(1) Existing law, known as the Green Chemistry program, requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being chemicals of concern. Existing law requires the regulations to include criteria by which chemicals and their alternatives may be evaluated by the department, as provided. Existing law requires the department, following the completion of an alternatives analysis, to provide a regulatory response that may include, but is not limited to, not requiring any action and restricting or prohibiting the use of the chemical of concern in the consumer product. This bill would, beginning January 1, 2028, prohibit a person from distributing, selling, or offering for sale a covered product, as defined, that contains intentionally added PFAS, as defined, unless the department has issued a regulatory response for the covered product pursuant to the Green Chemistry program or the prohibition is preempted by federal law. The bill would authorize a manufacturer of a covered product to petition the department to evaluate a covered product and would require the department to evaluate and provide a regulatory response for a covered product under the Green Chemistry program, as specified. This bill would require the department, on or before January 1, 2028, to adopt regulations to carry out these provisions. The bill would require the department to analyze and comment on the presence of PFAS in industrial processes and products, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to identify and categorize commercially active PFAS present in products distributed in California, as specified. The bill would authorize the department to report on other issues relating to products containing PFAS and emissive compounds. (2) Existing law requires the department, on or before January 1, 2029, to adopt regulations to enforce specified covered perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) restrictions, which include prohibitions on the distribution, sale, or offering for sale of certain products that contain specified levels of PFAS. Existing law requires the department, on and after July 1, 2030, to enforce and ensure compliance with those provisions and regulations, as provided. Existing law requires manufacturers of these products, on or before July 1, 2029, to register with the department, to pay a registration fee to the department, and to provide a statement of compliance certifying compliance with the applicable prohibitions on the use of PFAS to the department, as specified. Existing law authorizes the department to test products and to rely on third-party testing to determine compliance with prohibitions on the use of PFAS, as specified. Existing law requires the department to issue a notice of violation for a product in violation of the prohibitions on the use of PFAS, as provided. Existing law authorizes the department to assess an administrative penalty for a violation of these prohibitions and authorizes the department to seek an injunction to restrain a person or entity from violating these prohibitions, as specified. This bill would require the department to use this existing authority to enforce the prohibition on products that would be prohibited by the provisions in paragraph (1) . (3) Existing law requires the department, in consultation with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and all appropriate state agencies, to adopt regulations to establish a process to identify and prioritize chemicals or chemical ingredients in consumer products that may be considered as being a chemical of concern, as specified. Pursuant to that authority, the department adopted regulations known as the Safer Consumer Products Regulations. This bill would authorize, but not require, that those regulations evaluate uses of PFAS in products that would be prohibited by the provisions in paragraph (1) .
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.
The Surface Mining and Reclamation Act of 1975 prohibits a person, with exceptions, from conducting surface mining operations unless, among other things, a permit is obtained from, a specified reclamation plan is submitted to and approved by, and financial assurances for reclamation have been approved by the lead agency for the operation of the surface mining operation. This bill would prohibit pit dewatering, as defined, in areas with subsurface river flow or groundwater levels shallower than 50 feet below ground anywhere within the San Joaquin River Parkway, as defined. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the San Joaquin River Parkway.
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. 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. Existing law continuously appropriates 25% of the annual proceeds of the fund to the High-Speed Rail Authority for certain purposes, as specified. This bill would eliminate the continuous appropriation of 25% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the High-Speed Rail Authority on June 30, 2026. The bill, beginning with the 2026–27 fiscal year, and until December 31, 2030, would require 25% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be transferred to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account. 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. Existing law provides that amounts received pursuant to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law are deposited into the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. Existing law transfers the portions of those motor vehicle fuel tax revenues attributable to various off-highway uses of motor vehicle fuel to specified funds and transfers the remaining revenues to the Highway Users Tax Account for allocation to various state and local transportation purposes consistent with the expenditure restrictions imposed by Article XIX of the California Constitution on excise tax revenues from fuels used in motor vehicles on the highway. This bill, beginning July 1, 2026, and before January 1, 2031, would reduce the rate of the tax imposed upon each gallon of fuel by a specified percentage based annually on the amount transferred to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. By transferring moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation.
Existing law designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts as having the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources, and, subject to the powers and duties of the State Air Resources Board, requires that air districts adopt and enforce rules and regulations to achieve and maintain the state and federal ambient air quality standards in all areas affected by emission sources under their jurisdiction. Existing law requires the board of each air district to establish by regulation a system by which all reductions in the emission of air contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases in the emission of air contaminants be banked as credits prior to use to offset future increases in emissions, except as specified. This bill would require each air district, for all active permits required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that require or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits, to make publicly available on its internet website a map of permitted facilities containing specified information regarding those permits. By adding to the duties of air districts, 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 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 exempts certain projects from its requirements, including actions necessary to prevent or mitigate an emergency. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of a line, plant, or system, or extensions of those facilities without first obtaining from the Public Utilities Commission a certificate that the present or future convenience and necessity require or will require the construction. Existing law specifies that the certificate is not required for the extension, expansion, upgrade, or other modification of existing electrical transmission facilities. This bill would require the commission to determine whether to certify the environmental impact report for an electrical infrastructure project that is a priority project, as defined, no later than 270 days after the commission determines that an application for an electrical infrastructure project is complete, except as specified. The bill would require a project applicant to identify an electrical infrastructure project that is a priority project and the basis for the designation in the application to the commission. The bill would require commission staff to review an application for a priority project no later than 30 days after it is filed and notify the applicant in writing of any deficiencies in the information and data submitted in the application. The bill would require the applicant to correct any deficiencies or notify the commission in writing why it is unable to correct those deficiencies, as specified, within 60 days of that notification. The bill would require the commission to deem an application for a priority project complete with a preliminary ruling setting the scope and schedule, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of any 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.
Existing law establishes the California Farmland Conservancy Program in the Department of Conservation and authorizes the program to offer financial assistance, including grants or contracts, for projects and activities on agricultural lands that support agricultural conservation and sustainable land management. Existing law creates the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund and requires moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act, to be used for purposes of the program. Notwithstanding that provision, existing law continuously appropriates moneys in the fund from federal grants and gifts and donations to the department for purposes of the program. This bill would require the Controller to transfer $20,000,000 on July 1 of each fiscal year, commencing with the 2025–26 fiscal year, from the General Fund to the California Farmland Conservancy Program Funding Account, which the bill would create within the California Farmland Conservancy Program Fund. The bill would continuously appropriate moneys in the account to the department for expenditure as provided. The bill would require that the funding only be awarded for agricultural conservation easements on agricultural land, as defined.
Existing law requires the Strategic Growth Council to develop and administer the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities Program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions through projects that implement land use, housing, transportation, and agricultural land preservation practices to support infill and compact development, and that support other related and coordinated public policy objectives. Existing law specifies the types of projects eligible for funding under the program, including, among others, transit capital projects, active transportation capital projects, and transit-oriented development projects, as provided. This bill would expressly include certain transit capital projects and transit-oriented development projects near planned high-speed rail stations that meet specific criteria as eligible for funding under the program.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to establish a Carbon Capture, Removal, Utilization, and Storage Program to capture, remove, and store carbon dioxide, as provided. Existing law requires the state board to develop a centralized public database to track the deployment of specified carbon capture, utilization, and storage technology or equipment and carbon dioxide removal activities that use technologies or engineered strategies to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, as specified, and the development of carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration projects throughout the state. This bill would require the state board to establish the Marine Carbon Initiative and would set forth the objectives of the initiative, including advancing the body of research and scientific understanding of marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration. The bill would require the initiative to include the Marine Carbon Council (council) and the Marine Carbon Research Program (program) . The bill would require the state board, on or before July 1, 2027, to establish the council to advance the science and understanding of marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration methods and technologies. The bill would require the council to consist of 7 members chosen by the state board who would be selected on or before August 1, 2027, and would specify the selection process for, and the qualifications of, the council. The bill would require the council, by July 1, 2028, to report to the state board with recommendations on marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration, as specified. The bill would require the state board, on or before August 1, 2028, to establish the program, and would require the state board to administer the program in consultation with the council. The bill would require the program to award grants on a competitive basis, and other financial incentives the state board may designate, for eligible marine carbon dioxide removal and sequestration projects, as specified. The bill would require the council, on or before January 1, 2029, and biennially thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature that, at minimum, summarizes the findings and progress of the council in its work, as provided. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the sum of $2,000,000 to be allocated to the state board annually for no less than 7 years to fund the program.
Existing law establishes the Santa Ana River Conservancy Program to be administered by the State Coastal Conservancy. Existing law authorizes the conservancy to, among other things, undertake or fund projects for several purposes, including to implement site improvements, upgrade deteriorating facilities or construct new facilities for outdoor recreation, public access, nature appreciation and interpretation, and historic and cultural preservation. This bill would require at least 60% of the funds allocated to fund or undertake the above-described projects to be for projects in heavily urbanized areas, as defined, of the lower Santa Ana River region, as defined, to benefit disadvantaged communities, severely disadvantaged communities, or vulnerable populations. The bill would define various terms for this purpose.
