Senate Resolution 108 formally recognizes May 5, 2026, as World Asthma Day in California. The measure highlights the disproportionate impact of asthma on vulnerable populations, including communities of color and farmworker families, who face higher risks due to poor air quality and limited healthcare access. While the resolution does not create new laws, it expresses the Senate's support for asthma education, improved air quality standards, and evidence-based management practices in schools and healthcare settings. Additionally, the bill honors the Central California Asthma Collaborative for its work in community health programs.
This measure would recognize hydrogen as a key decarbonization tool when produced, transported, and utilized in accordance with a carbon intensity standard that ensures verifiable lifecycle greenhouse gas reductions; supports the continued development and refinement of carbon intensity frameworks to guide hydrogen policy, investment, and deployment; encourages state agencies to prioritize hydrogen deployment; and urges coordination to ensure hydrogen projects advance economic development, workforce opportunities, and environmental justice outcomes.
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 requires a lead agency to be responsible for determining whether the project is exempt from CEQA and whether an environmental impact report, negative declaration, or mitigated negative declaration is required, as provided. Existing law, for certain projects, establishes a ministerial review process with modified environmental assessment procedures, as provided. This bill, notwithstanding the above-described provisions relating to determinations by a lead agency, would require an environmental impact report, negative declaration, or mitigated negative declaration, as determined by the lead agency, for any project, except as provided, that includes the development, intensification, or substantial expansion of an industrial use if the project is located in or within 12 mile of an overburdened community, as defined. The bill would disqualify these projects from receiving a statutory exemption or ministerial review process. Because a lead agency would be required to determine the applicability of this requirement, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would require, on and after July 1, 2027, specified categories of notices prepared pursuant to the requirements of CEQA to be translated into all threshold languages, as defined, in the city or county where the project is located to ensure meaningful involvement of all impacted people. Because this bill would impose additional requirements on a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Office and Land Use and Climate Innovation, by July 1, 2027, to develop guidelines for this requirement, and would require the guidelines to allow lead agencies to develop a procedure for an interested party to request that interpretation services be made available, as specified. The bill would authorize the lead agency, if it develops that procedure, to require mandatory interpretation services only when a request has been made in advance of the hearing or meeting. This bill would require the lead agency to, among other things, provide a notice of any public hearing subject to the above-described requirements to owners and occupants of property located within 12 half mile of any parcel or parcels, and to any school located within one mile of any parcel or parcels, of a project site, not less than 30 days before the public hearing. The bill would require this public hearing to include oral translation services in all threshold languages spoken in the city or county, as provided. Because this bill would impose additional requirements on a lead agency, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would prohibit a minor inaccuracy in the translation of a notice or hearing from being a basis for invalidation of a public agency decision, unless the inaccuracy is found to preclude relevant information from being presented to the public, as provided. 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.
(1) Existing law requires the Secretary for Environmental Protection to implement a unified hazardous waste and hazardous materials management regulatory program, known as the unified program. Existing law requires every county to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program, and authorizes a city or local agency that meets specified requirements to apply to the secretary to be certified to implement the unified program, as a certified unified program agency. Existing law authorizes a state or local agency that has a written agreement with a certified unified program agency, and is approved by the secretary, to implement or enforce one or more of the unified program elements as a participating agency. Existing law requires the certified unified program agency in each jurisdiction, in conjunction with participating agencies, to develop and implement a single, unified inspection and enforcement program to ensure coordinated, efficient, and effective enforcement of the unified program and any local ordinance or regulation pertaining to the handling of hazardous waste or hazardous materials. Existing law requires the secretary to establish a statewide information management system capable of receiving all data collected by the unified program agencies and reported by regulated businesses and to make all nonconfidential data available on the internet. This bill would prohibit a city or county, or city and county, from approving a building permit for a new reactive chemical storage facility, as defined, with the potential for an explosion, including, but not limited to, due to thermal runaway reaction, that may cause injury or death, unless the proposed facility has a backup cooling system or other contingency system approved by the unified program agency and is not adjacent to a home. The bill would require a city council or county board of supervisors, before approving a building permit for that purpose, to provide the public with notice and the opportunity to comment. If a city or county, or city and county, approves a building permit for that purpose, the bill would require the city or county, or city and county, to notify the Office of Emergency Services and the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. The bill would make the approval of a building permit for certain reactive chemical storage facilities ineligible for a specified exemption from the California Environmental Quality Act. The bill would require a city, county, or city and county to include in the next revision of its emergency operations plan a specific designation for which emergency response department will serve as the lead agency for responding to hazardous materials incidents. By imposing additional requirements on cities and counties, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment to consider reactive chemical storage facilities as a factor in identifying disadvantaged communities for various purposes under existing law. This bill would revise the requirement for the secretary to make available on the internet all nonconfidential data collected by the unified program agencies and reported by regulated businesses to specifically authorize the secretary to determine the form and manner of making that data available on the internet. This bill would require the unified program agency in each jurisdiction to routinely conduct an inspection of each reactive chemical storage facility in its jurisdiction no less than once every 3 years. The bill would require the unified program agency to report the results of the inspection to the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and the Office of Emergency Services. By imposing additional requirements on unified program agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency to obtain and maintain state delegation of, and to implement, the federal accidental release prevention program, with certain amendments specific to the state. Pursuant to these provisions, a stationary source, as defined, with a process that has a regulated substance present in more than a threshold quantity is required to prepare and submit to the United States Environmental Protection Agency and the unified program agency a risk management plan, unless the unified program agency makes a specified determination to exempt the stationary source from the program. Existing law imposes criminal penalties upon a stationary source that knowingly violates the requirements of the program. This bill would expand the program's definition of "regulated substance" to include methyl methacrylate and would require the California Environmental Protection Agency to adopt a state threshold quantity applicable to methyl methacrylate through regulation. By adding an additional substance to the program, the bill would expand the scope of a crime and impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would provide that a stationary source that stores or uses methyl methacrylate is not eligible for exemption from the program. Because the bill would make changes to provisions enforced by unified program agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (3) The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities. (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 with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.
Existing law, the Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act (act) , regulates certain single-use packaging and plastic single-use food service ware, as provided. As part of its comprehensive statutory scheme, the act requires producers of covered materials to reduce and recycle covered plastic material and to ensure that covered materials that are offered for sale, distributed, or imported in or into the state on or after January 1, 2032, are recyclable or compostable, as provided. The act establishes, until January 1, 2037, the California Plastic Pollution Mitigation Fund, which consists of all environmental mitigation surcharges, interest, penalties, and other amounts collected pursuant to the act, as provided. The act requires, upon appropriation by the Legislature, that 60% of the moneys in the fund be expended to monitor and reduce the historical and current environmental justice and public health impacts of plastics, and that 40% of the moneys in the fund be expended to monitor and reduce the environmental impacts of plastics on terrestrial, aquatic, and marine life and human health. This bill would, among other things, require each expenditure made upon appropriation from the fund to comply with specified requirements, including, among others, prioritizing programs, projects, and initiatives that benefit communities most burdened by the impacts of plastic pollution or demonstrate meaningful and durable partnership with California Native American tribes and that provide multiple benefits. The bill would require each of those expenditures to achieve one or more of specified purposes, including, among others, sustained mitigation of the potential adverse health impacts of plastics, supporting a reduction in plastic production, use, and disposal, and supporting research, data collection, and monitoring activities, as specified. The bill would require each department, agency, or entity implementing a grant program funded by the fund to take specified actions, such as providing technical assistance and providing a simplified preapplication and application. The bill would require reimbursement of a grantee's or subgrantee's indirect costs by applying one of 4 enumerated rates, not to exceed 35% of the total grant award. The bill would authorize moneys from the fund to be expended on implementing the bill and would prohibit moneys from the fund from being expended on specified purposes. The bill would expand the entities eligible to receive grants from the fund, as specified. This bill would require the Secretary for Environmental Protection to annually publish a list of all program, project, and initiative expenditures made pursuant to the fund, as specified. The bill would authorize the secretary to request information from grant recipients, as provided.
Existing law requires the Department of Water Resources to update every 5 years the plan for the orderly and coordinated control, protection, conservation, development, and use of the water resources of the state, which is known as "The California Water Plan." Existing law requires the department to include a discussion of various strategies in the plan update, including, but not limited to, strategies relating to the development of new water storage facilities, water conservation, water recycling, desalination, conjunctive use, and water transfers, that may be pursued in order to meet the future needs of the state. Existing law requires the department to establish an advisory committee to assist the department in updating the plan. This bill would revise and recast certain provisions regarding The California Water Plan to, among other things, require the department to expand the membership of the advisory committee to include, among others, tribes, labor, and environmental justice interests. The bill would require the department, as part of the 2033 update to the plan, to update the interim planning target for 2050, as provided. The bill would require the target to consider the identified and future water needs for all beneficial uses, including, but not limited to, urban uses, agricultural uses, tribal uses, and the environment, and ensure safe drinking water for all Californians, among other things. The bill would require the plan to include specified components, including a discussion of the estimated costs, benefits, and impacts of any project type or action that is recommended by the department within the plan that could help achieve the water supply targets. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature the amendments, supplements, and additions included in the updates of the plan, together with a summary of the department's conclusions and recommendations, in the session in which the updated plan is issued. The bill would also require the department to conduct public workshops to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the plan.
Existing law, the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025, authorizes a local agency to enact an ordinance to require a short-term rental facilitator, as defined, to report, in the form and manner prescribed by the local agency, the physical address of each short-term rental, as defined, during the reporting period. Existing law requires a short-term rental facilitator, in a jurisdiction that has adopted an ordinance, to include in the listing of a short-term rental any applicable local license number associated with the short-term rental and any transient occupancy tax certification issued by a local agency. Existing law authorizes a local agency to, if the short-term rental facilitator is responsible for collecting and remitting the transient occupancy tax to the local agency pursuant to a local ordinance or collection agreement, conduct an audit or otherwise examine the records of the short-term rental facilitator documenting the receipt of the transient occupancy tax due and payable to the local agency. This bill would enact the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2026. The bill would authorize an Indian tribe, as defined, to exercise the same powers a local agency has under the Short-Term Rental Facilitator Act of 2025. The bill would provide that an "ordinance" under the act refers to a tribal law of an Indian tribe imposing a transient occupancy tax.
(1) The Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act establishes a statewide program for the control of the quality of all the waters in the state and makes certain legislative findings and declarations. Existing law defines the term "beneficial uses" for the purposes of water quality as certain waters of the state that may be protected against quality degradation, to include, among others, domestic, municipal, agricultural, and industrial supplies. This bill would add findings and declarations related to California tribal communities, as defined, and the importance of protecting tribal water use. The bill would add tribal water uses as waters of the state that may be protected against quality degradation for purposes of the defined term "beneficial uses." The bill would require any project or regulatory program subject to approval by the State Water Quality Control Board or a regional water quality control board, within a specified environmental review, and in any findings and declarations presented for state board or a regional board approval, to describe, with both quantitative and qualitative information, how the project or regulatory program will impact tribal water uses, and would require, on or before December 1, 2026, and every 2 years thereafter, the state board to publish a report on implementation of this provision on its internet website. (2) Existing law requires the state board to consult with and carefully evaluate the recommendations of concerned federal, state, and local agencies during the process of formulating or revising state policy for water quality control. This bill would additionally require the state board to consult and carefully evaluate the recommendations of concerned California tribal communities. (3) Existing law requires the state board to formulate and adopt state policy for water quality control. Existing law requires each regional board to formulate and adopt water quality control plans for all areas within the region and prohibits a water quality control plan, or a revision of the plan, adopted by a regional board from becoming effective unless it is approved by the state board. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt certain water quality control plans. Existing law requires a regional board to establish water quality objectives in water quality control plans that in its judgment will ensure reasonable protection of beneficial uses and the prevention of nuisance and requires each regional board to consider specified factors in establishing water quality objectives. This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2027, the state board to propose, and solicit tribal consultation and public comment on, water quality standards to achieve reasonable protection of tribal water uses into the water quality control plan for the San Francisco Bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta watershed. This bill would add consultations with California tribal communities and environmental justice considerations as factors for a regional board to consider in establishing water quality control objectives. The bill would exempt adoption of tribal water uses within water quality control plans from the California Environmental Quality Act, and would require, upon the next triennial review of a water quality control plan after January 1, 2026, each regional board to define tribal beneficial uses in its water quality control plan and, where applicable, adopt water quality standards to achieve reasonable protection of tribal water uses into water quality control plans. (4) Existing law requires the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency, on or before December 1, 2007, to enter into a memorandum of understanding for the purposes of establishing the California Water Quality Monitoring Council, which the state board is required to administer. Existing law requires the monitoring council to review existing water quality monitoring, assessment, and reporting efforts and to recommend specific actions and funding needs necessary to coordinate and enhance those efforts. Existing law requires the memorandum of understanding to describe the means by which the monitoring council shall formulate recommendations to reduce redundancies, inefficiencies, and inadequacies in existing water quality monitoring and data management programs and to ensure that water quality improvement projects financed by the state provide specific information necessary to track project effectiveness with regard to achieving clean water and healthy ecosystems. This bill would require, on or before December 1, 2026, the California Environmental Protection Agency and the Natural Resources Agency to amend the memorandum of understanding to incorporate participation from California tribal communities in the actions of the monitoring council, and would describe these potential methods of participation. The bill would require the memorandum of understating to include recommendations on how to achieve and maintain tribal water uses through state board and regional board regulatory actions and other programs, as specified. (5) Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Existing provisions of the California Constitution make the Attorney General, subject to the powers and duties of the Governor, the chief law officer of the state. Under existing law, the Attorney General may maintain an action for equitable relief in the name of the people of the State of California against any person for the protection of the natural resources of the state from pollution, impairment, or destruction. This bill would continue in existence in the Department of Justice a Bureau of Environmental Justice. Existing law requires the State Air Resources Board to prepare, in consultation with specified entities, a monitoring plan regarding the availability and effectiveness of toxic air contaminant and criteria air pollutant advanced sensing monitoring technologies and existing community air monitoring systems, as specified, and based on the findings and recommendations of that plan, select, in consultation with the air pollution control districts and air quality management districts, the highest priority locations around the state to deploy community air monitoring systems, as provided. This bill would require monitoring in a location selected by the state board to remain active for no fewer than 5 years, with an option for the air district and the state board to agree to extend active monitoring for additional 5-year periods, as necessary. The bill would require the state board to update the above-described monitoring plan by July 1, 2026, and every 5 years thereafter. The bill would require the update to be considered and approved by the state board before it is implemented. The bill would subject these requirement to available funding. The bill would require, by March 1, 2027, and annually thereafter, the state board, in consultation with the air districts, to report to specified committees of the Legislature about the progress the state board and the air districts have made in implementing these and other provisions, as specified. The bill would require the chair of the state board and the executive directors or air pollution control officers of the relevant air districts to appear before the relevant policy committees of the Legislature to present on the progress in implementing those requirements. By imposing additional requirements on air districts, 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, 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.
