which is representative of forest activities as a living forest in the County of Santa Cruz, as provided. Existing law establishes the Legislature's intent relating to the demonstration state forest. Existing law requires that income from the demonstration state forest property sustain all costs of operation and provide income for research and educational purposes. Existing law requires the department to adopt a general plan for the demonstration state forest, as provided. This bill would instead declare that it is the policy of the state to establish and conserve the Soquel Demonstration State Forest and would revise the Legislature's intent relating to the demonstration state forest, as provided. The bill would require that income from the demonstration state forest property to additionally provide income for recreation. The bill would require the board, instead of the department, to adopt a forest management plan for the demonstration state forest, as specified. (4) Existing law authorizes the department to collect recreational user fees for overnight camping and reserved group activities in a demonstration state forest. Existing law prohibits the department from charging a fee that exceeds the amount necessary to reimburse the department's costs for maintenance and improvement of campground facilities, associated recreational facilities, natural environment, and access thereto. Existing law requires all user fees collected by the department to be deposited into the Forest Resources Improvement Fund and requires the fees to be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to reimburse the department's cost of maintaining and improving the campground facilities, associated recreational facilities, natural environment, and access thereto. Under existing law, the Forest Resources Improvement Fund is the depository for all revenue derived from the receipts from the sale of forest products, as defined, from state forests to support specified operations. Existing law authorizes money in the Forest Resource Improvement Fund to only be expended, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the cost of operations associated with management of lands held in trust by the state and operated as demonstration state forests, as specified. This bill would repeal the prohibition on the department regarding charging a fee that exceeds the amount necessary to reimburse the department's costs for maintenance and improvement, as provided. The bill would require any other funds generated by a demonstration state forest to be deposited into the Forest Resources Improvement Fund. (5) This bill would incorporate additional changes to Sections 4629.6 and 4629.8 of the Public Resources Code proposed by AB 706 to be operative only if this bill and AB 706 are enacted and this bill is enacted last. (6) 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, the California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989, administered by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, establishes an integrated waste management program and requires the department to adopt rules and regulations, as necessary, to carry out the act. Existing law requires each city, county, and regional agency, if any, to develop a source reduction and recycling element, household hazardous waste element, and nondisposal facility element of an integrated waste management plan. The act requires the source reduction and recycling element to divert from disposal 50% of all solid waste subject to the element through source reduction, recycling, and composting activities, with specified exceptions. This bill would require a city or county that requires a refundable deposit, performance security, or similar financial guarantee as a condition of issuing a construction, demolition, or building permit for the purpose of ensuring compliance with a construction or demolition debris requirement to return the full amount of the deposit if documentation demonstrating compliance with the terms of the deposit is provided, as specified.
(1) Existing federal law establishes the federal Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, as part of which the United States Secretary of Defense, in coordination with the United States Secretary of Agriculture, the United States Secretary of the Interior, and the heads of other federal departments and agencies that elect to become full partners in the program, are authorized to establish and carry out a program to preserve and restore sentinel landscapes. Existing federal law authorizes federal departments and agencies to give to any eligible owner or manager of land within a designated sentinel landscape priority consideration for participation in any easement, grant, or assistance program and to coordinate actions between their departments and agencies and with other federal, state, interstate, and local agencies, Indian tribes, and private entities. Existing federal law defines "sentinel landscape" as a landscape-scale area encompassing one or more military installations or state-owned National Guard installations and the publicly and privately owned lands that serve to protect and support the rural economy, the natural environment, outdoor recreation, and the national defense missions of a military installation or state-owned National Guard installation. This bill would enact the California Sentinel Landscapes Act and would require the Natural Resources Agency to designate a Sentinel Landscapes Program Manager to coordinate state participation in the federal Sentinel Landscapes Partnership, as prescribed. The bill would require state agencies that have conservation grant or easement authority, to the extent feasible and consistent with their existing statutory authority, to cooperate with the Sentinel Landscapes Program Manager. This bill would authorize the Wildlife Conservation Board to provide grants for habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement projects that are located within a federally designated sentinel landscape, as prescribed. The bill would create the California Sentinel Landscapes Fund, into which the Wildlife Conservation Board is authorized to deposit federal funds, grants, and gifts and donations, including interest earned, that are designated and required by the donor to be used exclusively for purposes of these projects. The bill would continuously appropriate to the Wildlife Conservation Board moneys in the fund to implement these projects, thereby making an appropriation. This bill would authorize the Department of Conservation and the Strategic Growth Council, in evaluating applications for grants pursuant to the Sustainable Agricultural Lands Conservation Program, the State Coastal Conservancy, and Sierra Nevada Conservancy, in evaluating applications for grants, to give priority consideration to projects within a federally designated sentinel landscape, as prescribed. This bill would require the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, Department of Conservation, Wildlife Conservation Board, State Coastal Conservancy, Sierra Nevada Conservancy, Department of Fish and Wildlife, and other relevant state entities, to regularly consult on how to align conservation opportunities with state and federal landscape protection goals. The bill would provide that implementation of the California Sentinel Landscapes Act is contingent upon the availability of federal funds, grants, gifts, donations, or other non-General Fund resources for its purposes. (2) Existing law establishes the California Farmland Conservancy Program Act, to be administered generally by the Department of Conservation. The act creates the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund and requires moneys in the fund from federal grants, gifts, and donations, as specified, which are continuously appropriated to the department, and other moneys in the fund, upon appropriation, to be used for the purposes of the California Farmland Conservancy Program. The act authorizes the program to offer financial assistance for projects and activities on agricultural lands that support agricultural conservation and sustainable land management, including, among others, acquisition of agricultural conservation easements or fee title to protect the land's agricultural use or capacity that meets certain requirements. This bill would authorize the department to give priority consideration to applications for projects that are located within federally designated sentinel landscapes. To the extent the bill would expand the purposes for which those continuously appropriated moneys may be used, the bill would make an appropriation.
