Asm. Bill Quirk

This measure would urge the United States Congress and the President of the United States to permit states to extend burial and memorial benefits in state veterans cemeteries to Republic of Korea veterans and Republic of Vietnam veterans who served in the Vietnam War and who subsequently became United States citizens. The measure would urge the United States Congress and the President of the United States to extend the same benefits in national cemeteries.

This measure would, on June 23, 2021, commemorate the 49th anniversary of the enactment of Title IX, and would urge Californians to continue to work together to achieve the goals set by Title IX, as specified.

This measure would designate the month of June 2021 as Healthy Homes Awareness Month.

(1) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board (state board) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years. This bill would require the state board, by December 31, 2022, as a part of the scoping plan and the state's goal for carbon neutrality, to identify the role of hydrogen, and particularly green hydrogen, in helping California achieve the goals of the act and the state's other climate goals. The bill would require the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , to prepare an evaluation posted to the state board's internet website by June 1, 2023, that includes specified information relative to the deployment, development, and use of hydrogen. The bill would require the state board, in making these evaluations, to consult with the California Workforce Development Board and labor and workforce organizations. (2) Existing law requires the Energy Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and every 2 years thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report that includes an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state. This bill would require the Energy Commission, as part of the 2023 and 2025 editions of the integrated energy policy report, to study and model potential growth for hydrogen and its role in decarbonizing, as defined, the electrical and transportation sectors of the economy, and helping to achieve specified goals. (3) Existing law requires the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission to consider green electrolytic hydrogen an eligible form of energy storage, and to consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen. This bill would require the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission to consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen specifically in all of their decarbonization strategies, as defined. (4) This bill would require the state board, by June 1, 2023, in conjunction with the Energy Commission and the PUC, to (A) jointly develop recommendations to the Legislature on definitions for different categories of hydrogen, and potential end uses for those categories of hydrogen and would authorize the use of the recommendations to the Legislature to inform the oversight and administration of their respective hydrogen programs and eligibility rules, (B) provide guidance to the Legislature on which categories of hydrogen may be used to meet eligibility requirements for the programs under each state entity's jurisdiction, (C) jointly develop prohibitions against double counting of environmental attributes associated with production, distribution, and use of hydrogen, and (D) calculate life-cycle carbon dioxide intensity values for hydrogen pathways that reflect the fuels, feedstocks, and production processes used for their production.

Existing law requires, by July 1, 2017, and every 3 years thereafter, the Natural Resources Agency to update, as prescribed, the state's climate adaptation strategy, known as the Safeguarding California Plan. Existing law establishes the Office of Planning and Research in state government in the Governor's office. Existing law establishes the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program to be administered by the office to coordinate regional and local efforts with state climate adaptation strategies to adapt to the impacts of climate change, as prescribed. This bill would authorize eligible entities, as defined, to establish and participate in a regional climate network, as defined. The bill would require the office, through the program, to encourage the inclusion of eligible entities with land use planning and hazard mitigation planning authority into regional climate networks. The bill would authorize a regional climate network to engage in activities to address climate change, as specified. This bill would require a regional climate network to develop a regional climate adaptation and resilience action plan and to submit the plan to the office for review, comments, and certification, as described. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2023, the office, through the program, to develop and publish on its internet website guidelines on how eligible entities may establish regional climate networks and how governing boards may be established within regional climate networks. The bill would also require, on or before July 1, 2023, the office, through the program, in collaboration with the Office of Emergency Services, to develop and publish on its internet website guidelines, as prescribed, establishing standards and required content for a regional climate adaptation and resilience action plan, including certain information, analyses, and contents to be included in a plan and certain considerations and procedures for a regional climate network when preparing a plan. This bill would require the office, through the program, to provide technical assistance to regions seeking to establish a regional climate network and to regional climate networks in developing regional climate adaptation and resilience action plans. The bill would require, on or before January 1, 2025, the office, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to make recommendations to certain policy and budget committees of the Legislature related to regional adaptation and resilience on expanding state support for the work of regional climate networks, as prescribed, and the potential sources of financial assistance and options for distributing state funds to support the creation and implementation of regional climate adaptation and resilience action plans and to support technical assistance and capacity building to engage vulnerable communities and under-resourced communities in the development of the plans.

(1) The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency to prepare, or cause to be prepared by contract, and certify the completion of, an environmental impact report on a project, as defined, 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 prohibits an environmental impact report or negative declaration from being approved for any project involving the purchase of a schoolsite or the construction of a new elementary or secondary school by a school district unless specified conditions are met, relating to, among other things, whether the property is located on a current or former hazardous waste disposal site or solid waste disposal site, a hazardous substance release site, or a site that contains a pipeline that carries specified substances, and the property's proximity to facilities that might reasonably be anticipated to emit hazardous emissions or handle hazardous or extremely hazardous substances or waste, as provided. This bill would prohibit a lead agency from certifying an environmental impact report or approving a negative declaration for a project involving the purchase of a schoolsite or the construction of a new elementary or secondary school by a charter school or a private school, unless those specified conditions are met. By imposing new requirements on school districts, charter schools, lead agencies, cities, and counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law prohibits the governing board of a school district from approving a project for the acquisition of a schoolsite unless specified conditions are met, including, among others, that the school district, as the lead agency, determines that the property to be purchased or built upon is not the site of a current or former hazardous waste disposal site or solid waste disposal site, a hazardous substance release site, or a site that contains a pipeline that carries specified substances, and that the school district, as the lead agency, has not identified specified facilities within 14 of one mile of the proposed schoolsite that might reasonably be anticipated to emit hazardous air emissions or handle hazardous or extremely hazardous materials, substances, or waste, as provided. This bill would impose that prohibition, and related requirements, on the governing body of a charter school and the governing board of a private school, and would require the determination and identification described above to be made by the city or county. By imposing new requirements on charter schools, cities, and counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) Existing law requires the State Department of Education, upon the request of the governing board of a school district, to advise the governing board on the acquisition of new schoolsites, as specified. This bill would require the department to additionally advise the governing body of a charter school, upon the request of the governing body, on the acquisition of new schoolsites, as specified. (4) 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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Existing law imposes various taxes, including income taxes and sales and use taxes, and allows specified tax expenditures, as defined, including credits, deductions, exclusions, and exemptions in computing those taxes. Existing law establishes the University of California, and provides for its administration, and the provision of instruction at its various campuses, by the Regents of the University of California. This bill would request the Regents of the University of California to perform a comprehensive assessment of major tax expenditures, as defined, to study, among other things, the legislative intent, the beneficiaries, the number of affected returns or business entities, the cost to the General Fund, the effectiveness of those tax expenditures, and options to modify the tax expenditures to improve their effectiveness or reduce their cost. The bill would require the Franchise Tax Board and California Department of Tax and Fee Administration to provide readily available taxpayer information required for the University of California to complete the study. The bill would provide that any unauthorized use or sharing of the taxpayer information provided would be a misdemeanor. By expanding the scope of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would request the Regents of the University of California to provide a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2024. The bill would require the Senate Committee on Governance and Finance and the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation, upon receipt of the report from the university, to hold a joint public hearing on the report by August 15, 2024. This bill would repeal these provisions on February 15, 2025. 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.