Existing law establishes the Ocean Protection Council in state government to, among other things, establish policies to coordinate the collection, evaluation, and sharing of scientific data related to coastal and ocean resources among agencies. Existing law requires the council to develop and implement a voluntary sustainable seafood promotion program for the state, to consist of specified components, including a competitive grant and loan program for eligible entities, including, but not limited to, fishery groups and associations, for the purpose of assisting California fisheries in qualifying for certification to internationally accepted standards for sustainable seafood.This bill would: 1) subject to the availability of funding, require the council to participate as a stakeholder, and in an advisory capacity, to the Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program with air pollution control districts and air quality management districts along the coast and other stakeholders to support, in an advisory capacity, coastal air districts in their efforts to implement a statewide voluntary vessel speed reduction and sustainable shipping program for the California coast in order to reduce air pollution, the risk of fatal vessel strikes on whales, and harmful underwater acoustic impacts, 2) authorize the expansion of the existing Protecting Blue Whales and Blue Skies Program to include specified components, including incentives to program participants based on a percentage of distance traveled by a participating vessel at a reduced speed, as provided, 3) limit application of the program to vessels that are 300 gross tons or greater, and 4) require the participating air pollution control districts and air quality management districts, on or before December 31, 2029, to submit a report to the Legislature regarding the implementation of the program.
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 under specified circumstances.This bill would: 1) require the state board to complete a rulemaking on or before July 1, 2025, to adopt specifications for blends of gasoline containing 10.5% to 15% ethanol by volume for use as a transportation fuel, 2) if the state board does not complete the rulemaking on or before that date, require that blends of gasoline containing 10.5% to 15% ethanol by volume be treated as approved by the state board and authorize them to be sold in the state as a transportation fuel, and 3) declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt rules and regulations relating to vehicular emissions standards, as specified, that will achieve the ambient air quality standards required by federal law in conjunction with other measures adopted by the state board, air pollution control and air quality management districts, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Existing law requires the state board to adopt and enforce rules and regulations that anticipate the development of new technologies or the improvement of existing technologies if necessary to carry out its duty.This bill would: 1) prohibit the state board from adopting any standard, regulation, or rule under this authority until the Legislative Analyst has analyzed the cost to the consumer of the proposed standard, regulation, or rule and submitted its analysis to the Legislature.
Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for the preparation of the state implementation plan required by the Clean Air Act, and requires the state board to adopt standards, rules, and regulations that are consistent with the state goal of providing a decent home and suitable living environment for every Californian.This bill would: 1) require the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, before adopting or amending a regulation that imposes costs on gasoline refiners, distributors, or retailers, to make available to the public, including on its internet website, an estimate of the impact on retail gasoline prices due to the proposed new regulation or the existing regulation and the proposed amendments to that regulation, and 2) require the estimate to include a maximum estimated impact on retail gasoline prices that assumes the maximum possible cost imposed, as specified, and that all costs are passed on to consumers.
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 Fuel Standard regulations.This bill would: 1) void specified amendments to the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard regulations adopted by the state board on November 8, 2024.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, on or before January 1, 2024, and every 3 years thereafter, to submit an assessment related to transportation fuels to the Legislature, as specified.This bill would: 1) require the commission, beginning with the first assessment submitted after January 1, 2025, to propose recommendations for implementing solutions to mitigate any impacts described in the assessment, 2) authorize the commission to request information from the State Air Resources Board, the Geologic Energy Management Division, and other relevant state agencies in preparing the recommendations and the assessment, and 3) require those entities to provide information the commission deems necessary.
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: 1) until January 1, 2032, exempt from CEQA egress route projects undertaken by a public agency to improve emergency access to and evacuation from a subdivision without a secondary egress route if the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection has recommended the creation of a secondary access to the subdivision and certain conditions are met, 2) require the lead agency to hold a noticed public meeting to hear and respond to public comments before determining that a project is exempt, and 3) require the lead agency, if it determines that a project is not subject to CEQA and approves or carries out that project, to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and with the clerk of the county in which the project will be located.
I) 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 exempts from its requirements certain residential, employment center, and mixed-use development projects meeting specified criteria, including that the project is located in a transit priority area and that the project is undertaken and is consistent with a specific plan for which an environmental impact report has been certified.This bill would: 1) additionally exempt those projects located in a very low vehicle travel area, as defined, 2) require that the project is undertaken and is consistent with either a specific plan prepared pursuant to specific provisions of law or a community plan, as defined, for which an EIR has been certified within the preceding 15 years in order to be exempt, 3) additionally require the project site to have been previously developed or to be a vacant site meeting certain requirements.II) CEQA exempts from its requirements agricultural employee housing projects, affordable housing projects, and housing projects on infill sites that meet certain requirements, including, among others, the site is not located within the boundaries of a state conservancy. CEQA prohibits those exempt projects from being located in certain areas.This bill would: 4) allow the location of agricultural employee housing projects, affordable housing projects, and housing projects on infill sites to be located within the boundaries of a state conservancy in order to be exempt, 5) revise and recast the areas in which those exempt projects cannot be located, as provided.III) CEQA exempts from its requirements residential projects on infill sites that meet certain requirements, including, among others, that the location of the residential project on an infill site is no more than 4 acres and that the project is located within 1/2 mile of a major transit stop.This bill would: 6) instead would require that the location of a residential project on an infill site be no more than 5 acres, 7) additionally exempt those residential projects located in a very low vehicle travel area, as defineIV) CEQA exempts from its requirements a transit priority project meeting certain requirements and that is declared by a legislative body to be a sustainable communities project. CEQA prohibits a transit priority project declared to be a sustainable communities project from being located in certain areas and requires the project to be within 1/2 mile of a rail transit station or a ferry terminal included in a regional transportation plan or within 1/4 mile of a high-quality transit corridor included in a regional transportation plan.This bill would 8) revise and recast the areas in which the transit priority project declared to be a sustainable communities project cannot be located, as provide, 9) additionally authorize the transit priority project declared to be a sustainable community project if the project is located within a very low vehicle travel area, as defined, 10) additionally require the site for the transit priority project to have been previously developed or to be a vacant lot meeting certain requirements, and 11) require a lead agency approving a project that is exempt from CEQA under the provisions described in paragraphs (I), (III), and (IV) above to file with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation a notice of exemption.
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. CEQA requires the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation, formerly named the Office of Planning and Research, to prepare and develop, and the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to certify and adopt, guidelines for the implementation of CEQA. The CEQA guidelines require a lead agency, immediately after deciding that an environmental impact report is required for a project, to send a notice of preparation stating that an environmental impact report will be prepared to the office and each responsible and trustee agency, as specified.This bill would: 1) require the office to conduct a study to, among other things, evaluate how locked-in guidelines could impact regulatory certainty for project proponents, lead agencies, and stakeholders and assess how locked-in guidelines could affect the speed and efficiency of the environmental review process pursuant to CEQA, 2) define “locked-in guidelines” as CEQA guidelines, that are in effect at the time of the first issuance of the notice of preparation for a project, that apply to the project throughout the course of the environmental review process pursuant to CEQA, regardless of changes in the guidelines that occur after the first issuance of the notice of preparation, 3) require, on or before January 1, 2027, the office to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the study, and 4) repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028.
Existing law provides for the establishment of a 5-member Electricity Oversight Board to perform specified functions, including overseeing the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange and to investigate any matter related to the wholesale market for electricity to ensure that the interests of California’s citizens and consumers are served, protected, and represented in relation to the availability of electrical transmission and generation and related costs during periods of peak demand. Existing law provides that the membership of the board consists of 3 voting members, to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by the Senate, and 2 nonvoting members, one a member of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and the other a member of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.This bill would: 1) add to the board 2 more nonvoting legislative members, a 2nd member of the Assembly, appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly, and a 2nd member of the Senate, appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
I) Existing law provides for the establishment of 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, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, provides for the transformation of the ISO into a regional organization, with the approval of the Legislature, pursuant to a specified process. That process provides that modifications to the ISO’s governance structure, through changes to its bylaws or other corporate governance documents, will not become effective until the ISO, the Public Utilities Commission, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the State Air Resources Board (state board), the Governor, and the Legislature take specified actions on or before January 1, 2019.This bill would: 1) delete the above-described provisions providing for the transformation of the ISO into a regional organization, 2) authorize the ISO and the electrical corporations that are participating transmission owners whose transmission systems are operated by the ISO, in lieu of the ISO managing related energy markets, as provided, to use energy markets governed by an independent regional organization, provided that specified requirements are satisfied, 3) authorize the ISO, on or after January 1, 2027, to implement tariff modifications accepted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the energy markets whose rules are governed by an independent regional organization if the governing board of the ISO adopts a resolution, as specified, finding that each of the specified conditions have been, or will be, adopted by the independent regional organization, 4) require the ISO to maintain the necessary technical capability to operate energy markets, as specified, and would require the ISO to continue its functions and responsibilities as a balancing authority, as provided.II) Existing law requires the Power Exchange to provide an efficient competitive auction, open on a nondiscriminatory basis to all suppliers, that meets the loads of all exchange customers at efficient prices, and authorizes the Power Exchange governing board to form appropriate technical advisory committees composed of market and nonmarket participants to advise the governing board on relevant issues.This bill would: 5) delete these provisions.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission to annually prepare a written report on the costs of programs and activities conducted by certain electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the report to identify specified information, including, among other information, each program mandated by statute or by the commission and its annual cost to ratepayers. Existing law requires the commission to complete the report on an annual basis before April 1 of each year, and to submit the report to the Governor and the Legislature on an annual basis no later than April 1 of each year.This bill would: 1) require the commission to instead complete and submit the above-described report on a biannual basis.
Existing law requires the Department of the California Highway Patrol to regulate the safe operation of certain vehicles, including, but not limited to, motortrucks of 3 or more axles that are more than 10,000 pounds gross vehicle weight rating, truck tractors, and specified other motortrucks regulated by the department, the Department of Consumer Affairs, or the United States Secretary of Transportation. Existing law establishes the Office of Emergency Services within the office of the Governor and requires the office to be responsible for the state’s emergency and disaster response services for natural, technological, or manmade disasters and emergencies.This bill would: 1) require the Office of Emergency Services, on or before January 1, 2027, to develop and post on its internet website an action plan for responding to electric commercial motor vehicle battery fires that covers specified topics, including best practices for reducing wildfire risk and mitigating the risk of battery reignition, 2) require the office, in developing the action plan, to consult with certain stakeholders, including the Department of the California Highway Patrol, electric truck manufacturers, and labor organizations.
The California Constitution declares that the general welfare requires that the water resources of the state be put to beneficial use to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and that the waste or unreasonable use or unreasonable method of use of water be prevented.This bill would: 1) express the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that would maintain water and energy efficiency to the extent that new technology, including, but not limited to, artificial intelligence, increases the demands on already limited resources.
Existing law, the Planning and Zoning Law, requires a city or county to adopt a comprehensive general plan for the city’s or county’s physical development that includes various elements, including, among others, a land use element that designates the proposed general distribution and general location and extent of the uses of the land in specified categories, and a circulation element that identifies the location and extent of existing and proposed major thoroughfares, transportation routes, terminals, any military airports and ports, and other local public utilities and facilities, as specified.This bill, the Local Electrification Planning Act, would: 1) require each city, county, or city and county, on or after January 1, 2027, but no later than January 1, 2030, to prepare and adopt a specified plan, or integrate a plan in the next adoption or revision of the general plan, that includes locally based goals, objectives, policies, and feasible implementation measures that include, among other things, the identification of opportunities to expand electric vehicle charging, as specified, and includes policies and implementation measures that address the needs of disadvantaged communities, low-income households, and small businesses for equitable and prioritized investments in zero-emission technologies that directly benefit these groups, 2) for these purposes, authorize a city, county, or city and county to incorporate by reference into the general plan a previously adopted similar plan that meets the above-described requirements, as specified. By increasing the duties of local public officials, the bill would establish a state-mandated local program, 3) deem a plan adopted pursuant to these provisions as a regional plan for specified purposes, 4) require that the above-described provisions only apply to a city, county, or city and county with a population greater than 75,000 residents. The bill would define terms for these purposes, and 5) will would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, at least every 2 years, to conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. Existing law authorizes the commission to require the submission of demand forecasts from electrical utilities, among other entities, to perform its assessments and forecasts.This bill would: 1) state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would require the commission to develop a set of technical guidance and load modification protocols to enable the state to reduce or modify its electrical demand forecast to improve grid reliability, as provided.
I) Existing law, on or before January 1, 2026, and before each time thereafter that a generative artificial intelligence system or service, as defined, or a substantial modification to a generative artificial intelligence system or service, released on or after January 1, 2022, is made available to Californians for use, regardless of whether the terms of that use include compensation, requires a developer of the system or service to post on the developer’s internet website documentation regarding the data used to train the generative artificial intelligence system or service.This bill would: 1) require a data center that provides computing resources to a developer for the purpose of developing a covered model, as defined, to estimate the total energy used to develop the covered model and to report that information to the developer, as specified, 2) require a developer, before using the computing resources of a data center to develop a covered model, to inform the data center of the developer’s intent to develop a covered model, 3) require a developer, before using a covered model or covered system commercially or making a covered model or covered system available for use by a third party, to request its energy usage data from all data centers involved in developing the covered model and to estimate and publish on its internet website the total energy used to develop the covered model, as specified.II) Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to biennially adopt an integrated energy policy report, as specified, and to make the reports accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public.This bill would: 4) require the Energy Commission to require operators of data centers to annually report energy consumption and performance data, as specified, 5) require the Energy Commission to include energy consumption trends for data centers in its integrated energy policy reports, 6) require the Energy Commission to adopt energy efficiency performance standards, as described, for data centers, 7) require the Energy Commission to adopt regulations to implement these requirements on or before January 1, 2027.III) Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.This bill would: 8) require the PUC to determine whether those costs and expenses in an application by an electrical corporation to recover costs and expenses arising from, or incurred as a result of, the construction of a new data center or a substantial alteration to an existing data center are just and reasonable, and 9) require the PUC to minimize the shifting of costs attributable to the construction or alteration of the data center to ratepayers who do not directly benefit from the data center.
The California Integrated Waste Management Act of 1989 generally regulates solid waste disposal, management, and recycling. The act requires each city, county, and regional agency to develop a source reduction and recycling element of an integrated waste management plan. The act requires that element to include a 50% solid waste diversion requirement, as specified, and provides that up to 10% may be achieved through biomass conversion under certain conditions, with biomass conversion defined as the production of heat, fuels, or electricity by certain means from specified materials. One of the conditions for using biomass conversion to satisfy a portion of the solid waste diversion requirement is that pyrolysis not be included in the source reduction and recycling element. Pyrolysis is not defined for that purpose or for other purposes in the act.This bill would: 1) define pyrolysis as the thermal decomposition of material at elevated temperatures in the absence or near absence of oxygen.
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 and requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act, until January 1, 2031, authorizes the state board to adopt a regulation establishing a system of market-based declining aggregate emissions limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gases (market-based compliance mechanism) that meets certain requirements. Pursuant to this authority, the state board adopted the California Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Program.This bill would: 1) state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to reauthorize the California Greenhouse Gas Cap-and-Trade Program.
I) Existing law, the Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act of 1980, requires refiners, as described, to report monthly to the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), for each of their refineries, specified information, including the origin of petroleum receipts and the source of imports of finished petroleum products.This bill would: 1) express the intent of the Legislature that the Energy Commission monitor foreign countries that export oil to California and identify on its internet website which of those countries have demonstrated human rights abuses, as documented by the United States Department of State, and which of those countries have lower environmental standards for the production of oil than California.II) Existing law imposes various limitations on the emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to post on its internet website information on air quality conditions and trends statewide and to develop and conduct a program of monitoring airborne fine particles smaller than 2.5 microns in diameter (PM 2.5).This bill would: 2) require the state board to annually produce an assessment of the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the transportation of oil in California, as specified, and to include that assessment on the state board’s internet website, 3) also require the Energy Commission to annually provide data collected pursuant to the Petroleum Industry Information Reporting Act of 1980 to the state board for the purposes of the assessment, 4) require the data to comply with specified existing confidentiality requirements, 5) prohibit the commission from using any funds from electric ratepayers to implement these requirements, as provided.III) Under existing law, the Geologic Energy Management Division in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state.This bill would: 6) require the division to provide a link on its internet website to air quality emissions data associated with the transportation of oil imported into the state.IV) Existing law vests the Energy Commission with various responsibilities for developing and implementing the state’s energy policies.This bill would: 7) require the Energy Commission to prominently display on the front page of its internet website a report on the air quality impact of potentially importing 5% to 10% of the state’s gasoline supply using tanker ships and a report describing the refinery storage costs as determined by the Energy Commission, as specified, 8) also require a report produced by the Energy Commission estimating gasoline price breakdowns and margins to include the cost of shipping oil, and 9) prohibit the commission from using any funds from electric ratepayers to implement these requirements.
Existing law establishes the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation in the Governor’s office for the purpose of serving the Governor and the Governor’s cabinet as staff for long-range planning and research and constituting the comprehensive state planning agency. Existing law authorizes a local agency to finance infrastructure projects through various means, including by establishing an enhanced infrastructure financing district to finance public capital facilities or other specified projects of communitywide significance that provide significant benefits to the district or the surrounding community.This bill would: 1) require the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to establish the Infrastructure Gap-Fund Program to provide grants to local agencies to develop and construct infrastructure projects, as defined, 2) authorize the office to provide funding for up to 20% of a project’s total cost, subject to specified requirements, including, among other things, that the local agency provides funding that has been raised through local taxes for at least 10% of the infrastructure project’s total cost, 3) require the office to develop guidelines to implement the program that establish the criteria by which grant applications will be evaluated and funded, and 4) make these provisions operative on January 1, 2030.
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, as provided, 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 Fuel Standard, or regulations.This bill would: 1) state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that would, among other things, require the board to revise the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard program, as provided, and 2) make related findings and declarations.
Existing law authorizes the State Air Resources Board to establish a system of market-based declining annual aggregate emissions limits for sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gases that is applicable from January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2030, inclusive, and that meets certain requirements (market-based compliance mechanism).This bill would: 1) state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to reform, and extend the operation of, the market-based compliance mechanism.
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: 1) provide for limited CEQA review of an application for a discretionary permit or authorization for a clean hydrogen transportation project, as defined, by requiring the application to be reviewed through a clean hydrogen environmental assessment, unless otherwise requested by the applicant, as prescribed, 2) except as provided, require the lead agency to determine whether to approve the clean hydrogen environmental assessment and issue a discretionary permit or authorization for the project no later than 270 days after the application for the project is deemed complete, 3) require an action or proceeding brought to attack, review, set aside, void, or annul the approval of a clean hydrogen environmental assessment or the issuance of a discretionary permit or authorization for a clean hydrogen transportation project, including any potential appeals to the court of appeal or the Supreme Court, to be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 days of the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. By imposing new duties on a lead agency, this bill would create a state-mandated local program, and 4) repeal these provisions on January 1, 2036.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. An existing commission order requires the commission to investigate the causes and impacts of the winter 2022–2023 natural gas price spikes and the potential for recurrence, the impact of the price spikes on natural gas and electricity prices and customer bills, the potential threats to gas and electrical reliability and price volatility in summer 2023 and beyond, potential mitigations, and utility communications to customers to determine whether they were sufficient or require modifications.This bill would: 1) require the commission, on or before February 1, 2026, to submit a report to the relevant legislative policy committees of the Legislature on the status, outcomes, and recommendations of the commission order described above and the status and any findings of any related investigations by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission. Existing law requires major oil producers, refiners, marketers, oil transporters, oil storers, pipeline operators, and ports to annually submit certain information to the commission.This bill would: 1) state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation that would require the commission, based on data collected on crude deliveries, to determine if crude pipeline deliveries to refineries are reaching minimum throughput levels that would cause a shutdown of those pipelines, and, if the commission determines that there is a sufficient danger to the operation of a pipeline that could cause it to shut down, to provide notice to the Governor and the Legislature of potential gasoline supply disruptions.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. The Public Advocate’s Office of the Public Utilities Commission is established as an independent office within the commission to represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of public utility customers and subscribers within the jurisdiction of the commission.This bill would: 1) require the office to establish, by January 1, 2027, a program to, upon request of the Legislature, analyze legislation that would establish a mandated requirement or program or otherwise affect electrical or gas ratepayers, as specified, 2) require the office to develop and implement conflict-of-interest provisions that would prohibit a person from participating in an analysis for which the person knows or has reasons to know that the person has a material financial interest, 3) establish the Energy Programs Benefit Fund in the State Treasury and continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the office to support the work of the office in providing that analyses, and 4) repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.This bill would: 1) prohibit an electrical corporation from proposing, and the commission from approving, a rate increase above the rate of inflation, unless the rate increase is approved by a majority of the electrical corporation’s customers voting in an election conducted according to specified requirements, and except when the commission determines that the costs underlying the rate increase are directly related to safety enhancements and modernization or to higher commodity or fuel costs.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.This bill would: 1) require the commission to reduce the kilowatt-per-hour rate for electricity charged to ratepayers by not less than 30%.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations.This bill would: 1) express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to the oversight of electrical corporations and gas corporations.
Existing law requires, on or before December 31, 2026, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to develop a framework for assessing, tracking, and analyzing total annual energy costs paid by residential households, as specified, and requires the PUC to submit a report to the Legislature containing the framework. Existing law authorizes the PUC to use the framework for purposes of evaluating any request by an electrical corporation and gas corporation to track new spending eligible for recovery or to adjust a revenue requirement. Existing law requires the PUC, in evaluating the request, to consider whether the electrical corporation and gas corporation should take additional actions to achieve certain reductions in total annual energy costs specified in the framework.This bill would: 1) require the PUC to submit an update to that report to the Legislature every two years following the initial submission, providing an evaluation of the implementation and impact of the framework, and the usage of the framework, identifying the specific requests by an electrical corporation or gas corporation for which the framework was employed by the PUC in evaluating the requests.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to identify a separate rate component to fund certain programs that enhance system reliability and provide in-state benefits, and requires that the rate component be a nonbypassable element of the local distribution service.This bill would: 1) require the commission, through a new or existing proceeding, to develop optional dynamic rate tariffs applicable to each large electrical corporation for the large electrical corporation’s commercial and industrial customers on or before July 1, 2028, and for its other customers, including residential customers, on or before July 1, 2030, 2) require each optional dynamic rate tariff to include, at minimum, specified components, including dynamic transmission and distribution rates that reflect real-time grid conditions and certain nonbypassable charges, as specified, and 3) require the commission to ensure, among other things, any overcollection of a generation-related revenue requirement from participating bundled customers is returned to the participating bundled customers and any undercollection of a generation-related revenue requirement is borne by those same customers.
Existing law requires all charges demanded or received by a public utility for a product or commodity furnished or to be furnished or a service rendered or to be rendered to be just and reasonable. Existing law, except as provided, prohibits a public utility from changing a rate unless there is a showing before the Public Utilities Commission and a finding by the commission that the new rate is justified.This bill would: 1) prohibit the commission from placing the consideration of an application from an electrical corporation for a rate increase on its consent calendar, and 2) except as provided, require the commission to provide a public comment period for the application of not less than 30 minutes at the hearing considering the application.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires each electrical corporation and gas corporation to disclose on the billing statement of a residential customer certain information, including itemized components in the bill to identify state and local taxes, identification of delivery, generation, public purpose, and other charges, and the contact information for the commission’s Consumer Affairs Branch.This bill would: 1) require each public utility to provide to its customers information on the additional costs that are attributable to state requirements or programs, including those imposed by statute, regulation, the commission, or the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and 2) require this information to be provided quarterly on the customer billing statement in a visible area and in a similar size and font as the billing information.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to supervise and regulate every public utility in the state, including electrical corporations, and to fix just and reasonable rates and charges for each public utility.This bill would: 1) declare the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to establish policies to reform the regulation of electricity rates for residential customers.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law authorizes the commission to require or authorize an electrical corporation to employ default time-of-use rates to residential customers, subject to specified limitations and conditions. Existing law prohibits a residential customer from being subject to a default time-of-use rate schedule unless that residential customer has been provided with not less than one year of interval usage data from an advanced meter and associated customer education and, following the passage of this period, is provided with no less than one year of bill protection during which the total amount paid by the residential customer for electric service shall not exceed the amount that would have been payable by the residential customer under that customer’s previous rate schedule.This bill would: 1) require that the customer be provided with no less than 2 years, instead of one year, of bill protection during which the total amount paid by the residential customer for electric service is prohibited from exceeding the amount that would have been payable by the residential customer under that customer’s previous rate schedule.
I) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) with various responsibilities for developing and implementing the state’s energy policies.This bill would: 1) require the Energy Commission, in coordination with the public advisor and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), on or before March 31, 2026, to issue a request for proposals for a team to develop a study, 2) require the study to (1) conduct a historical energy justice assessment of the investor-owned utility’s (IOU) operations and impacts, (2) complete a comparative analysis of the benefits and challenges of transitioning the IOUs to a successor entity in order to identify a recommended model, and, (3) if the study finds that it is in the best long-term interests of the people and ecologies of California to transition away from an investor-owned utility model, create a justice-centered implementation plan for managing the transition, 3) require the Energy Commission, on or before June 30, 2026, to select the study team that is awarded the contract, 4) require the Energy Commission to hold a public proceeding and submit a report of the study team’s findings and recommendations to the Legislature no later than 24 months after selecting the study team for the feasibility portion of the study, and no later than 36 months after selecting the study team for the implementation plan portion of the study, as specified, 5) require the Energy Commission to require the study team to select and convene an advisory council by December 31, 2026, to participate in the study of the vision for a new energy system, as provided. Upon completion of the first 2 study components, the bill would require the study team, in consultation with the advisory council, to provide a recommendation for a particular successor entity type to the Energy Commission, as provided, 6) require the Energy Commission to vote to approve the study and recommended successor entity on or before September 30, 2028, 7) upon approval by the Energy Commission, require the study team to begin work to create a justice-centered implementation plan, 8) require the Energy Commission to vote to approve the implementation plan no later than October 31, 2029.II) Existing law vests the PUC with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, while local publicly owned utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation, gas corporation, or water corporation from terminating a customer’s residential service for nonpayment of a delinquent account in certain circumstances, including, among other circumstances, unless the corporation first gives notice to the customer of the delinquency and impending termination, during the pendency of an investigation by the corporation of the customer’s dispute or complaint, or when the customer has been granted an extension of the period for payment of a bill.This bill would: 9) among other things, prohibit a utility, including an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, gas corporation, and local publicly owned gas utility, from disconnecting a customer’s residential service for nonpayment if the customer has a household income at or below 200% of the federal poverty line, 10) prohibit a utility from disconnecting a customer’s residential service for nonpayment if the customer’s household is the residence of certain persons, including, among other persons, a person who is pregnant or 0 to 12 weeks postpartum, 11) require the commission to establish a citation program to impose a penalty on an electrical corporation or gas corporation that violates the above-described prohibitions, 12) lso authorize the commission, a customer, or a member of the customer’s household to bring an action in state court for equitable relief regarding a utility’s or community choice aggregator’s use of any method, act, or practice inconsistent with the above-described provisions, 13) require a utility to offer a residential customer who meets the above-described requirements a payment plan for the customer’s electrical and gas service that includes a percentage of income payment plan, as specified, 14) require each utility providing electrical service or gas service, or both, to residential customers to collect and submit to the commission monthly data on electrical and gas service terminations, reconnections, bill assistance and payment agreements, arrears, and created and broken payment plans, as provided.III) Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from recovering from ratepayers an annual salary, bonus, benefit, or other consideration of any value paid to an officer of the electrical corporation, and requires that compensation to instead be funded solely by shareholders of the electrical corporation.This bill would: 15) require each electrical corporation, on or before April 1, 2026, to submit a proposed executive compensation structure to the PUC that is structured to promote safety as a priority and to ensure public safety through performance metrics, as provided.IV) Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.This bill would: 16) prohibit, for proposed rate increases subject to PUC approval and a finding that the new rate is just and reasonable, an electrical corporation from proposing a compounded annual rate increase on residential customers above the increase in the Consumer Price Index, 17) prohibit, for proposed rate increases not subject to PUC approval and a finding that the new rate is just and reasonable, an electrical corporation from proposing more than one rate increase per year, as provided.V) 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 ensure that 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 adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions. The state board is authorized to include market-based compliance mechanisms to comply with the regulations. The implementing regulations adopted by the state board provide for the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to electrical corporations pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism. Existing law authorizes the PUC to allocate 15% of the revenues received by the electrical corporations from that allocation of allowances for clean energy and energy efficiency projects established pursuant to statute that are administered by electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to direct the balance of the revenues to be credited directly to the residential, small business, and emissions-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporations, as specified.This bill would: 18) beginning with the fiscal year commencing July 1, 2026, and ending with the fiscal year ending June 30, 2036, require the PUC to annually allocate $100,000,000 of the revenues received by the electrical corporations from that allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to the Transformative Climate Communities Program and to the Community Resilience Center Program, as specified, 19) require those allocations for the Transformative Climate Communities Program and Community Resilience Center Program to benefit disadvantaged communities in census tracts that are the most vulnerable to climate disaster, as specified.VI) Existing law establishes the Wildfire Fund to pay eligible claims arising from a covered wildfire, as provided. Existing law requires the PUC to initiate a rulemaking proceeding to consider using its existing authority to require certain electrical corporations to collect a nonbypassable charge from its ratepayers to support the Wildfire Fund, and requires the PUC to direct those electrical corporations to collect that charge if the PUC determines that the imposition of the charge is just and reasonable and that it is an appropriate exercise of its authority, as specified.This bill would: 20) require the PUC to revise the above-described rulemaking proceeding to reduce the charge imposed on ratepayers to an amount equal to 5% of the costs to support the fund, and require each electrical corporation to contribute the remaining 95% of the costs to support the fund.VII) Existing law establishes procedures under which electrical corporations are required to reimburse the Wildfire Fund for amounts disallowed by the PUC for recovery from ratepayers. Existing law requires an electrical corporation to reimburse the fund for the full amount of costs and expenses the PUC determined were disallowed, except as provided. Under existing law those exceptions do not apply if the administrator determines that the electrical corporation’s actions or inactions that resulted in the covered wildfire constituted conscious or willful disregard of the rights and safety of others.This bill would: 21) provide that, for those purposes, evidence that an electrical corporation’s action were prudent includes common sense best practices such as conducting annual audits and replacing equipment that has outlived its usable life and deenergizing the electrical grid under threatening conditions.VIII) Existing law requires each electrical corporation to construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.This bill would: 22) require each electrical corporation to annually contract with an independent and reputable third party to audit all of the electrical corporation’s equipment and electrical lines and identify any equipment or electrical lines that have outlived their useful life, 23) equire the audit to be completed on or before June 30, 2026, and by June 30 of each year thereafter and submitted to the PUC on or before August 31, of each year, 24) require an electrical corporation to replace any equipment or electrical lines identified by the third-party auditor that are located in a high fire risk area within 5 years, as provided, 25) require the PUC to assess fines on an electrical corporation that fails to comply with these provisions, as specified.IX) Existing law requires the PUC to establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program and provides that only large electrical corporations may participate in the program.This bill would: 26) instead require all large electrical corporations to participate in the program, 27) also require an electrical corporation, after an emergency or disaster in which its electrical infrastructure was destroyed, to rebuild the destroyed electrical infrastructure using undergrounding methods, to the extent applicable, and 28) prohibit the cost of undergrounding the electrical infrastructure from being recovered from ratepayers.
Existing law authorizes the Public Utilities Commission to fix the rates and charges for public utilities and requires those rates and charges to be just and reasonable.This bill would: 1) require the commission to prioritize the gathering, analysis, and independent verification of utility data used to justify general rate case proposals to ensure the cost-effective use of ratepayer funds for capital investments in electrical distribution and transmission grid infrastructure and the operation and maintenance of that infrastructure.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law prohibits an electrical or gas corporation from disconnecting service for nonpayment by a residential customer receiving a medical baseline allowance, financially unable to pay for service within the normal payment period, willing to enter into an amortization agreement with the corporation with respect to all charges that the customer is unable to pay, and meets certain other requirements.This bill would: 1) prohibit an electrical or gas corporation from disconnecting service of a customer who meets certain criteria, including making a hardship request based on certain circumstances, as provided, 2) require the corporation to grant that customer a 6-month deferment for any and all payments due from the date that the deferment is granted, 3) upon the expiration of the deferment period, require the corporation to enroll the customer into its arrearage management program for any and all debts on the customer’s account, and 4) authorize the commission to adopt rules to implement these provisions.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to administer various programs, such as the Electric Program Investment Charge program, that are funded by a charge on electrical ratepayers. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to require electrical corporations to implement various programs, such as energy efficiency programs, that are funded by electrical ratepayers. Under its authority, the Governor has issued an executive order directing the Energy Commission and the PUC to examine electrical ratepayer-funded programs under their respective jurisdictions and to identify programs and regulations that may be unduly adding to electricity rates for which the benefits provided may not be justified by the costs imposed on electrical ratepayers. The executive order requires those 2 commissions to report back to the Governor by January 1, 2025.This bill would: 1) require the Energy Commission and the PUC, by July 1, 2025, to each submit to the Legislature a report containing certain information required by the executive order, and 2) declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission to implement and enforce standards for the maintenance and operation of facilities for the generation and storage of electricity owned by an electrical corporation or located in the state to ensure their reliable operation.This bill would: 1) state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of California’s electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, the Independent System Operator, and the State Air Resources Board, on or before December 31, 2023, to submit to the Legislature an assessment of the firm zero-carbon resources that support a clean, reliable, and resilient electrical grid in California and will achieve 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, as specified.This bill would: 1) state that it is the intent of the legislature to enact future legislation to support the deployment of firm zero-carbon energy resources in order to enhance local reliability, improve grid resilience, and reduce ongoing ratepayer costs.
Existing law authorizes the formation of reclamation districts by owners of swamp and overflowed lands, salt-marsh, or tidelands, or other lands subject to flood or overflow, and by owners of land already reclaimed, or in progress of reclamation, and not included in a reclamation district. Existing law authorizes Reclamation District No. 1004, in conjunction with the County of Colusa, to construct, maintain, and operate a plant, transmission lines, and other necessary or appropriate facilities for the generation of hydroelectric power, as prescribed. Existing law requires proceeds from the sale of electricity to be utilized to retire any time warrants issued for construction of the facilities and otherwise for the powers and purposes for which the district was formed. Existing law authorizes Reclamation District No. 108 to exercise this hydroelectric power authority until January 1, 2026.This bill would: 1) authorize Reclamation District No. 108 to continue to exercise the above-described hydroelectric power authority after January 1, 2026.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission, after a hearing, to require every public utility to construct, maintain, and operate its line, plant, system, equipment, apparatus, tracks, and premises in a manner so as to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employees, passengers, customers, and the public, and authorizes the commission to prescribe the installation, use, maintenance, and operation of appropriate safety or other devices or appliances.This bill, the Justin Kropp Safety Act, would: 1) require a public utility, and an independent contractor or subcontractor of the public utility, to have available at every worksite that has transmission or distribution lines of any voltage an automatic external defibrillator (AED) and require the public utility, and the independent contractor or subcontractor of the public utility, to comply with certain standards and ensure specified procedures are followed, and 2) provide an exemption from civil liability for a public utility, and an independent contractor or subcontractor of the public utility, or a person when the person renders emergency care or treatment through the use, attempted use, or nonuse of an AED, except in case of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct by the person rendering aid. By creating a new crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing board.This bill would: 1) require a utility, which includes a community choice aggregator, an electrical corporation, and a local publicly owned electric utility, to develop and implement a system to notify a ratepayer of a power surge, as defined, 2) require the notification to be transmitted within 5 minutes of detecting a power surge and to include specified information, 3) also require a preemptive warning of a power surge, as provided, under specified circumstances, 4) require a utility to install and maintain equipment capable of detecting power surges and to submit quarterly reports to the commission regarding power surges, as provided, 5) require a utility to compensate a ratepayer for damages to electrical systems, appliances, or devices caused by a power surge if the power surge resulted from utility equipment failure or negligence, to process claims for compensation within 30 days of receipt, and to offer financial incentives or rebates for the installation of whole-house surge protection systems by ratepayers, 6) require the commission to adopt rules and regulations to implement these requirements and monitor compliance, authorize the commission to impose penalties for the failure to comply, and require the commission to submit a report to the Legislature by January 1 of each year regarding the implementation and effectiveness of power surge notifications and the impact of these requirements on reducing damages from power surges, and 7) require each utility to submit an implementation plan to the commission within 6 months of the effective date of the bill and to fully implement these requirements within 18 months of the effective date, and would authorize a utility to apply to the commission for approval to recover reasonable costs associated with complying with these requirements through rate adjustments.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to evaluate each customer renewable energy subscription program to determine if the program meets certain goals and determine whether it would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish a new tariff or program or modify an existing tariff or program to establish a community renewable energy program consistent with certain requirements, including a requirement that the program provides bill credits to subscribers based on the avoided costs of the program’s facilities, as provided. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has adopted a community renewable energy program.This bill would: 1) revise and recast the requirements for the customer renewable energy subscription program to, among other things, specify that the avoided costs include certain avoided cost values, 2) impose additional requirements that the program is required to meet, 3) require the PUC, on or before March 1, 2026, to modify the community renewable energy program to ensure the program meets the bill’s requirements or to adopt a new program and to adopt a final decision by September 1, 2026, and 4) require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to evaluate community solar and storage projects as a load-modifying resource so that those projects may be counted as a load-modifying resource.
Existing law makes an environmental leadership development project, as defined, that meets specified requirements and is certified by the Governor eligible for streamlined procedures under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Existing law authorizes persons proposing eligible facilities, including certain electrical transmission lines and electrical transmission projects, to file applications, on or before June 30, 2029, with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to certify sites and related facilities as environmental leadership development projects, as specified. Existing law makes a site and related facility certified by the Energy Commission as an environmental leadership development project subject to streamlined procedures under CEQA with no further action by the applicant or the Governor. Under existing law, the Energy Commission’s certification of sites and related facilities is in lieu of any permit, certificate, or similar document required by any state, local, or regional agency, or federal agency to the extent permitted by federal law, for the use of the sites and related facilities, and supersedes any applicable statute, ordinance, or regulation of any state, local, or regional agency, or federal agency to the extent permitted by federal law, except as specified.This bill would: 1) authorize the Governor to establish one or more pilot projects to develop, finance, or operate electrical transmission infrastructure that meet the specified criteria, including, among other things, that the transmission line is identified by the Independent System Operator in its transmission planning process as necessary to support clean energy generation to meet the state’s clean energy goals, 2) require the Governor to designate existing state agencies, local public agencies, tribal organizations, or joint powers authorities to implement the pilot projects, 3) authorize the pilot projects to develop, finance, operate, and maintain electrical transmission lines and all works, facilities, improvements, and property, or portions thereof, necessary or convenient for the conveyance of electricity, as specified, and 4) authorize the Governor to issue guidelines regarding application and certification of pilot projects.
Existing law establishes in the California Environmental Protection Agency the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, which administers various solid waste management and recycling programs.This bill would: 1) require the department to draft and submit a report to the Legislature, on or before January 1, 2028, relating to the in-state collection, recycling, reuse, and stockpiling for domestic consumption of precious metals, critical minerals, as defined, and other similar valuable materials as reasonably decided by the department, contained within products in the state, as specified, 2) require the department to provide opportunities for public input and to perform outreach to potentially interested parties, as specified, and 3) authorize the department to make recommendations to industries on the best practices for product design to optimize the ability to recycle precious metals, critical minerals, and other similar valuable materials at the product’s end of life.
Existing law generally regulates classes of insurance, including property and fire insurance. Existing law creates the Department of Insurance, headed by the Insurance Commissioner, and prescribes the department’s powers and duties. Existing department regulations prohibit an insurer from using a rating plan that does not take into account and reflect specified wildfire risk mitigation, including property-level building hardening measures.This bill would: 1) require the department, on or before January 1, 2030, and every 5 years thereafter, to consider whether or not to update its regulations to include additional building hardening measures for property-level mitigation efforts and community wide wildfire mitigation programs, and 2) as part of this consideration, require the department to consult with specified agencies to identify additional building hardening measures to consider, as well as to develop and implement a public participation process during the evaluation.
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: 1) 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.