The Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 prohibits a person from conducting timber operations unless a timber harvesting plan prepared by a registered professional forester has been submitted to, and approved by, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection. The act provides that any person who willfully violates any provision of the act or rule or regulation of the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection is guilty of a misdemeanor. 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 authorize projects exclusively for noncommercial wildfire fuels reduction in timberland, paid for in part or in whole with public funds, to prepare a timber harvesting plan as an alternative to complying with CEQA, and would require these projects to be regulated as timber operations, as provided. By expanding the scope of a crime, 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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Asm. Joe Patterson
Sponsored bills
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 state board is required to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 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 to include greenhouse gas emissions from wildlands and forest fires in the scoping plan.
Maddy summaryThis bill is a House Resolution that formally recognizes the work of school board members across California by designating January 2025 as School Board Recognition Month. It directly affects local school districts and county offices of education by honoring the nearly 5,000 elected school board members who serve in these roles. The resolution expresses appreciation for their dedication to public education and encourages community members to support these local officials in their efforts to serve students. This is a commemorative measure rather than a policy change, as it does not alter laws or regulations but instead highlights the importance of school governance.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 and to ensure the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit by 2030. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in its regulation of greenhouse gas emissions. This bill would specify that transportation fuels are not subject to regulations implementing a market-based compliance mechanism for greenhouse gas emissions. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt and implement motor vehicle fuel specifications for the control of air contaminants and sources of air pollution. Existing law authorizes the state board to grant variances from the gasoline specifications, as provided. This bill would require the state board to grant variances from gasoline specifications, including for gasoline imported from outside the state, whenever a refinery outage or other supply interruption would result in substantial short-term price increases, as specified. Existing law requires the state board to establish, by regulation, maximum standards for volatility of gasoline, as provided. Pursuant to these authorities, the state board has adopted the California Reformulated Gasoline regulations, which include regulations establishing the maximum Reid vapor pressure of gasoline for various regions of the state at specified time periods. This bill would require the state board to waive the Reid vapor pressure requirement on summer-blend gasoline under the California Reformulated Gasoline regulations and to allow for the early transition to winter-blend gasoline if the state board determines that the gasoline market is experiencing a sudden and unusual increase in gasoline prices.
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 Governor to certify certain projects, including energy infrastructure projects, as defined, that meet specified requirements, including a requirement that the applicant agrees to pay the costs of preparing the record of proceedings for the project concurrent with review and consideration of the project, as specified, for streamlining benefits related to CEQA, such as the requirement that judicial actions challenging the certification of an EIR and the granting of approval by a lead agency for certified projects, including any potential appeals to the court of appeal or the Supreme Court, be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 days after the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. CEQA provides that the certification is no longer valid if the lead agency fails to approve the certified project before January 1, 2033. This bill would revise the definition of "energy infrastructure projects" to include projects that increase the storage of petroleum products at a refinery meeting certain requirements. Because the bill would impose additional duties on lead agencies in conducting the environmental review of petroleum storage projects that are certified by the Governor, including the concurrent preparation of the record of proceedings, 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 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 require the Controller to transfer the sum of $3,000,000,000, from the unencumbered moneys appropriated to the authority before January 1, 2025, from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the General Fund. The bill would specify that the transferred moneys, upon appropriation, are available to provide the owner of every gasoline-powered passenger vehicle, as defined, registered in the state with a $100 rebate to offset California's high gasoline prices.
The Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act of 1980 requires operators of refineries in the state that produce gasoline meeting California specifications, within 30 days of the end of each calendar month, to submit a report to the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission that contains certain information regarding its refining activities related to the production of gasoline that month. Existing law requires the commission to post, among other things, the reported data, in aggregate, on its internet website within 45 calendar days of the end of each calendar month. This bill would additionally require the commission to post, and regularly update, a dashboard on its internet website that includes the difference in average gasoline prices in California compared to national average gasoline prices, California-specific taxes, fees, regulations, and policies that directly or indirectly contribute to higher gasoline prices within the state and their individual contribution to the difference in average gasoline prices, and any substantiated evidence of price gouging or other anticompetitive behavior within the petroleum industry and its contribution to the difference in average gasoline prices, as specified.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. Pursuant to the act, the state board has adopted the Low-Carbon Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations. This bill would prohibit the state board from amending the Low-Carbon Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations prior to January 1, 2026.
The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (CCPA) grants to a consumer various rights with respect to personal information, as defined, that is collected by a business, as defined, including the right to request that a business delete personal information about the consumer that the business has collected from the consumer. The act establishes a variety of exceptions to the obligations imposed on a business under these provisions. The California Privacy Rights Act of 2020, approved by the voters as Proposition 24 at the November 3, 2020, statewide general election, amended, added to, and reenacted the CCPA. The Early Learning Personal Information Protection Act and the Student Online Personal Information Protection Act prohibit the operator of specified internet websites, online services, online applications, or mobile applications from knowingly engaging in targeted advertising to amass a profile about a preschool or prekindergarten pupil or K–12 student, selling a pupil's or student's information, or disclosing covered information, except as otherwise provided. Existing law defines "covered information" as personally identifiable information or materials, in any media or format that, among other things, is gathered by an operator through the operation of a site, service, or application and is descriptive of a pupil or student or otherwise identifies a pupil or student. This bill would instead refer to a K–12 student as a "pupil," and make conforming changes. Existing law requires an operator to take specified other actions relating to the protection of a pupil's or student's covered information, including implementing and maintaining reasonable security procedures and practices and deleting a pupil's or student's covered information if the school or district requests deletion of data under the control of the school or district. This bill would except from that deletion requirement, with respect to K-12 pupils, pupil records held by a national assessment provider, as defined, and that only include standardized test results. The bill would additionally require, except as prescribed, an operator to delete a preschool, prekindergarten, or K–12 pupil's covered information under the operator's control that is not subject to the CCPA if the pupil's parent or legal guardian, the pupil's education rights holder, or the pupil, as prescribed, requests an operator to delete the covered information under the operator's control if the pupil has been no longer enrolled in the local educational agency, preschool, prekindergarten, or district, as applicable, for at least 60 days and would require an operator to require documentation that the pupil is no longer enrolled. The bill would also specify that these provisions shall not be interpreted to limit or supersede any rights or requirements under specified federal law.
Existing law requires the State Department of Education to establish a formal liaison with the United States Department of Defense and school districts and county offices of education that enroll military dependents to, among other things, create model memoranda of agreement between military bases and school districts or county offices of education regarding enabling schoolage military dependents to experience a smoother transition from one school to another school. Existing law authorizes a governing board of a school district and a county office of education to undertake certain activities to properly address the needs of military dependents. This bill would require the State Department of Education to establish a nonmonetary California Purple Star School Designation Program to reduce the burden on military-connected pupils and their families and to publicly recognize and designate public schools that meet certain requirements related to supporting military-connected pupils and their families' unique needs, as provided. The bill would require the department to develop an annual application process and adopt application criteria for the California Purple Star School Designation Program, as specified, and would provide that a Purple Star School designation is valid for 3 years, after which a schoolsite seeking to renew its designation is required to reapply.