Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt and implement motor vehicle fuel specifications for the control of air contaminants and sources of air pollution. Existing law prohibits the state board from adopting any regulation that establishes a specification for motor vehicle fuel unless that regulation, and a multimedia evaluation conducted by affected agencies and coordinated by the state board, are reviewed by the California Environmental Policy Council. This bill would, notwithstanding that prohibition, authorize blends of gasoline containing 10.5% to 15% ethanol by volume to be sold in the state for use as a transportation fuel until (1) the California Environmental Policy Council completes its review of those blends and (2) the state board either adopts a regulation establishing a specification for those blends or posts an assessment on its internet website demonstrating that it is not possible for a regulation establishing a specification for those blends to meet specified requirements. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
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 unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws. This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction. This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law authorizes airports to require rental companies to collect a customer facility charge or an alternative customer facility charge for purposes that include financing, designing, and constructing airport vehicle rental facilities and common-use transportation systems. Existing law requires the aggregate amount of charges collected to not exceed, among other things, the reasonable costs to finance, design, and construct those facilities. Existing law authorizes a rental company to collect a customer facility charge under specified circumstances, including that revenues collected from the fee do not exceed the reasonable costs of financing, designing, and constructing the facility. Existing law authorizes an airport to require rental companies to collect an alternative customer facility charge under specified conditions, including that the airport finds that the reasonable cost of the project requires the additional amount of revenue that would be generated by the proposed daily rate, and prohibits the daily rate of the alternative customer facility charge from exceeding $9 per day. Existing law limits use of proceeds of any bonds backed by alternative customer facility charges to construction and design of the consolidated rental vehicle facility, terminal modifications, and operating costs of the common-use transportation system. This bill would require that the aggregate amount of charges collected also not exceed the reasonable costs of performance of major maintenance on airport vehicle rental facilities, as provided. The bill would increase the daily maximum alternative customer facility charge an airport is authorized to require rental companies to collect to $12 per day. The bill would also authorize proceeds of any bonds backed by, or revenues from, alternative customer facility charges to be used for major maintenance of a consolidated rental vehicle facility and would remove the authorization for the proceeds of those bonds to be used for terminal modifications.
Existing law, the California Building Standards Law, establishes the California Building Standards Commission within the Department of General Services. Existing law requires the commission to approve and adopt building standards and to codify those standards in the California Building Standards Code. Existing law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development to propose to the commission for consideration mandatory building standards for the installation of future electric vehicle charging infrastructure for parking spaces in multifamily dwellings, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to adopt, approve, codify, and publish mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure for parking spaces in multifamily dwellings and nonresidential development. Existing law, commencing with the next triennial edition of the California Building Standards Code and until January 1, 2033, requires the commission and the Department of Housing and Community Development to research and develop, and authorizes the commission and department to propose for adoption, mandatory building standards for the installation of electric vehicle charging stations with low power level 2 or higher electric vehicle chargers in existing multifamily dwellings, hotels, motels, and nonresidential development during certain retrofits, additions, and alterations to existing parking facilities, as specified. This bill would exempt parking facilities owned or leased by a church or nonprofit organization that is exempt from federal income taxation from any mandatory building standards that require the installation of electric vehicle charging stations or future electric vehicle charging infrastructure, except designated employee parking spaces. Existing law requires a city, county, or city and county to administratively approve an application for installation of electric vehicle charging stations, as defined. Existing law states it is the intent of the Legislature that local agencies comply not only with the language in that provision, but also the legislative intent to encourage the installation of electric vehicle charging stations and hydrogen fueling stations. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding any other law, the presence of an electric vehicle charging station on property owned by or leased to a church or nonprofit organization shall not impact any zoning designations or exemptions for the property, any property tax exemptions, or any other specified tax exemptions. Existing law, the Corporation Tax Law, exempts the income of various types of nonprofit organizations from taxes imposed by that law, except as provided, if an application for exemption is filed with, and a filing fee of $25 is paid to, the Franchise Tax Board, and the Franchise Tax Board issues a determination exempting the organization from tax. That law, in partial conformity with federal income tax law, provides for the taxation of the unrelated business taxable income, as defined, of an organization that is otherwise exempt under those provisions. This bill would specify that income derived by a church or an organization otherwise exempt from taxation from an electric vehicle charging station located on property owned by or leased to the organization is not unrelated business taxable income. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals 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 bill would require the Franchise Tax Board to provide any data requested by the Legislative Analyst's Office to write a report, as provided, and would make taxpayer information received by the Legislative Analyst's Office subject to a limitation, a violation of which is a crime, on that information's collection and use. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. 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 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 law generally regulates classes of insurance, including automobile liability insurance. Existing law prohibits a motor vehicle, insured pursuant to a policy of automobile liability insurance, from being classified as a common carrier, livery, or for-hire vehicle solely for the reason that the named insured is performing volunteer services for a nonprofit charitable organization or governmental agency consisting of providing social service transportation, as defined. This bill, for purposes of insurance, would prohibit a motor vehicle, insured pursuant to a policy of automobile liability insurance, from being classified as a common carrier, commercial vehicle, for-hire vehicle, permissive use vehicle, or livery solely for the reason that the named insured is operating or using the insured motor vehicle to provide public social services, as defined, or social service transportation, as defined.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to consider adopting specific biomethane procurement targets or goals for each gas corporation and core transport agent, as specified. Existing law requires, if the commission adopts specific biomethane procurement targets or goals for each gas corporation and core transport agent, the commission to, among other things, ensure that the biomethane available for any procurement program is either delivered to California through a dedicated pipeline, or through a common carrier pipeline and meets 2 specified requirements related to the injection of the biomethane and specified environmental benefits, as prescribed. This bill would instead require that biomethane delivered to California through a common carrier pipeline meet either of the specified requirements, rather than both. The bill would also add the displacement of conventional natural gas that results in a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions as one of the specified environmental benefits, as specified. Existing law requires the commission to consider options to promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane, including whether to allow recovery in rates of the costs of investments to (1) facilitate direct investment in the procurement and installation of utility infrastructure necessary to achieve interconnection between the natural gas transmission and distribution pipeline network and biomethane generation and collection equipment and of gathering lines for a dairy cluster biomethane project, (2) provide for the installation of utility infrastructure to achieve interconnection with facilities that generate biomethane, and (3) ensure that these investments for infrastructure are prudent and reasonable and provide a direct benefit to, and are in the interests of, all classes of ratepayers. This bill would require, on or before June 1, 2026, the commission to allow recovery in rates of the costs of those investments. 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 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. This bill would suspend the appropriation to the High-Speed Rail Authority for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 fiscal years and would instead require those amounts from moneys collected by the state board to be transferred to the General Fund. The bill would specify that the transferred amounts shall be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to augment funding for water infrastructure and wildfire prevention.
Existing law provides various sources of funding for water and transportation projects. This bill would appropriate $455,500,000 from the General Fund to the San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority for the purpose of funding the State Highway 152 Route improvements required to complete the B.F. Sisk Dam Raise and Reservoir Expansion Project.
Existing law, commencing January 1, 2019, made various changes to the law governing ignition interlock devices (IID) , including, among other things, requiring a person who has been convicted of driving a motor vehicle under the influence of an alcoholic beverage, as specified, to install for a specified period of time as ordered by the court, an IID on the vehicle they operate, provided however that installation of an IID is discretionary for a first offender, as specified; authorizing a person convicted of driving a motor vehicle under the influence, if all other requirements are satisfied, including the installation of an IID, to apply for a restricted driver's license without completing a period of license suspension or revocation; and requiring ignition interlock device manufacturers to be in compliance with specified provisions relating to payment for the costs of an ignition interlock device. Existing law makes these changes operative until January 1, 2026. On January 1, 2026, existing law, as it relates to these provisions, is generally reinstated to read as it read prior to January 1, 2019. Existing law makes it a crime to violate certain provisions relating to IIDs and motor vehicles equipped with IIDs. This bill would extend the operation of these provisions until January 1, 2033, and would instead reinstate the law to how it read prior to January 1, 2019, on January 1, 2033. By extending the application of 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.
