AB 1436: State Air Resources Board: air pollution regulations: private fleets: exception. - California

06/22/26 - Amended Senate → AB1436 · 1 edit

MINOR

The changes between the Amended Senate version and the final enrolled version of AB 1436 are primarily formatting and layout differences, reflecting the transition from a formatted legislative document to a web-published bill text. No substantive policy changes were made. The bill continues to prohibit CARB from adopting or enforcing regulations that directly or indirectly compel compliance by private fleets until the state obtains a required waiver under the federal Clean Air Act.

TECHNICAL

Layout and formatting changes: removal of line numbers, reformatting of section headers, addition of web navigation elements (home, search, FAQ links), and restructuring of the document presentation. The substantive legal text of Section 43110 remains unchanged.

06/11/26 - Amended Senate → 06/22/26 - Amended Senate · 3 edits · Jun 22, 2026

MINOR

The June 22 amendment removes the Public Utilities Code Section 1711 outreach provision entirely, narrowing the bill to only the State Air Resources Board fleet regulation issue. It also strengthens the preemption language in new Section 43110 by explicitly tying the prohibition to federal Clean Air Act Section 209(a) preemption and specifying that authorization must come under Section 209(b). A new definitional subdivision broadens what counts as a 'private fleet' to include public utilities, special districts, local agencies, and state departments.

Scope change

The bill's scope narrowed by removing the PUC outreach amendment, leaving only the ARB fleet regulation preemption provision. Within that remaining provision, the definition of covered private fleets was broadened to include more types of public entities.

SCOPE

The amendment to Public Utilities Code Section 1711 (requiring the PUC Policy and Planning Division to study outreach efforts) is deleted entirely. The bill now only addresses air pollution regulation of private fleets.

REQUIREMENT

Section 43110(a) now explicitly states that the prohibition applies to fleets 'that would be preempted under Section 209(a) of the federal Clean Air Act' and changes the condition from a general 'unless the state has obtained a required waiver' to 'until the required waiver or authorization is obtained in accordance with Section 209(b),' making the federal preemption link and specific authorization mechanism explicit.

DEFINITION

A new subdivision (b) defines 'private fleets' more broadly, expanding beyond cities and counties to include public utilities, special districts, local agencies or districts, and any department, division, public corporation, or public agency of the State of California. This clarifies which entities' contractors and subcontractors are covered.

04/02/25 - Amended Assembly → 06/11/26 - Amended Senate · 7 edits · Jun 11, 2026

MODERATE

The Senate completely replaced the substance of AB 1436. The Assembly version focused on biomethane procurement targets for gas corporations and mandated rate recovery for interconnection investments by June 2026. The Senate version strips out all biomethane provisions and instead adds a new section to the Health and Safety Code that prohibits the State Air Resources Board from adopting or enforcing regulations that compel compliance by private fleets (including contractors of public entities) unless California has first obtained a waiver under Section 209 of the federal Clean Air Act. This effectively blocks CARB from extending zero-emission vehicle mandates like the Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation to private operators working with government agencies without federal authorization.

Scope change

The bill's scope was completely transformed. It shifted from regulating gas corporations' biomethane procurement and utility infrastructure investment (Public Utilities Code) to limiting the State Air Resources Board's regulatory authority over private vehicle fleets in the context of zero-emission mandates (Health and Safety Code). The only surviving provision is the repeal of an expired outreach study requirement in Section 1711.

SCOPE

All biomethane procurement target provisions (amendments to Public Utilities Code Section 651) were removed, including requirements for gas corporations and core transport agents to procure proportionate shares of biomethane annually.

New Section 43110 added to the Health and Safety Code prohibiting CARB from adopting or enforcing any regulation that directly or indirectly compels compliance by private fleets, including contractors and subcontractors of state or local entities, unless the state has obtained a required waiver under Section 209 of the federal Clean Air Act.

The bill's subject matter shifted entirely from energy/biomethane policy to air pollution regulation authority, changing the primary code affected from the Public Utilities Code to the Health and Safety Code.

FISCAL

The mandate requiring the Public Utilities Commission to allow recovery in rates of costs for biomethane interconnection investments by June 1, 2026 (Section 784.2) was removed entirely.

ENFORCEMENT

Any provision of a CARB regulation adopted in violation of the new Section 43110 is declared void and unenforceable.

REQUIREMENT

The state-mandated local program finding was removed. The Assembly version found a state-mandated local program existed because violations of commission actions implementing the bill would be crimes; the Senate version finds no such mandate exists.

TECHNICAL

Fiscal committee review changed from 'yes' to 'no', reflecting the removal of the rate recovery mandate that had triggered fiscal analysis.

03/24/25 - Amended Assembly → 04/02/25 - Amended Assembly · 3 edits · Apr 2, 2025

MINOR

AB 1436 was amended to add a new provision amending Public Utilities Code Section 1711, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to seek public participation before scoping non-adjudication proceedings and to demonstrate compliance in its initial scoping memo. The amendment also includes an expired sunset provision (January 1, 2020) for a study of other regulators' outreach efforts, effectively cleaning up obsolete language. The fiscal note was changed from 'yes' to 'no' for both the fiscal committee and state-mandated local program designations.

Scope change

The bill's scope expanded beyond biomethane procurement (Sections 651 and 784.2) to also cover general Public Utilities Commission procedural requirements for public participation in proceedings under Section 1711.

REQUIREMENT

New Section 1711(a) requires the Public Utilities Commission to seek participation of those likely to be affected by a proceeding (except adjudication cases) before determining its scope, and to document those efforts in the initial scoping memo.

TECHNICAL

New Section 1711(b)(1) requires the Policy and Planning Division to study outreach efforts by other state and federal utility regulatory bodies and make recommendations, but this provision carries a sunset date of January 1, 2020, making it effectively a repeal of already-expired language.

FISCAL

The fiscal note was changed: 'Fiscal committee' designation changed from yes to no, and 'State-mandated local program' designation changed from yes to no, indicating the bill is no longer considered to impose state-mandated local programs or require fiscal committee review.

02/21/25 - Introduced → 03/24/25 - Amended Assembly · 3 edits · Mar 24, 2025

MINOR

The amendment makes two substantive policy changes to AB 1436's biomethane procurement eligibility rules. First, it relaxes the requirement for biomethane delivered through common carrier pipelines from needing to meet both a physical flow test and an environmental benefit demonstration to meeting either one. Second, it adds a new condition that projects claiming the environmental benefit of displacing conventional natural gas must satisfy federal prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements under the Inflation Reduction Act.

ELIGIBILITY

Biomethane delivered through a common carrier pipeline now only needs to meet either the physical flow requirement (pipeline flows within California or toward the end user) OR the environmental benefit demonstration, rather than needing to satisfy both. This broadens which biomethane projects can qualify for procurement programs.

REQUIREMENT

Projects that claim the environmental benefit of displacing conventional natural gas with a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions (subclause IV) must now satisfy prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements for qualified biogas property under Sections 48(a)(10) and 48(a)(11) of Title 26 of the U.S. Code, as enacted by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.

TECHNICAL

Section 784.2(a) was restructured from lettered subdivisions (a), (b), (c) into numbered paragraphs (1), (2), (3) within a single subdivision, with cross-references updated accordingly. This is a formatting change that does not alter the substance of the rate recovery requirements.

State Air Resources Board: air pollution regulations: private fleets: exception.

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