SB 117 is a procedural bill that formally declares the Legislature's intent to later enact statutory changes to the Budget Act of 2025. It does not implement any specific budget policies, funding allocations, or changes to existing law at this time. The bill simply sets the stage for future legislative action on the state budget framework. It passed the Senate unanimously (28-10) and was referred to the Assembly's Budget Committee for further consideration.
AB 117 is a placeholder bill expressing the Legislature's intent to enact statutory changes concerning the Budget Act of 2025. This bill is an initial step in the annual state budget process, signaling that specific financial and policy adjustments will be detailed in subsequent legislation.
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 in its regulation of those emissions the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. Existing law continuously appropriates 25% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the High-Speed Rail Authority for certain purposes, as specified. This bill would eliminate the continuous appropriation of 25% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the High-Speed Rail Authority on June 30, 2026. The bill, beginning with the 2026–27 fiscal year, and until December 31, 2030, would require 25% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be transferred to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account. Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. Existing law provides that amounts received pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law are deposited into the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. Existing law transfers the portions of those motor vehicle fuel tax revenues attributable to various off-highway uses of motor vehicle fuel to specified funds and transfers the remaining revenues to the Highway Users Tax Account for allocation to various state and local transportation purposes consistent with the expenditure restrictions imposed by Article XIX of the California Constitution on excise tax revenues from fuels used in motor vehicles on the highway. This bill, beginning July 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would reduce the rate of the tax imposed upon each gallon of fuel by a specified percentage based annually on the amount transferred to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. By transferring moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt and implement motor vehicle emission standards, in-use performance standards, and motor vehicle fuel specifications for the control of air contaminants and sources of air pollution that the state board has found necessary, cost effective, and technologically feasible. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the state board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases and requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions from those sources. Pursuant to its authority, the state board has adopted the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation, which imposes various requirements for transitioning local, state, and federal government fleets of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, other high-priority fleets of medium- and heavy-duty trucks, and drayage trucks to zero-emission vehicles. The Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation authorizes entities subject to the regulation to apply for exemptions from its requirements under certain circumstances. This bill would require the state board to establish the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation Appeals Advisory Committee by an unspecified date for purposes of reviewing appeals of denied requests for exemptions from the requirements of the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation. The bill would require the committee to include representatives of specified governmental and nongovernmental entities. The bill would require the committee to meet monthly and would require recordings of its meetings to be made publicly available on the state board's internet website. The bill would require the committee to consider, and make a recommendation on, an appeal of an exemption request denial no later than 60 days after the appeal is made. The bill would require specified information relating to the committee's consideration of an appeal to be made publicly available on the state board's internet website. The bill would require the state board to consider a recommendation of the committee at a public meeting no later than 60 days after the recommendation is made. This bill would exempt from the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation or any similar regulation vehicles reasonably anticipated to respond to emergency situations, or that support those efforts. The bill would prohibit the state board from requiring a state or local government fleet owner to provide documentation showing an executed zero-emissions vehicle purchase agreement in order to count an internal combustion engine vehicle as a zero-emissions vehicle purchase for purposes of postponing a zero-emissions vehicle transition mandate in the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation.
Existing law provides that the Department of Food and Agriculture has general supervision of the weights and measures and weighing and measuring devices sold or used in the state, including devices used to measure electricity sold as a motor vehicle fuel. Existing law regulates the use and repair of weighing or measuring devices. Existing law authorizes a device to be placed in service only by a sealer or a service agency. Existing law prohibits, until January 1, 2028, requiring electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE) to be retested or placed in service by a service agency or sealer, if the EVSE has previously been placed in service by a service agency or sealer, before the EVSE is used after receiving maintenance, as specified. This bill would authorize an EVSE that has been audited or tested by the manufacturer or supplier to be used commercially without further testing during the remainder of the inspection period adopted by the Secretary of Food and Agriculture, but not until it has been sealed by a sealer. The bill would, among other things, require the county sealer to ensure that certain EVSE installed before January 1, 2026, are initially placed in service and tested by a sealer on or before January 1, 2027, at no additional cost other than the registration fees paid by the EVSE owner or operator. The bill would, until January 1, 2028, if an EVSE has previously been placed in service, no longer require the EVSE to be retested or placed in service by a service agency or sealer before the EVSE is used after receiving maintenance in a manner that does not affect the EVSE being correct. The bill would require the Division of Measurement Standards, on or before January 1, 2027, to issue guidance and develop statewide resources relevant to weights and measures for EVSE, as specified, and to consider and implement optional pathways for EVSE testing and placed-in-service requirements, including in-factory auditing or testing and certification by a factory- or supplier-registered service agency.
Existing law vests the Department of Transportation with full possession and control of all state highways. Existing law authorizes the department to do any act necessary, convenient, or proper for the construction, improvement, maintenance, or use of all highways that are under its jurisdiction, possession, or control. This bill would establish the Highway Signage Fund in the State Treasury and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the department's costs in erecting signage for highway designations previously approved by the Legislature that memorialize individuals who have promoted racial and gender equity.
The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. The act makes $135,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Office of Emergency Services for a wildfire mitigation grant program to provide, among other things, loans, direct assistance, and matching funds for projects that prevent wildfires, increase resilience, maintain existing wildfire risk reduction projects, reduce the risk of wildfires to communities, or increase home or community hardening. The act provides that eligible projects include, but are not limited to, grants to local agencies, state agencies, joint powers authorities, tribes, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, and nonprofit organizations for structure hardening of critical community infrastructure, wildfire smoke mitigation, evacuation centers, including community clean air centers, structure hardening projects that reduce the risk of wildfire for entire neighborhoods and communities, water delivery system improvements for fire suppression purposes for communities in very high or high fire hazard areas, wildfire buffers, and incentives to remove structures that significantly increase hazard risk. This bill would include in the list of eligible projects grants to the above-mentioned entities for improvements to public evacuation routes in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, mobile rigid dip tanks, as defined, to support firefighting efforts, prepositioned mobile rigid water storage, as defined, and improvements to the response and effectiveness of fire engines and helicopters. The bill would also include grants, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission, to local agencies, state agencies, special districts, joint powers authorities, tribes, and nonprofit organizations for backup electrical generators for water reservoirs.
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 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, until January 1, 2026, an exemption from those taxes with respect to the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, specified zero-emission technology transit buses sold to specified public agencies that are eligible for specified incentives from the State Air Resources Board. This bill would extend the exemption for specified zero-emission technology transit buses until January 1, 2028. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
(1) Existing law, the Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act, establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development. Existing law, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to issue bonds, make loans, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities. This bill would enact the Community Stabilization Act. The bill would require the I-Bank to develop and administer a program to issue a security, and to cease issuing a security on January 1, 2030. The bill would specify that the purpose of the program is to help stabilize property values in disaster-affected areas by allowing qualified investors, as defined, to purchase tradable securities, with the funding allocated to qualifying investment entities that purchase and manage residential land until it can be resold at fair market value. The bill would require profits from the land investments to be shared among investors and the I-Bank according to certain percentages, with qualifying investment entities being reimbursed for their administrative costs. This bill would establish various requirements for the security, including that it be tradeable, comply with specified municipal bonding requirements, and that it be funded by investments made by qualified investors using funds available pursuant to the federal Community Reinvestment Act of 1977. The bill would require the security to repay the investment upon a liquidity event and within 7 years of the purchase of an investment property, and would describe a liquidity event as the refinance or sale of the investment property. This bill would require funds raised from the purchase of the security to be deposited in the Community Stabilization Fund, which would be created by the bill, and would require all moneys in the fund to be continuously appropriated to the I-Bank. The bill would require the I-Bank to allocate moneys in the fund to qualifying investment entities to be invested in the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura and in those areas that are covered by a state of disaster declared by the Governor. The bill would require a qualifying investment entity to meet prescribed requirements, including that it be a specified entity, including, among others, a nonprofit organization, as provided. The bill would also impose various requirements on the qualifying investment entity relating to the purchase, maintenance, and sale of the investment property, including, among other things, limiting the purchase of property to residential property that has been damaged or destroyed by the wildfires that began on January 7, 2025, in the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura, as specified. The bill would require the I-Bank to submit a final report on the program to the Legislature, the Governor, and the Department of Finance no later than January 1, 2034, as specified. By establishing a new continuously appropriated fund, the Community Stabilization Fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Counties of Los Angeles and Ventura. (3) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law prohibits a person, a state or local governmental agency, or a public utility from substantially diverting or obstructing the natural flow of, or substantially changing or using any material from the bed, channel, or bank of, any river, stream, or lake, or depositing or disposing of debris, waste, or other material containing crumbled, flaked, or ground pavement where it may pass into any river, stream, or lake, unless prescribed requirements are met, including written notification to the Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding the activity. Existing law requires the department to determine whether the activity may substantially adversely affect an existing fish and wildlife resource and, if so, to provide a draft lake or streambed alteration agreement to the person, agency, or utility. Existing law prescribes various requirements for lake and streambed alteration agreements. Existing law also establishes various exemptions from these provisions. This bill would, until January 1, 2027, exempt from these provisions, subject to certain requirements, projects to repair or reconstruct a bridge 30 feet long or less or a culvert 70 feet long or less within the County of Sutter that has been damaged or destroyed as a result of fire, flood, storm, earthquake, land subsidence, gradual earth movement, or landslide, between January 1, 2022, and December 31, 2024, inclusive, except as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Sutter.
