Budget & Taxes

Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) under the direction of a chairperson. Existing law provides an annual salary for members and for the chairperson and prescribes a method by which those salaries may be increased. Existing law grants an additional salary increase of 5% in each of the 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years for members of the Energy Commission. This bill would, similarly, grant the chairperson of the Energy Commission an additional salary increase of 5% for the 2025–26, 2026–27, and 2027–28 fiscal years. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to develop and implement the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program to award moneys for projects that will benefit electricity ratepayers, lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs, and result in a portfolio of projects that is strategically focused and sufficiently narrow to make advancement on the most significant technological challenges, as specified. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, authorizes the Energy Commission to award, through a noncompetitive method, follow-on funding for projects that meet specified criteria, including the EPIC program's eligibility requirements and that the projects have been funded, at least in part, through the EPIC program. This bill would extend the authorization to award follow-on funding for those projects until January 1, 2028. Existing law vests the Energy Commission with the exclusive jurisdiction to certify the construction of stationary or floating electrical generating facilities using a source of thermal energy with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more and prohibits a person from constructing those facilities unless that person obtains a certificate from the commission, as provided. Existing law establishes an opt-in certification process, as provided, for solar photovoltaic, terrestrial wind electrical generation powerplants, and thermal powerplants that do not use fossil or nuclear fuels, with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more, an energy storage system capable of storing 200 megawatthours or more of electricity, or projects associated with the manufacture, production, or assembly of energy storage systems, wind systems, solar photovoltaic energy systems, or specialized products, components, or systems integral to renewable energy or energy storage technologies, that authorizes a person proposing to construct those facilities to file an application for certification with the Energy Commission. Existing law requires a person submitting an application for certification to submit a fee of $250,000 plus $500 per megawatt of gross generating capacity or per megawatthour of gross energy storage capacity, or $0.70 per square foot of those manufacturing, production, or assembly facilities. Existing law prohibits the application fee from exceeding $750,000. Existing law requires a person receiving a certification from the Energy Commission to pay an annual fee of $25,000 for each year the facility retains its certification. Existing law requires a person submitting a petition to amend an existing project that previously received certification to submit with the petition a fee of $5,000. Existing law requires that those fees be adjusted annually, as provided. This bill would instead require a person submitting an application for certification to submit with the application a nonrefundable deposit of $750,000 and would require the applicant to pay all costs incurred by the Energy Commission in processing the application. The bill would require the Energy Commission to provide invoices for additional fees, at least annually, for the actual costs incurred by the Energy Commission in excess of the deposit. The bill would increase the annual fee to $70,000 for each year the facility retains its certification. The bill would specify that the petition fee is nonrefundable. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to implement and administer the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets Program to incentivize the construction of cleaner and more efficient distributed energy assets that would serve as on-call emergency supply or load reduction for the state's electrical grid during extreme events, and the Demand Side Grid Support Program to incentivize dispatchable customer load reduction and backup generation operation as on-call emergency supply and load reduction for the state's electrical grid during extreme events, as provided. Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to implement those projects, purchases, and contracts to carry out the above-described purposes. Existing law requires facilities constructed by the department, or under a contract with the department, that use any form of fossil fuel to be operated as necessary to respond to extreme events and prohibits those facilities from being operated any other time, except as provided. This bill would instead require facilities constructed and owned by the department, rather than constructed by the department, or under a contract with the department, that use any form of fossil fuel to be operated as necessary to respond to extreme events and prohibit those facilities from being operated any other time, except as provided. Existing law, for the 2021–22 fiscal year, appropriates $200,000,000 to the Energy Commission to be used for a program to provide incentives for demand side grid support and associated mitigation costs and authorizes the expenditure of those moneys for the adoption of regulations, guidelines, or other standards for the program, third-party block grants or contracts with incentive program implementers for purposes of implementing the program, or advancing up to 25% of the awarded funds at a time to parties that are eligible for funding for purposes of the program. This bill would authorize the use of any additional funding appropriated by the Legislature to the Energy Commission for demand side grid support and associated mitigation costs for the above-specified uses. Existing law establishes the Clean Transportation Program, administered by the Energy Commission, to provide funding to certain entities to develop and deploy innovative technologies that transform California's fuel and vehicle types to help attain the state's climate change policies. Existing law limits funding under the program to specified categories of programs and projects, including, among others, block grants or incentive programs administered by public entities or not-for-profit technology entities for multiple projects, education and program promotion within California, and development of zero-emission fuel and vehicle technology centers. This bill would revise that category of programs and projects eligible for this funding by eliminating the restriction that the block grants or incentive programs be administered by public entities or not-for-profit technology entities and by expanding the category to authorize this funding for block grants or incentive programs for zero-emission vehicle infrastructure. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board (state board) to adopt and implement motor vehicle emission standards. Existing law provides that a person who violates specified vehicular air pollution statutes or specified orders, rules, or regulations of the state board is subject to a civil penalty, and requires those penalties to be deposited in the Air Pollution Control Fund. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of annual fees for the certification, audit, and compliance of motor vehicles and engines sold in the state to cover the state board's reasonable costs in implementing the certification, audit, and compliance programs, and requires those fees be deposited in the Certification and Compliance Fund. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of fees to cover all or a portion of the state board's reasonable costs for the certification, audit, and compliance of off-road or nonvehicular engines and equipment, aftermarket parts, and emissions control components sold in the state, and requires all moneys collected by the state board as part of that schedule of fees to be deposited in the Certification and Compliance Fund. This bill would also authorize the state board to adopt a schedule of annual fees for deficiencies of motor vehicles and engines sold in the state and a schedule of fees to cover all or a portion of the state board's reasonable costs for the deficiencies of off-road or nonvehicular engines and equipment, aftermarket parts, and emissions control components sold in the state. The bill would require the fees collected under both of those schedules to be deposited in the Certification and Compliance Fund. Existing law establishes the Charge Ahead California Initiative, administered by the state board, and with the goals of, among other things, placing in service at least 1,000,000 zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles by January 1, 2023, and increasing access for disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income communities and consumers to zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicles. Existing law also establishes the Clean Cars 4 All Program, which is administered by the state board, to focus on achieving reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases, improvements in air quality, and benefits to low-income state residents through the replacement of high-polluter motor vehicles with cleaner and more efficient motor vehicles or a mobility option. Under existing law, the distribution of incentives under the program is implemented in air pollution control and air quality management districts that choose to participate in the program and through a statewide program. Existing law requires the state board, with respect to specified funds made available to the state board and that the state board allocated to the program, to maintain funding for each local air district participating in the program by requiring the state board to reallocate funds to local air districts under certain circumstances. This bill would expand the requirement to maintain funding to local air districts in that manner using other specified funds made available to the state board for the suite of equity transportation programs established under the Charge Ahead California Initiative, including the Clean Cars 4 All Program. This bill would appropriate the sum of $132,175,000 from the Air Pollution Control Fund to the State Air Resources Board for the 2025–26 fiscal year, when funds are available from a specified consent decree, to be administered through the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project, as specified. The bill would make the funds available for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2027, and available for liquidation until June 30, 2029. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.

Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program and required the Public Utilities Commission to administer a surcharge to collect revenues of up to $100,000,000 per year until January 1, 2025, subject to an annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, to allow providers of equipment and service pursuant to the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program to recover their costs as they are incurred. Existing law establishes the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund for the program described above. This bill would extend the requirement on the commission to collect the surcharge described above until December 31, 2034, subject to annual appropriation of moneys by the Legislature, and would require the commission to transfer moneys it collects from the surcharge to the Controller for deposit into the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program Administrative Committee Fund. Existing law requires the commission to annually review the surcharge level and the balances in the fund identified above. Existing law authorized, until January 1, 2025, the commission to make necessary adjustments to the surcharge to ensure that the programs supported by the surcharge are adequately funded and that the fund balances are not excessive, as defined. This bill would repeal that requirement and, instead, would authorize the commission to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding appropriations under the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program. Under existing law, a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission 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. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

This bill would make appropriations for the support of state government for the 2025–26 fiscal year. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a Budget Bill.

Existing statutory law, enacted by Proposition 62, as approved by the voters at the November 4, 1986, statewide general election, prohibits a local government or district from imposing any transaction tax or sales tax on the sale of real property within the city, county, or district, except as provided. The California Constitution authorizes cities organized under a charter to make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs, which supersede inconsistent general laws. Existing law, the Documentary Transfer Tax Act, authorizes the imposition of a tax by a county or city, as provided, with respect to specified instruments that transfer specified interests in real property. This bill would require a legislative body of a city, as specified, before it adopts any transfer tax on the sale of real property, to develop and post on its internet website an analysis that examines, at a minimum, the effect of the proposed transfer tax on, among other things, the production of affordable housing, including affordable housing produced by market-rate housing projects. The bill 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.