(1) The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery to designate convenience zones annually and to ensure that at least one certified recycling center that meets specific requirements is located within each convenience zone. The act defines a "convenience zone" as the area within a one-mile radius of a supermarket, as defined. Under the act, a reverse vending machine, as defined, may be certified as a recycling center, as prescribed. The act establishes the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund to the department for specified purposes, including the amount necessary to pay processing payments to recycling centers and to pay handling fees to certain types of recyclers to provide an incentive for the redemption of empty beverage containers in convenience zones. The act prohibits processing payments, handling fees, and administrative fees for dealer cooperatives if a certified recycling center operates in a convenience zone where a dealer participating in the dealer cooperative is located. A violation of the act is a crime. This bill would specify that a reverse vending machine certified to operate as a recycling center does not make an unserved convenience zone served, that a dealer cooperative or a mobile unit is not precluded from operating and receiving program payments in the same convenience zone as a reverse vending machine, and that an existing certified recycling center is not ineligible for handling fees if a reverse vending machine is located in the same convenience zone. (2) The act defines a "supermarket" as a full-line, self-service retail store with gross annual sales of $2,000,000 or more that sells specified items and some perishable items. This bill would revise that definition by increasing the minimum gross annual sales to $6,000,000, revising the description of the required items for sale, causing recycling centers that are supermarkets eligible to receive handling fees under existing law to continue to be eligible to receive handling fees, and requiring the department to consult the most recent annual update to the Progressive Grocer Marketing Guidebook and other relevant updates to the guidebook to determine which dealers are supermarkets, as specified. (3) The act requires, until June 30, 2027, the handling fee to be determined using a methodology established by the department through emergency regulations, and requires those regulations to remain in effect through that date, as specified. This bill would extend the application of those regulations through June 30, 2032. (4) This bill would make an appropriation by expanding the entities that would be eligible at any given time for program payments, and by changing the calculation of handling fees, paid by the department from the continuously appropriated fund. (5) By adding new requirements to the act, this bill would expand the scope of crimes, thereby imposing 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.
The Western Joshua Tree Conservation Act prohibits any person or public agency from importing into the state, exporting out of the state, or taking, possessing, purchasing, or selling within the state, a western Joshua tree or any part or product of the tree, except as specified. The act authorizes the Department of Fish and Wildlife to permit the taking of a western Joshua tree if specified conditions are met, including, but not limited to, that the permittee mitigates all impacts to, and taking of, the western Joshua tree through measures that are roughly proportional in extent to the impact of the authorized taking of the western Joshua tree. The act authorizes, in lieu of completing the mitigation measures, a permittee to elect to satisfy the mitigation obligation by paying fees pursuant to a specified fee schedule, as provided. Existing law requires the department to annually adjust the fees, as specified. This bill would require the department to consider making the fees proportionate to the impact of a project and the use of tiered fees by project type, size, or other criteria. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 1927.8 of the Fish and Game Code proposed by AB 1808 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1808 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Existing law establishes the State Seal of Civic Engagement to recognize pupils who have demonstrated excellence in civics education and participation and have demonstrated an understanding of the United States Constitution, the California Constitution, and the democratic system of government, as provided, and establishes the State Seal of Biliteracy to recognize high school graduates who have attained a high level of proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing in one or more languages in addition to English. Commencing January 1, 2027, existing law vests all executive and administrative functions of the State Department of Education in an Education Commissioner. This bill would establish the State Seal of Climate Literacy for the purpose of giving high school pupils personal agency to help them and their communities understand and adapt to the effects of climate change. The bill would require the Education Commissioner, on or before December 31, 2027, to recommend to the State Board of Education criteria for awarding a State Seal of Climate Literacy to pupils who have demonstrated mastery in climate literacy disciplines, green skills or technical green skills, as defined, and any and all other best practices for climate literacy. The bill would require the Commissioner, in developing the criteria, to consider including (1) the successful completion of at least 2 approved courses in the area of climate literacy and (2) the successful completion and presentation of a climate literacy final experiential learning project, as provided. The bill would require the state board, on or before January 31, 2029, to adopt, or adopt with modifications, the criteria recommended by the Commissioner. The bill would require the Commissioner to, among other things, prepare and deliver to participating local educational agencies an appropriate insignia to be affixed to the diploma or transcript of the pupil indicating that the pupil has been awarded a State Seal of Climate Literacy by the Commissioner. The bill would make a local educational agency's participation in awarding the State Seal of Climate Literacy voluntary. For a local educational agency that chooses to participate, the bill would require the local educational agency, on or after the date that the state board adopts criteria, to, among other things, establish a process for determining if a pupil has met the criteria necessary to earn a State Seal of Climate Literacy.
The California Beverage Container Recycling and Litter Reduction Act requires a beverage manufacturer to pay to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery a processing fee for each beverage container, as defined, sold or transferred in this state. The act requires the department to deposit the fee into the California Beverage Container Recycling Fund, a continuously appropriated fund. The act requires the department to pay processing payments to processors and recycling centers from the fund, as specified. The act requires the processing payment to be at least equal to the difference between the scrap value of the beverage containers and the sum of certain actual operational costs for certified recycling centers and a reasonable financial return for recycling centers, as specified. The act requires the processing fee to be 65% of the processing payment, except as specified. This bill would limit the processing fee for bag in box beverage containers to not more than $0.12 per container sold or offered for sale. The bill would define "bag in box" for purposes of the bill to mean a container for certain alcoholic beverages that has an interior flexible bag with a valve to dispense a beverage and a rigid cardboard or corrugated paper box designed to contain the bag, as provided. The bill would authorize the department to provide a credit toward the 2027 processing fees to beverage producers who paid the 2026 processing fee, as provided. If the amount needed to make processing payments to recyclers for bag in box beverage containers exceeds the amount of processing fee revenue available, the bill would authorize the department to expend funds to pay the processing payments in full, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2031. By expanding the purposes for which a continuously appropriated fund may be expended, the bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution. Existing law requires the state board to develop and implement a Heavy-Duty Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program for nongasoline heavy-duty onroad motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 14,000 pounds. Existing law requires that the program include, among other things, test procedures for different motor vehicle model years and emissions control technologies that measure the effectiveness of the control of emissions of oxides of nitrogen and particulate matter. Existing law requires, as part of the program, the state board to develop a Heavy-Duty Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Compliance Certificate. Existing law requires the state board to issue the certificate to the legal owner, registered owner, or designee of a vehicle that, at the discretion of the state board, meets the requirements of the program so that vehicle owners and operators may easily demonstrate proof of compliance for specified purposes. This bill would limit specified testing of all nongasoline heavy-duty onroad motor vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 14,000 pounds that are considered low use, as defined, that have an engine that is from the 2012 model year or older, and that are registered in this state, to not more frequently than annually. The bill would require the state board to adopt rules and regulations to implement this provision.
Existing law prohibits the disconnection, modification, or alteration of required motor vehicle pollution control devices. Existing law exempts from the prohibition an alteration, modification, or modifying device, apparatus, or mechanism that is covered by a resolution of the State Air Resources Board that makes specified findings. Under existing regulations, the executive officer of the state board is authorized to exempt add-on and modified parts for on-road vehicles or engines from the above prohibition based on an evaluation conducted in accordance with certain procedures. Existing law requires the state board to undertake a public process to review the existing procedures for exempting parts for on-highway vehicles under those resolutions with the goal of streamlining the process for issuing executive orders. 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 aftermarket parts sold in the state, as specified. This bill would authorize a manufacturer of an add-on or modified part for on-road vehicles or engines to request the state board issue a conditional approval to sell an add-on or modified part before issuance of an executive order while the applicant is awaiting final determination for the add-on or modified part, as specified. The bill would require the state board to make a determination on whether the application is complete and satisfies other specified requirements and, if it determines those requirements are met, to grant a conditional approval. If the state board does not make a determination within 30 days of receipt of a request, the bill would deem the request conditionally approved, except as specified. The bill would authorize, upon the effective date of a conditional approval, the add-on or modified part specified in the application to be sold, offered for sale, advertised, or installed in the state. The bill would require a conditional approval to expire 2 years from the effective date of the conditional approval, unless extended by the executive officer, or upon issuance of an executive order, whichever occurs sooner.
Existing law establishes the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force and requires the task force to develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in the state's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, as provided. Existing law requires, on or before March 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter, the task force to update the action plan. The Budget Act of 2025 provided for a community hardening program in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection that includes home hardening certification and a wildfire county coordinator program, appropriated $9,500,000 to the department to make available to the California Fire Safe Council for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, and required the county coordinators to prioritize home hardening, defensible space, planning, and education for community-level wildfire mitigation efforts. This bill would require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish the California Wildfire Preparedness Program to (1) establish recommended guidance for the use of available wildfire risk modeling and analysis tools by organizations, as specified, (2) develop guidance and tools related to wildfire risk assessments, (3) support the development or updating of county-level wildfire risk assessments, (4) maintain oversight authority for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program, as provided, and (5) develop guidance and templates for the creation or revision of county-level wildfire preparedness prioritization and implementation plans, and accompanying guidance for integrating these plans with related wildfire resilience programs, as provided. This bill would provide in code for the Wildfire County Coordinator Program to support countywide coordination of and capacity for community wildfire mitigation, prevention, preparedness, and recovery activities, as specified. The bill would require the department to enter into an agreement with the California Fire Safe Council to administer and deliver the program. The bill would require the program to, among other things, establish capacity in participating counties to plan and execute specified activities in support of the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan and collect data on local mitigation and preparedness activities, including costs and outcomes, as provided.
Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to enter into a joint powers agreement, as specified, with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop and administer a comprehensive wildfire mitigation program, that, among other things, encourages cost-effective structure hardening and retrofitting that creates fire-resistant homes, businesses, and public buildings. Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to provide alternative methods of financing in providing and promoting the establishment of facilities using alternative methods and sources of energy and facilities needed for the development and commercialization of advanced transportation technologies, as provided. This bill would establish the California Wildfire Resilience Loan Program and would require the authority, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to administer the program to provide financial assistance for projects and activities to reduce wildfire-related risks and losses, including home hardening and defensible space improvements, as provided, and would make related changes.
The Capital Programs and Climate Financing Authority Act establishes the Capital Programs and Climate Financing Authority, consisting of the Director of Finance, the Treasurer, and the Controller. Among other things, the act authorizes the authority to establish one or more small business assistance funds to do various things, including fund a capital access program for small businesses pursuant to specified law, provide various forms of financial assistance, and make or acquire loans or guarantee commercial loans to participating parties eligible for assistance from those funds. The act requires any moneys repaid or returned to the authority in connection with or as a result of any loan or financial assistance made pursuant to these provisions to be deposited in the small business assistance fund from which the loan or assistance was originally provided. For the purpose of establishing and maintaining small business assistance funds, the act authorizes the authority to levy fees or other charges on, or require deposits from, participating parties receiving financing for a project under the act, as specified. The act requires the authority to establish the California Investment and Innovation Program for the purpose of providing grants to enhance the capacity of community development financial institutions to provide technical assistance and capital access to economically disadvantaged communities in the state, as specified. Existing law defines various terms for these purposes. This bill would authorize the authority to establish one or more small business assistance funds to fund a grant program for community development financial assistance pursuant to the California Investment and Innovation Program. The bill would include in the list of allowed financial assistance that the authority may provide under the act grants made to community development financial institutions in furtherance of that program. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in a continuously appropriated fund may be used, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law establishes methane emissions reduction goals that include a target to reduce landfill disposal of organics by 75% of the 2014 level of the statewide disposal of organic waste by 2025. Existing law requires the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, to adopt regulations to achieve the organic waste reduction goals. Existing law authorizes a local jurisdiction to count specified recovered organic waste products towards up to 10% of its recovered organic waste procurement target. This bill would additionally authorize a local jurisdiction to count a beneficial agricultural amendment derived from organic waste that may include biosolids towards up to that 10% of its recovered organic waste procurement target if the material meets the requirements to be deemed to constitute a reduction in landfill disposal, the material is registered or approved for end use as a fertilizing material by the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the material is not derived from, or processed using, specified activities relating to the final deposition or management of solid waste, as provided. The bill would require the amount of the procured materials to be calculated using the dry weight of the materials. Existing law authorizes a local jurisdiction to count compost produced and procured from specified compost operations towards its recovered organic waste procurement target, including, under specified conditions, operations composting green material, agricultural material, food material, and vegetative food material if the total amount of feedstock and compost onsite at any one time does not exceed 100 cubic yards and 750 square feet. This bill would repeal that authorization, but would instead authorize a local jurisdiction to count towards its procurement target compost produced and procured from certain composting operations, including the composting of green material, agricultural material, food material, and vegetative food material if the total amount of feedstock and compost onsite at any one time does not exceed either 200 cubic yards or, for a composting activity owned by a public agency, as defined, 500 cubic yards, amounts that may be increased by regulation, as specified.
