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. 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, would instead require 25% of the annual proceeds of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to be transferred to the General Fund and for those moneys, upon appropriation, to be used to augment funding provided to local governments to improve infrastructure.
Existing law prohibits a person from offering for sale, selling, distributing, or importing into the state any product or packaging for which a deceptive or misleading claim about the recyclability of the product or packaging is made. Existing law provides that a product or packaging that displays a chasing arrows symbol, among other symbols, statements, or directions, is deemed to be a deceptive or misleading claim unless (1) the product or packaging is considered recyclable in the state pursuant to specified criteria and (2) is of a material type and form that routinely becomes feedstock used in the production of new products or packaging, except as provided. Existing law, notwithstanding specified criteria, provides that a product or packaging is recyclable in the state if the product or packaging is part of, and in compliance with, a program established pursuant to state or federal law governing the recyclability or disposal of that product or packaging, as provided. This bill would delete the latter provision and would, notwithstanding specified provisions, require, before January 1, 2027, that a product or packaging that is a covered material, as defined, be considered recyclable in the state if the producer is approved by a producer responsibility organization to participate in that organization. On or after January 1, 2027, and before January 1, 2032, the bill would require, notwithstanding specified provisions, that a product or packaging that is a covered material be considered recyclable in the state if the producer is, among other things, in compliance with the requirements of the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act.
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. This bill would void specified amendments to the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard regulations adopted by the state board on November 8, 2024.
Existing law establishes the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act, which covers certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. Existing law requires producers of covered material sold, offered for sale, imported, or distributed in the state to achieve specified goals with respect to the materials for which they are the producers, including that all plastic covered material be source reduced pursuant to specified requirements, as provided. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to that goal.
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 state board is required 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. 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. This bill would require the state board to include greenhouse gas emissions from wildlands and forest fires in the scoping plan.
Existing law creates within the Ocean Protection Council the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative to provide state and regional information to the public and support to local, regional, and other state agencies for the identification, assessment, planning, and, where feasible, the mitigation of the adverse environmental, social, and economic effects of sea level rise within the coastal zone, as provided. This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to this provision.
Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to divide the state into air basins to fulfill the purposes of laws governing air resources and to adopt standards of ambient air quality for each air basin in consideration of the public health, safety, and welfare. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation related to clean air basins.
(1) Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt and implement motor vehicle fuel specifications for the control of air contaminants and sources of air pollution. Existing law authorizes blends of gasoline containing 10.5% to 15% ethanol by volume to be sold in the state for use as a transportation fuel until specified actions are taken by the California Environmental Policy Council and the state board. Existing law requires the state board to adopt performance standards for gasoline vapor control systems during gasoline marketing operations and to certify any gasoline vapor control system that meets those performance standards and other specified requirements. Existing law also requires the State Fire Marshal, the Division of Occupational Safety and Health, and the Division of Measurement Standards to adopt rules and regulations on various aspects of gasoline vapor control systems and components and to certify compliance of those systems and components with their respective rules and regulations. This bill would authorize, until January 1, 2029, vapor control systems and their components that are certified or approved by the state agencies listed above for use with gasoline and ethanol blends containing 10% ethanol to also be used with gasoline and ethanol blends containing more than 10% and up to 15% ethanol if the manufacturer of the equipment submits a statement of compatibility, signed under penalty of perjury, to each of those state agencies. The bill would require the service station dispensing an ethanol blend containing more than 10% and up to 15% ethanol to comply with certain labeling required by the State Fire Marshal. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, on or before December 31, 2026, the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations governing the labeling and safe use of gasoline and ethanol blends containing more than 10% and up to 15% ethanol with vapor control systems and their components that have been authorized for use pursuant to the above-described provisions. (2) Existing law generally regulates the storage of hazardous substances in underground storage tanks and requires underground storage tanks that are used to store hazardous substances to meet certain requirements. Existing law requires the State Water Resources Control Board and the State Air Resources Board to certify that the equipment that meets certain requirements for enhanced vapor recovery systems at gasoline dispensing facilities also meets the underground storage tank laws, as specified. This bill would require, until January 1, 2029, that any enhanced vapor control system at gasoline dispensing facilities suitable for gasoline and ethanol blends containing 10% ethanol be deemed certified or approved for the use of gasoline and ethanol blends containing more than 10% ethanol and up to 15% ethanol if the manufacturer of the equipment submits the aforementioned statement of compatibility. (3) Existing law establishes in the Department of Industrial Relations the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Board and authorizes the board to adopt, amend, or repeal occupational safety and health standards and orders. Existing law imposes various requirements on occupational safety and health standards, including that those standards be at least as effective as federal standards, as specified. This bill would require, until January 1, 2029, that any device used for dispensing flammable liquids with an ethanol content of up to 10% be deemed approved for purposes of occupational safety and health standards and orders for the use of gasoline and ethanol blends containing more than 10% ethanol and up to 15% ethanol if the manufacturer of the equipment submits the aforementioned statement of compatibility. (4) 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 requires the California Environmental Protection Agency, in coordination with the department, the State Water Resources Control Board, the State Air Resources Board, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to develop and implement policies to aid in diverting organic waste from landfills by promoting the use of agricultural, forestry, and urban organic waste as a feedstock for compost and by promoting the appropriate use of that compost throughout the state to improve the state's soil organic matter. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that would promote the recycling of organic byproducts by increasing the opportunities for organic byproducts to be recycled into livestock feed.
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. Existing law, until January 1, 2028, except for the issuance of a permit or other permit approval, exempts from the requirements of CEQA prescribed fire, reforestation, habitat restoration, thinning, or fuel reduction projects, or related activities, undertaken, in whole or in part, on federal lands to reduce the risk of high-severity wildfire that have been reviewed under the federal National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 meeting certain requirements. Existing law requires a lead agency, if it determines that a project qualifies for the above exemption and it determines to approve or carry out the project, to file a notice of exemption with the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and with the county clerk in the county in which the project will be located and to post the notice of exemption on its internet website together with a description of where the documents analyzing the environmental impacts of the project under the federal act are available for review. Existing law requires the lead agency, if it is not the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to provide the notice of exemption and certain information to the department. This bill would extend the above exemption and requirements on the lead agency indefinitely. By extending the requirements on the lead agency, 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.
