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 provides that when an EIR has been prepared for a project, no subsequent or supplemental EIR shall be required by a lead agency or responsible agency, unless specified events occur. This bill would require a lead agency, before issuing the initial discretionary approval for a large-volume bulk coal facility, defined as a facility with a design capacity exceeding 5,000,000 short tons per year of coal handling, storage, or export to prepare or cause to be prepared an EIR. The bill would prohibit a lead agency, air pollution control district, or air quality management district from relying on an existing EIR to issue a discretionary approval for, or to, a large-volume bulk coal facility, and would require a subsequent or new EIR to be prepared, if any of a list of specified conditions are met, including that there is an increase in design capacity of a project that did not previously meet the definition of a large-volume bulk coal facility, as provided; there is a change in the type of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly address the type of coal handled, stored, or exported; or there is a significant increase in the quantity of coal handled, stored, or exported, or the EIR did not explicitly disclose the quantity of coal to be handled, stored, or exported. The bill would require an EIR or subsequent EIR prepared pursuant to these provisions to, among other things, evaluate the large-volume bulk coal facility's potential to generate PM2.5 and PM10 fugitive dust emissions during construction and operations, and to require mitigation measures, as provided. The bill would apply these provisions to a discretionary approval that is pending or made after June 4, 2026, as specified. Because the bill would create new duties for a lead agency, 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.
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (act) , otherwise known as the Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to contract with a landowner to limit the use of agricultural land to agricultural use if the land is located in an agricultural preserve designated by the city or county, as specified. Existing law authorizes the county or city to cancel a contract under certain circumstances and conditions. Existing law requires the city or county to determine the amount of the cancellation fee, based on the assessor's determination of the fair market value of the land as though it were free of the contractual restriction, that the landowner shall pay if the city and county approves a cancellation of a contract, as specified. Existing law authorizes the city or county to waive the payment or extend the time for making payment if the cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or change in the use which may be made of land, the county or city has determined that it is in the best interest of the program to conserve agricultural land use that the payment be either deferred or not required, and the extension is approved by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, as provided. This bill would remove the ability of a city or county to waive payment or extend the time for making payment, as described above. The bill would instead authorize the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, upon application by the landowner, to waive payment or extend the time for making payment, as described above, if either the cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or change in the use which may be made of the land, as described above, or the cancellation is to facilitate a photovoltaic solar facility that meets specified conditions. The bill, until January 1, 2037, would require the secretary to approve a completed application for extension of making the payment by a landowner if it includes certain items, as provided, and would require the secretary to waive payment if the landowner attests and provides proof to the secretary that a solar project has been constructed on the property. The act deems a contract null and void upon acquisition of the land subject to the contract in an eminent domain action or upon acquisition of land in lieu of eminent domain, as provided. The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021 authorizes the Governor, until January 1, 2032, to certify, among other projects, a clean renewable energy project that generates electricity exclusively through wind or solar, as specified, for certain streamlining benefits. This bill would additionally deem a contract null and void when that land is approved for use as a photovoltaic solar facility certified under the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021, as provided.
The California Constitution generally limits the maximum rate of ad valorem tax on real property to 1% of the full cash value of the property and defines "full cash value" for these purposes as the appraised value of real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred after the 1975 assessment. Pursuant to constitutional authorization, existing property tax law excludes from the definition of "newly constructed" for these purposes the construction or addition of any active solar energy system, as defined, through the 2025–26 fiscal year, except as specified. This bill would prescribe rules for the valuation of an active solar energy system under certain valuation methods, including a requirement that, under the income method, the assessor exclude from income the benefit from, among other things, renewable energy credits, as defined. By expanding the duties of local tax officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy. This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of 23 of the membership of each house of the Legislature.
(1) 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. The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulation of those emissions the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. This bill would suspend the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations for one year. The bill would also exempt suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for the use of market-based compliance mechanisms for one year. This bill would direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a partially continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. (2) Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at a specified rate per gallon. This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction. This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation. (3) Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws. This bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax, the suspension of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations, and the exemption of suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for use of market-based compliance mechanisms by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, until January 1, 2031, authorizes the State Air Resources 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. Existing law establishes the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sales of allowances as a part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited into the fund and requires the Legislature to appropriate moneys in the fund for the purpose of reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the state, as provided. Existing law, the California Climate Crisis Act, declares that it is the policy of the state both to achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and achieve and maintain net-negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter, and to ensure that by 2045, statewide anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 85% below the 1990 levels. This bill would enact the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Act of 2025 and would establish the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund Program to be administered by the California Environmental Protection Agency to require fossil fuel polluters to pay their fair share of the damage caused by greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere during the covered period, which the bill would define as the time period between the 1990 and 2024 calendar years, inclusive, resulting from the extraction, production, refining, sale, or combustion of fossil fuels or petroleum products, to relieve a portion of the burden to address cost borne by current and future California taxpayers. The bill would require the agency, within 90 days of the effective date of the act, to determine and publish a list of responsible parties, which the bill would define as an entity with a majority ownership interest in a business engaged in extracting or refining fossil fuels that, during the covered period, did business in the state or otherwise had sufficient contact with the state, and is determined by the agency to be responsible for more than 1,000,000,000 metric tons of covered fossil fuel emissions, as defined, in aggregate globally, during the covered period. This bill would require the agency, within one year of the effective date of the act, to conduct and complete a climate cost study to, among other things, quantify the total damage amount, which the bill would define as all past and future climate harms and damages to the state from January 1, 1990, through December 31, 2045, inclusive. The bill would require the agency to update the climate cost study, not less frequently than every 5 years, through January 1, 2045, as provided. The bill would require the agency, within 60 days of the completion of the climate cost study, to determine and assess, as provided, a cost recovery demand for each responsible party listed, which represents the responsible party's proportionate share of the total damage amount. The bill would require responsible parties to pay their cost recovery demand, as provided. The bill would require the collected cost recovery demands to be deposited in the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund, which the bill would create in the State Treasury. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require moneys in the Polluters Pay Climate Superfund be expended for, among other things, qualifying expenditures, which the bill would define to include expenditures for projects and programs to mitigate, adapt, or respond to the damages and costs caused to the state from climate change. The bill would require the agency to determine the initial implementation costs for the act, as provided, and would require the agency to assess an amount allocated equitably among responsible parties to cover those costs. This bill would require the Director of Finance, within 45 days of the effective date of the act, to perform an initial assessment of the reasonable and appropriate initial implementation costs that will be incurred by the agency. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Existing law designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming in order to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and confers the state board various regulatory authorities, including the authority to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emission reductions, as specified. This bill would revoke all authority of the state board to adopt, revise, or repeal regulations and would declare that any law granting authority to or requiring the state board to adopt, revise, or repeal regulations, or take an action that requires exercising regulatory authority, instead be read as only authorizing the state board to provide advice and propose measures to the Legislature for statutory enactment. The bill would require the state board to, as necessary, provide advice and propose measures to the Legislature for statutory enactment regarding its duties, as provided. The bill would declare that it does not invalidate or repeal any regulation adopted by the state board before January 1, 2026.
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 authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in regulating those emissions. 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 vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to continue a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes that are no greater than 200% of the federal poverty guidelines, as specified, which is referred to as the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program. Existing law also requires the PUC to continue a program of assistance to residential customers of the state's 3 largest electrical corporations consisting of households of 3 or more persons with total household annual gross income levels between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline level, which is referred to as the Family Electric Rate Assistance (FERA) program. Existing law, except as provided, requires revenues received by an electrical corporation as a result of the direct allocation of greenhouse gas allowances to be credited directly to residential, small business, and emissions-intensive trade-exposed retail customers of the electrical corporation, commonly known as the California Climate Credit. This bill would exclude residential customers from receiving the California Climate Credit if they are not enrolled in the CARE or FERA program and their total electricity bills for the previous year were less than $300. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission, is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be part of the Public Utilities Act, and a violation of a commission action implementing its 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.
