Existing law requires the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection, until January 1, 2026, to establish a statewide program to allow qualifying entities to support and augment the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in its defensible space and home hardening assessment and education efforts and requires the director to establish a common reporting platform that allows defensible space and home hardening assessment data, collected by qualifying entities, to be reported to the department, among other things. Existing law requires the department, until January 1, 2026, to develop and implement a training program to train individuals to support and augment the department in its defensible and home hardening assessment and public education efforts. This bill would extend those programs to January 1, 2031.
The Wildlife Conservation Law of 1947 establishes the Wildlife Conservation Board within the Department of Fish and Wildlife to investigate, study, and determine what areas within the state are most essential and suitable for wildlife production and preservation, among other things. Under existing law, the board administers various habitat conservation programs. This bill would require the board to establish and administer, through the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the Diablo Range Conservation Program and, pursuant to the program, to approve projects to acquire, preserve, restore, and enhance habitat within the Diablo Range, as defined, consistent with conservation strategies approved by the department. The bill would authorize the board to provide grants to local public agencies, nonprofit organizations, and California Native American tribes to be used for various purposes, including the acquisition, restoration, and enhancement of fish and wildlife habitat and other natural resources within and adjacent to the Diablo Range. The bill would establish the Diablo Range Conservation Fund in the State Treasury and would make moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of the program. The bill would authorize the board to accept moneys, grants, goods, or services contributed to it by public agencies or private entities or persons and would require those moneys to be deposited in the Donation Account, which the bill would establish in the fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the account to the board for purposes of the program, thereby making an appropriation.
The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024, approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. The act makes $135,000,000 available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the Office of Emergency Services for a wildfire mitigation grant program to provide, among other things, loans, direct assistance, and matching funds for projects that prevent wildfires, increase resilience, maintain existing wildfire risk reduction projects, reduce the risk of wildfires to communities, or increase home or community hardening. The act provides that eligible projects include, but are not limited to, grants to local agencies, state agencies, joint powers authorities, tribes, resource conservation districts, fire safe councils, and nonprofit organizations for structure hardening of critical community infrastructure, wildfire smoke mitigation, evacuation centers, including community clean air centers, structure hardening projects that reduce the risk of wildfire for entire neighborhoods and communities, water delivery system improvements for fire suppression purposes for communities in very high or high fire hazard areas, wildfire buffers, and incentives to remove structures that significantly increase hazard risk. This bill would include in the list of eligible projects grants to the above-mentioned entities for improvements to public evacuation routes in very high and high fire hazard severity zones, mobile rigid dip tanks, as defined, to support firefighting efforts, prepositioned mobile rigid water storage, as defined, and improvements to the response and effectiveness of fire engines and helicopters. The bill would also include grants, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission, to local agencies, state agencies, special districts, joint powers authorities, tribes, and nonprofit organizations for backup electrical generators for water reservoirs.
(1) Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution, and air pollution control districts and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. "?>Existing law authorizes air districts to establish a permit system to require, with specified exceptions, that a person obtain a permit before constructing or operating any article, machine, equipment, or contrivance that may cause the issuance of air contaminants. Existing law prohibits an air district from issuing a permit to a Title V source, as defined, if the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency objects to its issuance, as specified. Existing law requires each district with moderate, serious, or severe air pollution to include certain measures in its plan to attain state ambient air quality standards, including the use of best available control technology for any new or modified stationary source, and the use of best available retrofit control technology for all existing stationary sources, under certain circumstances, as prescribed. Under the federal Clean Air Act, a new or modified major stationary source is required to meet various requirements in order to obtain a permit to operate, including a requirement that the source employs best available control technology on its emission-emitting equipment. This bill would establish definitions for the terms "best available control technology" and "best available retrofit control technology" for purposes of the laws governing air pollution and would set forth various requirements for the determination of best available control technology. The bill would require an air district to submit a proposed permit for a Title V source to the executive officer of the state board. The bill would require the executive officer to review the permit and, if the executive officer determines that the permit does not comply with the federal Clean Air Act or state law governing air pollution, to object to the issuance of that permit. If the executive officer objects to the issuance of a permit, the bill would prohibit the air district from finalizing that permit without revising it to address the objection to the satisfaction of the executive officer. The bill would also authorize any person to petition the executive officer to object to a proposed Title V permit within 30 days of the executive officer's receipt of the proposed permit, as specified. The bill would require an applicant for a renewal of a Title V permit to submit a technical feasibility analysis to the air district as part of its application for the renewal of that permit if the facility's current effective operating permit includes equipment or control apparatus that meets certain criteria. The bill would require an air district to require best available retrofit control technology to be applied at each piece of equipment or source category identified in the technical feasibility analysis and would authorize an air district to impose measures more stringent than those proposed by the applicant, as specified. (2) Existing law requires the state board to implement a program to assist air districts to improve efficiencies in the issuance of permits and requires that program to include a process to precertify simple, commonly used equipment and processes as being in compliance with air quality rules and regulations, to expedite permitting of air pollution sources. Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate the feasibility of expanding the precertification program to involve other state and local regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over other environmental media. This bill would revise the precertification program including by requiring the state board to update criteria and guidelines for precertification at least once every 8 years. The bill would authorize the precertification program to include the identification of equipment, controls, fuels, and processes, as specified. As part of the precertification program, the bill would authorize the state board to prescribe rules to establish a voluntary program for the temporary assignment or loan of employees within an agency, or between agencies or jurisdictions, including air districts, on a limited-term basis, to enable the state to obtain expertise needed to meet a compelling program need. The bill would authorize the California Environmental Protection Agency to expand the precertification program to involve other state and local regulatory agencies with jurisdiction over other environmental media. (3) Existing law requires every air district, except as provided, to establish a program to provide for the expedited review of permits. Existing law requires that expedited permit system to include, among other things, a precertification program for equipment that is mass-produced and operated by numerous sources under the same or similar conditions and a training and certification program for private sector personnel, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the expedited permit system include a precertification program established by the applicable air district. The bill would instead require the expedited permit system to include an expedited permit review pathway for permit applications that propose to use equipment and processes identified through the state board's precertification program described above, as specified. The bill would also eliminate the requirement that the expedited permit system include a training and certification program and would instead require the publication of online training resources for private sector personnel that explain expedited permitting pathways. (4) Existing law requires the state board to establish and maintain a statewide clearinghouse that identifies the best available control technology and best available retrofit control technology for criteria air pollutants, and related technologies for the control of toxic air contaminants. When updating best available control technology determinations, existing law requires a district to use the information in the statewide clearinghouse. This bill would require the state board to periodically issue determinations to suggest best available control technology, and best available retrofit control technology, for any class or category of sources and to establish best available control technology for the control of toxic air contaminants for any class or category of sources. The bill would authorize members of the public to petition the state board to issue a determination. (5) Existing law authorizes the state board to appoint employees and prescribe their duties. This bill would authorize the state board and any district to temporarily loan and assign staff members to each other, via a memorandum of agreement, for any lawful purpose. (6) Existing law generally makes any violation of a rule or regulation of the state board or an air district relating to nonvehicular air pollution control a misdemeanor. To the extent that the bill would expand the definition of a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (7) By expanding the duties of air districts, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (8) 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 specified reasons.
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 and requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. The act declares the policy of the state to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions as soon as possible, but no later than 2045, and to achieve and maintain net negative greenhouse gas emissions thereafter. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan at least once every 5 years. The act also requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with specified entities, including the state board, to determine an ambitious range of targets for natural carbon sequestration, and for nature-based climate solutions, that reduce greenhouse gas emissions for 2030, 2038, and 2045 to support state goals to achieve carbon neutrality and foster climate adaptation and resilience. The act requires these targets to be integrated into the above-described scoping plan and other state policies. This bill would specify that it is the goal of the state to achieve each of the targets established by the Natural Resources Agency by the applicable date for the target, with priority given to activities that most rapidly, significantly, and cost effectively increase carbon stocks and net sequestration, protect and support ecosystem function, and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. The bill would also revise the definition of "natural carbon sequestration" for purposes of the above-described provisions.
Existing law establishes the Clean Cars 4 All Program, which is administered by the State Air Resources 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. Existing law requires the implementing regulations to ensure that the program complies with certain requirements. This bill would require the implementing regulations for the Clean Cars 4 All Program to additionally ensure that, among other things, incentives provided under the program are available in all areas of the state and that, in those areas where a local air district has not elected to participate in the program to manage the distribution of incentives within its jurisdiction, the state board manages the distribution of incentives to eligible residents of those areas, as specified. The bill would make certain conforming changes in that regard. The bill would require, as one of the program goals for replacement of passenger vehicles and trucks, the state board to prioritize vehicle retirement in areas of the state that meet specified criteria. The bill would also require the state board to update the guidelines for the program no later than July 1, 2027, as specified. Existing law requires the state board to annually post on its internet website a performance analysis of the replacement and mobility options component of the Clean Cars 4 All Program that includes an evaluation of the funding for targeted outreach in low-income or disadvantaged communities, as specified. This bill would require that analysis to additionally include an evaluation of the funding for targeted outreach in low-income or disadvantaged communities with the highest number of vehicles manufactured before 2004 or that are at least 20 years old, as specified. Existing law requires the state board to consider certain metrics in allocating funding under the program to local air districts participating in the program, and to the statewide program, including the number of vouchers deployed and the population in eligible program ZIP Codes. This bill would require the state board, in allocating funding to local air districts participating in the program and to the portion of the program managed by the state board, to consider additional metrics, including the total value of vouchers deployed and a specified metric for retired vehicles, and would delete the requirement to consider the population in eligible ZIP Codes. The bill would also require the state board, in coordination with local air districts and specified organizations, to establish a means-based strategy to identify potential recipients of incentives under the Clean Cars 4 All Program that meet certain criteria and, as part of that strategy, require an increased incentive to be provided under the program to those individuals.
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. Existing law, the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, requires, on or before July 1, 2025, the state board to develop and adopt regulations to require a reporting entity to, among other things, annually disclose all of the reporting entity's scope 1 emissions, scope 2 emissions, and scope 3 emissions, as defined. Existing law also requires, on or before January 1, 2026, and biennially thereafter, a covered entity to prepare a climate-related financial risk report disclosing the entity's climate-related financial risk and measures adopted to reduce and adapt to climate-related financial risk. This bill would enact the California Contractor Climate Transparency Act, which would require the state board, beginning one year after the effective date of regulations adopted pursuant to the Climate Corporate Data Accountability Act, as specified, to require a large contractor and a significant contractor, as defined, to report annually specified information, including, for large contractors, an annual disclosure of scope 1 emissions, scope 2 emissions, scope 3 emissions, and climate-related financial risk, as specified, and for significant contractors, an annual disclosure of scope 1 emissions and scope 2 emissions, as specified.
Existing law imposes various limitations on emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. 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 adopt standards, rules, and regulations necessary for the proper execution of the powers and duties granted to, and imposed upon, the state board. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the state 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, as provided, 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 its authority, the state board has adopted the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels used in California, as specified. This bill would require the state board, beginning no later than January 31, 2026, to reconsider and revise the Low Carbon Fuel Standard to reduce the program's financial burden on drivers in the state, including by taking specified actions.
Existing law establishes the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, which is permitted to adjudge children who have suffered abuse or neglect to be dependents of the court under certain circumstances, and prescribes various hearings and other procedures for these purposes. Existing law requires the county welfare department to submit reports at the first regularly scheduled review hearing after a dependent minor has attained 16 years of age and at the last regularly scheduled review hearing before a dependent minor attains 18 years of age, and at every regularly scheduled review hearing thereafter, verifying that the county welfare department has provided certain information, documents, and services to the minor or nonminor. Existing law prohibits the court from terminating dependency jurisdiction over a nonminor dependent until the county welfare department has submitted a report verifying specified information, documents, and services have been provided to the nonminor, including the nonminor's family history and placement history. This bill would additionally require the above-described assistance include providing the minor or nonminor the last known whereabouts of their parents and siblings and the last known contact information for them. The bill would require that the minor or nonminor have the option to decline this information. By increasing the duties of county welfare departments, this 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 incorporate additional changes to Section 391 of the Welfare and Institutions Code proposed by AB 2764 to be operative only if this bill and AB 2764 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) Existing law establishes the Natural Resources Agency, composed of departments, boards, conservancies, and commissions responsible for the restoration, protection, and management of the state's natural and cultural resources. Existing law establishes within the Natural Resources Agency the Sixth District Agricultural Association, known as Exposition Park. Existing law establishes the Department of General Services in the Government Operations Agency for purposes of providing centralized services of state government, including, among other things, planning, acquiring, constructing, and maintaining state buildings and property. This bill would authorize the Natural Resources Agency to enter into a noncompetitive grant with a nonprofit organization, as specified. The bill would authorize the nonprofit organization, in consultation with the Natural Resources Agency and the Department of General Services, to plan, construct, and maintain a memorial to the victims and survivors of the Holocaust at Exposition Park, as specified. The bill would require the Department of General Services, in consultation with the nonprofit organization and the agency, to, among other things, review the preliminary design plans to identify potential maintenance concerns. The bill would require the nonprofit organization, in consultation with Exposition Park and with the approval of the Natural Resources Agency and the Department of General Services, to prepare certain items, including an agreement for the long-term maintenance and security of the memorial. (2) Existing law sets forth a comprehensive plan for the conservation of the waters of the San Francisco Bay and the development of its shoreline and delegates to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission authority to implement the plan. Existing law establishes in the State Treasury a Bay Fill Clean-Up and Abatement Fund and requires moneys from specified sources to be paid into the fund, including all moneys collected civilly under specified proceedings. Existing law makes the moneys in the fund available for expenditure by the commission or the executive director, when appropriated by the Legislature, for specified purposes, including resource enhancement and remedial cleanup or abatement actions. This bill would additionally make the moneys in the fund available for enforcement activities and for technology, services, programs, and personnel that directly support those enforcement activities or that directly support any of the other specified purposes of the fund. (3) Existing law provides for the regulation of underground storage tanks, as defined, by the State Water Resources Control Board. Existing law, until January 1, 2036, requires the board to conduct a loan and grant program to assist small businesses in upgrading, replacing, or removing project tanks to comply with underground storage tank and gasoline vapor control requirements. Existing law makes funds available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, from the Petroleum Underground Storage Tank Financing Account available for the loan and grant program. Existing law defines "project tanks" to mean tanks that would be upgraded, replaced, or removed with loan or grant funds, including tanks that are upgraded to comply with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations. Existing law authorizes grant funds to be used to reimburse up to 100% of costs incurred to comply with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations, if the grant application was received by April 1, 2009. This bill would instead define "project tanks" to mean tanks that would be upgraded, replaced, or removed with loan or grant funds to comply with underground storage tank and gasoline vapor control requirements, including tanks that are required to be permanently closed on or before December 31, 2025. The bill would eliminate the authority to use the grant funds to reimburse costs incurred to comply with the Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II regulations. The bill would authorize loan and grant funds to be used to reimburse up to 100% of the costs to remove or replace a project tank if the board receives the loan application before June 30, 2025, and the costs are incurred between specified dates. (4) The Professional Foresters Law provides for the regulation of persons who practice the profession of forestry and whose activities have an impact upon the ecology of forested landscapes and the quality of the forest environment. Under existing law, fees received pursuant to the Professional Foresters Law are required to be deposited in the Professional Forester Registration Fund, to be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the administration of these provisions. Existing law authorizes, in specified circumstances, the Director of Finance to authorize an emergency expenditure from the fund in an amount determined by the director, as provided. Existing law requires the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish by regulation the amount of fees, for, among other things, application for registry and a penalty fee for failure to apply for a renewal, within specified ranges and based on a determination by the state board of the amount of revenues reasonably necessary to carry out the regulation of these provisions. This bill would increase the specified ranges for the above-described fees. By increasing the range for these specified fees that are deposited into a fund that is continuously appropriated under specified circumstances, this bill would make an appropriation. (5) Existing law establishes in the Natural Resources Agency the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL-FIRE) under the control of an executive officer known as the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection. Existing law requires CAL-FIRE, in accordance with a plan approved by the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, to, among other things, provide fire prevention and firefighting implements, organize crews and patrols, and employ people to effect the plan. This bill would require CAL-FIRE, subject to an appropriation of funds, to begin to employ sufficient permanent firefighting personnel to increase the base period hand crew staffing levels. Under the bill, CAL-FIRE would maintain the ability to hire seasonal, temporary firefighters as needed to allow for surge hiring capacity for confronting emergency fire conditions or other personnel shortages as determined by the director. (6) Existing law requires the annual Budget Bill submitted by the Governor to include an amount not to exceed $3,400,000 to be appropriated by the Legislature from the Highway Users Tax Account in the Transportation Tax Fund to the State Parks and Recreation Fund. Existing law requires those funds to be appropriated to the Department of Parks and Recreation for state park highway purposes. This bill would instead require the Governor's annual Budget Bill to include an amount not to exceed $12,000,000 for those purposes. (7) Existing law establishes the Department of Water Resources within the Natural Resources Agency and vests it with various powers and duties related to water, including, among other things, the authority to acquire by eminent domain any property necessary for state water and dam purposes and to award and enter into construction contracts that require expenditures in excess of funds presently available, as specified. Existing law requires workers employed on public works to be paid not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages for work of a similar character in the locality that the public work is performed, as prescribed, unless an exception applies. This bill would authorize the Department of Water Resources to enter into contracts for habitat restoration projects, as specified. The bill would provide that these contracts may include the physical restoration of any state or privately owned real property, and any incidental or necessary services to accomplish that purpose. The bill would require the Department of Water Resources to prepare a request for proposals, as specified, for solicitations by the department for these contracts. The bill would require contracts entered into by the Department of Water Resources to provide compensation, including through progress payments, based upon measurable environmental outcomes and performance targets. The bill would require contracts entered into by the Department of Water Resources that include work considered to be a public work, as defined, to be subject to the public works provisions of the Labor Code. The bill would require the Department of Water Resources to classify the nature of the services to be provided when establishing the terms and conditions applicable for each contracted-for project. (8) Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources, in conjunction with other public agencies, to conduct an investigation of the state's groundwater basins and to report its findings to the Governor and the Legislature in years ending in 5 and 0. This bill would require the Department of Water Resources to report its findings, as described above, to the Governor and the Legislature only in years ending in 5. (9) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.
