Photo of María Elena Durazo
D California Senate · District 26

Sen. María Elena Durazo

Compare
Total votes
18,987
all sessions
Attendance
98%
302 missed
Near the chamber average
With party
99%
of cast votes
Near the chamber average
Bipartisan score
0%
crosses aisle rarely
Near the chamber average
Sponsored
555
bills & resolutions
Near the chamber average
Committees
8
assignments
555 bills and resolutions

Sponsored bills

Total
555
Primary
172
Co-sponsor
383
This page
555
matching current filters
Co-sponsor AB 2022
Signed into law · California Assembly · Co-sponsor
State government.

Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, which consists of various departments and commissions, including the Department of Conservation, Department of Parks and Recreation, and State Lands Commission. Existing law vests in the agency various powers, including those related to conservation of lands. Pursuant to the agency's general authority, the agency established the California Advisory Committee on Geographic Names to be a liaison to the United States Board on Geographic Names. The duties, powers, and responsibilities of the committee are established by its internal charter. Commencing on January 1, 2025, this bill would require the term "squaw" to be removed from all geographic features and place names in the state. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to direct the committee to revise its existing charter to perform specified responsibilities, including notifying public agencies, as defined, of each geographic feature and place name that includes the term "squaw." The bill would require the committee to choose a replacement name, under its discretion, and in consultation with advisory bodies, if the local governing body fails to recommend a replacement name within the allotted 180 days. The bill would require the committee to work in formal consultation with California Native American tribes on the list maintained by the Native American Heritage Commission to establish a procedure for receiving name recommendations. This bill would require public agencies to no longer replace signs, interpretive markers, or any other marker or printed material with the discontinued name containing the word "squaw." The bill would require each agency or local governing body to ensure that map updates and sign replacements use the new name. Commencing January 1, 2025, the bill would require the committee to annually report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of these provisions, and would require that report to include specified information, including each geographic feature and place name that uses the term "squaw" in that public agency's jurisdiction and the proposed replacement name. By imposing requirements on local governments to remove the term "squaw" from geographic features and place names and to report specified information to the committee, 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, 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.

Signed into law Sep 23, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor AB 1703
Signed into law · California Assembly · Co-sponsor
California Indian Education Act: California Indian Education Task Forces.

Existing law provides for the establishment of California American Indian education centers by any tribal group or incorporated American Indian association to meet specified objectives, and further provides for the administration of grants, upon application, by the State Department of Education for those purposes in accordance with specified provisions. Existing law requires each center to annually submit specified data to the department that reflects each center's ability to meet its stated objectives and any other objectives chosen by the center. Existing law requires the department to enter into a contract with a county office of education or a consortium of county offices of education for the purpose of developing model curriculum related to Native American studies, as provided. This bill would establish the California Indian Education Act and encourage school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to form California Indian Education Task Forces with California tribes local to their regions or tribes historically located in the region. The bill would encourage task force participants to discuss issues of mutual concern and to undertake certain work. The bill would require California Indian Education Task Forces to submit, within one year of formation and annually thereafter, a report of findings to the department, as provided. The bill would require the department to submit, within one year of receiving task force reports and annually thereafter, a report to certain education committees of both houses of the Legislature regarding the narrowing of the achievement gap and the adoption of curriculum, as provided. The bill would authorize California Indian Education Task Forces to submit curricular materials to the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curricula related to Native American studies. The bill would require the contracted county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, to consider these submitted materials for inclusion in the model curriculum. To the extent that this bill imposes new duties on the county office of education, or consortium of county offices of education, that contracted to develop the model curriculum, 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, 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.

Signed into law Sep 23, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SB 972
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
California Retail Food Code.

(1) Existing law, the California Retail Food Code (the code) , establishes uniform health and sanitation standards for, and provides for regulation by the State Department of Public Health of, retail food facilities and requires local health agencies to enforce these provisions. Existing law, for purposes of the code, defines a "cottage food operation" as an enterprise that has no more than a specified amount in gross annual sales, is operated by a cottage food operator, and has no more than 1 full-time employee within the registered or permitted area of a private home where the food products are prepared and packaged. Existing law provides for the regulation of microenterprise home kitchen operations and limits those operations to not serving more than 30 individual meals per day and not more than 60 individual meals per week and to no more than $50,000 in verifiable gross annual sales, as adjusted for inflation. Existing law authorizes the local enforcement agency to decrease the limit on the number of individual meals prepared based on the food preparation capacity of the operation. This bill would authorize a cottage food operation or microenterprise home kitchen operation to serve as a commissary or mobile support unit for up to 2 compact mobile food operations if the cottage food operation or microenterprise home kitchen operation permit includes an endorsement from the local enforcement agency that the cottage food operation or microenterprise home kitchen operation is capable of supporting the preparation and storage of the food being sold from the compact mobile food operation and the storage and cleaning of the compact mobile food operation. The bill would authorize nonpotentially hazardous foods prepared in a cottage food operation to be served from a compact mobile food operation. The bill would define "compact mobile food operation" as a mobile food facility that operates from an individual or from a pushcart, stand, display, pedal-driven cart, wagon, showcase, rack, or other nonmotorized conveyance. The bill would require compact food operations to conduct only limited food preparation. (2) The code defines "limited food preparation" as food preparation that is restricted to specified activities, including dispensing or portioning of nonpotentially hazardous food, slicing and chopping of food on a heated cooking surface during the cooking process, and holding, portioning, and dispensing foods that are prepared at a satellite food service or catering operation. This bill would include in the definition of "limited food preparation" dispensing and portioning for immediate service to a customer of food that has been temperature controlled until immediately prior to portioning or dispensing, slicing and chopping of nonpotentially hazardous food or produce that has been washed at an approved facility, hot and cold holding of food previously prepared at an approved permanent food facility, and reheating of food that has been previously prepared at an approved permanent food facility and held at the approved temperatures. (3) The code defines "mobile food facility" and regulates what types of food may be provided at a mobile food facility. The code requires mobile food facilities to meet specified health and safety standards, including access to warewashing sinks, restrooms, and handwashing facilities and required quantities of potable water. This bill would require a compact mobile food operation to meet the applicable requirements of mobile food facilities, except as specified. The bill would exempt a compact mobile food operation that has 25 square feet or less of display area and sells only prepackaged, nonpotentially hazardous foods or whole uncooked produce from the code, except as specified. The bill would authorize a compact mobile food operation to display or sell food outdoors, if certain conditions are met, including, among other things, overhead protection provided above all food display areas. The bill would require a compact mobile food operation that engages in the preparation of raw meat, raw poultry, or raw fish to meet additional specified requirements. The bill would authorize the enforcement agency to preapprove a standard plan for a standardized or mass-produced facility intended to serve as a compact mobile food operation and would authorize a compact mobile food operation to use that standardized or mass-produced facility after a final inspection, but without submitting plans for the individual unit. The bill would authorize the enforcement agency to collect a fee for the final inspection. (4) Existing law requires commissaries and other approved facilities servicing mobile support units, mobile food facilities, and vending machines to meet specified standards. This bill would authorize an enforcement agency to approve a facility with nonconforming structural conditions if those conditions do not pose a public health hazard. The bill would also require an enforcement agency to approve the storage of a compact mobile food facility in a permitted permanent food facility if, after initial inspection, the agency determines that the compact mobile food facility is protected from contamination. The bill would authorize the enforcement agency to charge a fee to administer these provisions. (5) The code requires a food facility to have a valid permit to be open for business and authorizes the local enforcement agency to charge a fee for the permit or registration or related services. This bill would authorize the local enforcement agency to reduce the fee for the permit, registration, or related service for an applicant seeking approval of a compact mobile food operation or related operations. (6) Under existing law, violation of the code is a misdemeanor, unless otherwise specified. This bill would make violations of the code by an operator or employee of a compact mobile food facility or a sidewalk vendor punishable only by an administrative fine. Additionally, by making changes to the definition of various crimes and by adding new crimes under the code, 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.

Signed into law Sep 23, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor AB 1766
Signed into law · California Assembly · Co-sponsor
Department of Motor Vehicles: driver's licenses and identification cards.

Existing law authorizes the Department of Motor Vehicles to issue and renew driver's licenses, as specified. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue identification cards. Existing law requires the department to issue a restricted driver's license to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they meet all other qualifications for licensure and provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency. Existing law also authorizes the department to issue an identification card to a person documented under the federal Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. This bill would, among other things, require the department to, by no later than July 1, 2027, issue a restricted identification card to an eligible applicant who is unable to submit satisfactory proof that their presence in the United States is authorized under federal law if they provide satisfactory proof of identity and California residency, as specified. Existing law requires the restricted licenses and identification cards to include a recognizable feature on the front of the cards, such as the letters "DP" instead of "DL" and "IC" instead of "ID." This bill would delete the provision requiring a recognizable feature on the cards. Existing law prohibits California law enforcement agencies from cooperating, as specified, with federal immigration authorities. Existing law prohibits the disclosure of certain documents provided by an applicant to the department, except in response to a subpoena for individual records in a criminal proceeding or a court order, or in response to a law enforcement request to address an urgent health or safety need, as specified. This bill would specify that immigration enforcement, as defined, does not constitute an urgent health and safety need for those purposes, and would prohibit a government agency or department, law enforcement agency, commercial entity, or other person from obtaining, accessing, using, or otherwise disclosing, noncriminal history information maintained by the department, for the purpose of immigration enforcement. The bill would make other conforming changes. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 12926 of the Government Code proposed by SB 523 to be operative only if this bill and SB 523 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

Signed into law Sep 23, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor AB 2068
Signed into law · California Assembly · Co-sponsor
Occupational safety and health: postings: spoken languages.

Existing law grants the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, which is within the Department of Industrial Relations, jurisdiction over all employment and places of employment, with the power necessary to enforce and administer all occupational health and safety laws and standards. The Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board, an independent entity within the department, has the exclusive authority to adopt occupational safety and health standards within the state. Existing law, the California Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1973, requires employers to comply with certain standards ensuring healthy and safe working conditions, as specified, and charges the division with enforcement of the act. Existing law makes certain violations of the act a crime. Existing law requires citations, orders, and special orders issued by the department, in enforcing occupational safety and health standards, to be prominently posted at or near each place a violation referred to in the citation or order occurred, in accordance with specified timeframes and procedures. Existing law makes certain violations of specified posting or recordkeeping requirements enforceable by a civil penalty. This bill would require an employer to post an employee notification containing specified information when the above-described citations or orders are issued. The bill would require this notification, in addition to English, to be made available in specified languages. The bill would make a violation of these provisions enforceable by a civil penalty, as specified. The bill would also include related legislative findings. By expanding the scope 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.

Signed into law Sep 23, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Primary SB 1226
Signed into law · California Senate · Lead sponsor
Joint powers agreements: zero-emission transportation systems or facilities.

(1) Existing law, the Joint Exercise of Powers Act, authorizes 2 or more public agencies by agreement to exercise any power common to the contracting parties. Existing law requires the agreement to state the purposes of the agreement or the power to be exercised, and provides that the agency or entity provided by the agreement to administer or execute the agreement may be one or more of the parties to the agreement, a commission or board constituted pursuant to the agreement, or a person, firm, or corporation, including a nonprofit corporation, designated in the agreement. Existing law authorizes the agreement to, among other things, provide for the repayment or return to the parties of all or any part of any contributions, payments, or advances made by the parties and for payment to the parties of any sum or sums derived from the revenues of said facilities and authorizes the contracting parties to the agreement to issue revenue bonds to pay the cost and expenses of acquiring or constructing a project or conducting a program for specified purposes. This bill, notwithstanding any other provision of the act, would authorize a private, nonprofit corporation formed for the purposes of providing services to zero-emission transportation systems or facilities, including, but not limited to, finance, design, construction, operation, or maintenance, or authorized by their board of directors to provide such services, to join a joint powers authority or enter into a joint powers agreement with a public agency to facilitate the development, construction, and operation of zero-emission transportation systems or facilities that lower greenhouse gases, reduce vehicle congestion and vehicle miles traveled, and improve public transit connections. The bill, notwithstanding any other law, would prohibit a joint powers authority formed pursuant to these provisions from incurring debt. Under the bill, the authority would be governed by a board of directors, composed as determined by the participating public agency or agencies. The bill would prohibit the representation of private, nonprofit mutual benefit corporations on the board of directors from exceeding 50%. The bill would define terms for its purposes. The bill's provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2032. (2) Existing law sets forth requirements for the solicitation and evaluation of bids and the awarding of contracts by public entities, including requirements applicable if the public entity is required by statute or regulation to obtain an enforceable commitment that a bidder, contractor, or other entity will use a skilled and trained workforce, as defined, to complete a contract or project. Except as specified, existing law requires that, for workers employed on public works, as defined, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, determined as provided by the Director of Industrial Relations, for work of a similar character in the locality in which the public work is performed be paid to those workers, as provided. This bill, except as specified, would require a joint powers authority formed pursuant to the bill that undertakes a project to obtain an enforceable commitment that any entity undertaking the project will use a skilled and trained workforce. The bill would require a private entity performing the work on a project for the joint powers authority to certify, in writing and under penalty of perjury, that prevailing wages will be paid to workers on the project, as provided, and that a skilled and trained workforce will be used to perform all construction work on the project. By requiring private entities performing work on a project under these provisions to certify this information, thereby expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) 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.

Signed into law Sep 18, 2022 0 co-sponsors
Primary SB 1406
Vetoed · California Senate · Lead sponsor
Excluded employees: binding arbitration.

Existing law, the Bill of Rights for State Excluded Employees, permits, among other things, excluded employee organizations to represent their excluded members in their employment relations, including grievances, with the state. That law defines excluded employees as all managerial employees, confidential employees, supervisory employees, and specified employees of the Department of Personnel Administration, the Department of Finance, the Controller's office, the Legislative Counsel Bureau, the Bureau of State Audits, the Public Employment Relations Board, the Department of Industrial Relations, and the State Athletic Commission. This bill would enact the Excluded Employee Arbitration Act to permit an employee organization that represents an excluded employee who has filed certain grievances with the Department of Human Resources to request binding arbitration of the grievance if specified conditions are met. The bill would require the designation of a standing panel of arbitrators and, under specified circumstances, the provision of arbitrators from the California State Mediation and Conciliation Service within the Public Employment Relations Board. The bill would then require the arbitrator to be chosen in a specified manner and would prescribe the duties of that arbitrator. This bill would grant a party to the arbitration the right to have a certified shorthand reporter transcribe the proceeding and would deem the transcription the official record of the proceeding. The bill would require a nonprevailing party, other than an excluded employee, to bear the costs of arbitration and would prohibit passing the costs of arbitration on to the excluded employee.

Vetoed Sep 18, 2022 0 co-sponsors
Co-sponsor SB 1314
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Oil and gas: Class II injection wells: enhanced oil recovery.

Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II injection wells. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II injection wells is delegated to the Geologic Energy Management Division. Under existing regulations, a well operator is required to obtain approval from the supervisor or a district deputy for a subsurface injection or disposal project, including Class II injection wells, and is required to file a notice of intention whenever a new well is to be drilled for use as an injection well or whenever an existing well is converted to an injection well. This bill would prohibit an operator from injecting a concentrated carbon dioxide fluid produced by a carbon dioxide capture project or a carbon dioxide capture and sequestration project into a Class II injection well for purposes of enhanced oil recovery, including the facilitation of enhanced oil recovery from another well. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with specified requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. Because a violation of the prohibition specified in the bill would be a crime, 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.

Signed into law Sep 16, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SB 1020
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Clean Energy, Jobs, and Affordability Act of 2022.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates 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 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. The act requires the state board to conduct a series of public workshops to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the plan and requires a portion of those workshops to be conducted in regions of the state that have the most significant exposure to pollutants. The act specifically includes as regions for these workshops communities with minority populations, communities with low-income populations, or both. This bill would instead include as regions for these workshops federal extreme nonattainment areas that have communities with minority populations, communities with low-income populations, or both. Under existing law, it is the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045. This bill would revise that state policy to instead provide 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 vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires the PUC to ensure that facilities needed to maintain the reliability of the electrical supply remain available and operational. Existing law establishes an Independent System Operator (ISO) as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and requires the ISO to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the electrical transmission grid consistent with achieving planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the PUC, ISO, transmission owners, users, and consumers, to adopt a strategic plan for the state's electrical transmission grid using existing resources in order to identify and recommend actions required to implement investments needed to ensure reliability, relieve congestion, and meet future growth in load and generation. This bill would authorize the PUC and Energy Commission, upon request of the ISO, to disclose to the ISO confidential information relating to power purchase agreements with electric generation and energy storage projects for purposes of transmission planning. This bill would require the PUC, Energy Commission, and state board, on or before December 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, to issue a joint reliability progress report that reviews system and local reliability within the context of that state policy described above, with a particular focus on summer reliability, identifies challenges and gaps, if any, to achieving system and local reliability, and identifies the amount and cause of any delays to achieving compliance with all energy and capacity procurement requirements set by the PUC. This bill would require the PUC to develop a definition of energy affordability, as specified, and to use energy affordability metrics to guide the development of any protections, incentives, discounts, or new programs to assist residential customers facing hardships or disconnections due to electricity or gas bills and to assess the impact of proposed rate increases on different types of residential customers. The California Public Records Act requires a public agency, defined to mean a state or local agency, to make its public records available for public inspection and to make copies available upon request and payment of a fee, unless the public records are exempt from disclosure. The act makes specified records exempt from disclosure and provides that disclosure by a state or local agency of a public record that is otherwise exempt constitutes a waiver of the exemptions. This bill would specify that a disclosure made through the sharing of information between the ISO and a state agency does not constitute a waiver of the exemptions. Existing law prohibits information furnished to the PUC by a public utility, a business that is a subsidiary or affiliate of a public utility, or a corporation that holds a controlling interest in a public utility from being open to public inspection or made public, except as specified. This bill would authorize a present officer or employee of the PUC to share information with the ISO pursuant to an agreement to treat the shared information as confidential. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be part of the act and 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.

Signed into law Sep 16, 2022 1 co-sponsor
Co-sponsor SB 905
Signed into law · California Senate · Co-sponsor
Carbon sequestration: Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization, and Storage Program.

Existing law establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. Existing law, the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. Existing law requires, no later than July 1, 2023, the Natural Resources Agency, in coordination with the state board, the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and other relevant state agencies, to establish the Natural and Working Lands Climate Smart Strategy and, in developing the strategy, to create a framework to advance the state's climate goals. Existing law requires the state board, as part of its scoping plan, to establish specified carbon dioxide removal targets for 2030 and beyond. This bill would require the state board to establish a Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization, and Storage Program, as provided, to evaluate the efficacy, safety, and viability of carbon capture, utilization, or storage (CCUS) technologies and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and facilitate the capture and sequestration of carbon dioxide from those technologies, where appropriate. The bill would require the program to ensure that carbon dioxide capture, removal, and sequestration projects include specified components including, among others, certain monitoring activities. In carrying out the program's objectives, the bill would require the state board to prioritize, among other priorities, reducing the emissions of greenhouses gases and reducing fossil fuel production in the state. The bill would require the state board to adopt regulations to implement the program and, in developing the program, to consult with the Geologic Carbon Sequestration Group described below. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with relevant state and local agencies, by January 1, 2025, to adopt regulations for a unified permit application for the construction and operation of carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration projects to expedite the issuance of permits or other authorizations for the construction and operation of those projects. The bill would require relevant state agencies to use the unified permit application when issuing permits or other authorizations for a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project. This bill would require the state board, by January 1, 2025, to develop a centralized public database to track the deployment of CCUS and CDR technologies and the development of carbon dioxide capture, removal, and sequestration projects throughout the state. The bill would authorize the state board, by January 1, 2024, to adopt protocols to support additional methods of utilization or storage of captured carbon dioxide. The bill would require the state board, no later than January 1, 2025, to adopt regulations for financial responsibility for carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration projects, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the state board, to publish a framework by July 1, 2025, for governing agreements regarding 2 or more tracts of land overlying the same geologic storage reservoir or reservoirs for purposes of managing, developing, and operating a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project, as provided. This bill would provide that title to any geologic storage reservoir is vested in the owner of the overlying surface estate unless it has been severed and separately conveyed and would establish certain requirements with regard to the conveyance of the ownership interest of a geologic storage reservoir. No less than 60 days before commencing development of a carbon dioxide capture, removal, and sequestration project, the bill would require the carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project operator to provide written notice of the project to each owner of a surface, subsurface, or storage reservoir estate that is adjacent to a geologic storage complex or a geologic storage reservoir that is included in the project. The bill would repeal the provisions described in this paragraph on a specified date. This bill would require a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project operator, among other things, (1) to maintain financial responsibility for a specified period of time, (2) to show proof to the state board that there is binding agreement among relevant parties that drilling or extraction that may penetrate the geologic storage reservoir are prohibited for at least 100 years after the last date of injection of carbon dioxide into a geologic storage reservoir, and (3) to create an air monitoring and mitigation plan and to submit the plan to the state board. This bill would authorize the state board to require changes in operations of a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project to ensure public and environmental health and safety if the monitoring and reporting detects increased seismicity or carbon dioxide leakage outside the geologic storage reservoir. This bill would require the California Geological Survey to establish the Geologic Carbon Sequestration Group to provide independent expertise and regulatory guidance to the state board. The bill would establish certain of the group's duties, including identifying high-quality, suitable locations of a class of carbon dioxide injection wells. Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities attendant to oil and gas production. The federal Safe Drinking Water Act regulates certain wells as Class II injection wells. Under existing federal law, the authority to regulate Class II injection wells is delegated to the Geologic Energy Management Division. Under existing regulations, a well operator is required to obtain approval from the supervisor or a district deputy for a subsurface injection or disposal project, including Class II injection wells, and is required to file a notice of intention whenever a new well is to be drilled for use as an injection well or whenever an existing well is converted to an injection well. This bill would prohibit an operator from injecting a concentrated carbon dioxide fluid produced by a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project into a Class II injection well for purposes of enhanced oil recovery, including the facilitation of enhanced oil recovery from another well. Under existing law, a person who fails to comply with specified requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. Because a violation of the prohibition specified in this bill 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. This bill would make its operation contingent on the enactment of AB 1279 of the 2021–22 Regular Session, as provided.

Signed into law Sep 16, 2022 1 co-sponsor
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