The California Urban Forestry Act of 1978 has a purpose of, among other things, promoting the use of urban forest resources for purposes of increasing integrated projects with multiple benefits in urban communities. The act requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to implement a program in urban forestry to encourage better tree management and planting in urban areas to increase integrated, multiple-benefit projects by assisting urban areas with innovative solutions to problems, as provided. The act authorizes the Director of Forestry and Fire Protection to make grants to provide assistance of 25% to 90% of costs for projects, as provided. This bill would require funds allocated to the department for the explicit purposes of supporting school greening, as defined, to be administered to provide grants to eligible local educational agencies, as defined, nonprofit organizations, cities, counties, and districts, including special districts, through a competitive grant process, as provided. The bill would require, on or before July 1, 2023, the department to develop the competitive grant process, including guidelines and selection criteria. The bill would require the department, before developing the grant process, to hold at least 2 public hearings to gather public input on the grant process development. The bill would, upon appropriation in the annual Budget Act, require funding for these purposes to be transferred to the School Greening and Resiliency Fund, which the bill would establish in the State Treasury.
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Existing law creates within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services. Existing law tasks the Office of Emergency Services with, among other things, establishing and leading the Wildfire Forecast and Threat Intelligence Integration Center, jointly with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, to collect, assess, and analyze fire weather data, atmospheric conditions, and other threat indicators of wildfire danger, and to develop and share intelligence products related to fire weather and fire threat conditions. Existing law also tasks the Office of Emergency Services with establishing and administering the FIRESCOPE Program (FIrefighting RESources of California Organized for Potential Emergencies) , to maintain and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of managing multiagency firefighting resources in responding to an incident. Existing law requires the Office of Emergency Services to carry out its responsibilities with respect to the FIRESCOPE Program in cooperation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Office of the State Fire Marshal, and with the advice of the Fire and Rescue Service Advisory Committee/FIRESCOPE Board of Directors. Section 2.2 of Article XIII A of the California Constitution establishes the Special District Fire Response Fund as a subaccount within the California Fire Response Fund within the State Treasury. Existing law requires moneys in the Special District Fire Response Fund to be appropriated by the Legislature for the purpose of funding fire suppression staffing in underfunded special districts that provide fire protection services, as provided. This bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to administer the Special District Fire Response Fund and, in cooperation with the board of directors of the FIRESCOPE Program, to develop a standard grant application form, establish an annual timeline to apply for grants, employ strategies to ensure that underfunded special district that provide fire protection services are aware of the availability of the Special District Fire Response Fund, establish reporting requirements for grant recipients, and develop metrics for consideration of grant applications, as specified.
The Corporation Tax Law, in modified conformity with federal law, provides an exemption from the taxes imposed by those laws for specified organizations. Existing law provides that tax-exempt status, under certain circumstances, may be suspended or revoked. Existing federal law defines various crimes against the established republican form of government, including treason, insurrection, and seditious conspiracy, as provided. This bill would authorize the Attorney General to make a finding that a tax-exempt organization has actively engaged in, or incited the active engagement in, acts or conspiracies defined as criminal under specified federal law, and likely to produce imminent violation of that federal law. The bill would require the Attorney General to notify the Franchise Tax Board of such a finding, and would state the existing authority of the Franchise Tax Board to revoke the tax-exempt status of the organization found to be in violation.
The California Constitution generally limits the maximum rate of ad valorem tax on real property to 1% of the full cash value of the property and defines "full cash value" for these purposes as the appraised value of real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred after the 1975 assessment. Pursuant to constitutional authorization, existing property tax law excludes from the definition of "newly constructed" for these purposes the construction or addition of any active solar energy system, as defined, through the 2023–24 fiscal year. Under existing property tax law, this exclusion remains in effect only until there is a subsequent change in ownership, but an active solar energy system that qualifies for the exclusion before January 1, 2025, will continue to receive the exclusion until there is a subsequent change in ownership. Existing law repeals this exclusion on January 1, 2025. This bill would extend the exclusion described above through the 2025–26 fiscal year, and would extend the repeal date to January 1, 2027. By imposing additional duties on local tax officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law requires any bill extending an existing tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would exclude the extension of the exclusion from these requirements. 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. Existing law requires the state to reimburse local agencies annually for certain property tax revenues lost as a result of any exemption or classification of property for purposes of ad valorem property taxation. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding those provisions, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse local agencies for property tax revenues lost by them pursuant to the bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law, until January 1, 2025, establishes the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program under the administration of the Director of the Office of Emergency Services to improve the physical security of nonprofit organizations that are at high risk of violent attacks or hate crimes due to ideology, beliefs, or mission, and repeals these provisions on that date. Existing law authorizes award recipients to use grant funds for various security enhancements, as specified. Under existing law, the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program limits the amount of any award to $200,000. This bill would additionally include as eligible security training. The bill would increase the amount an award recipient may be awarded from $200,000 to $500,000 and would authorize an award recipient to use up to 5% of grant funds towards management and administration, as described. The bill would limit the amount an award recipient may use on construction and renovation to $100,000 of the funds awarded. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to provide ongoing assistance to applicants that require a vulnerability or threat assessment, as specified. This bill would delete the above-described January 1, 2025, repeal date, thereby extending the operation of the California State Nonprofit Security Grant Program indefinitely.
Existing law establishes various offenses for a person who places or displays certain symbols, marks, signs, emblems, and other physical impressions, including, but not limited to, a Nazi swastika, hangs nooses, or burns or desecrates crosses or other religious symbols on private and nonprivate property, as specified, with the intent to terrorize a person, as specified. Existing law, for the first conviction, punishes a person who hangs a noose or places or displays a sign, mark, symbol, emblem, or other physical impression with the intent to terrorize a person, as specified, with imprisonment in county jail not to exceed one year, a fine not more than $5,000, or both the fine and imprisonment, and with imprisonment in county jail not to exceed one year, a fine not to exceed $15,000, or both the fine and imprisonment for a subsequent conviction. Existing law, for a person who engages in a pattern of conduct by placing or displaying certain symbols, as specified, allows a person's punishment to be increased to imprisonment of 16 months or 2 or 3 years, a fine not more than $10,000, or both. Existing law punishes a person convicted of burning or desecrating a religious symbol with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment, or imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or both the fine and imprisonment for the first conviction, and the same punishment for a subsequent conviction except the misdemeanor fine increases to $15,000. This bill would expand these offenses to include hanging a noose, placing or displaying a sign, mark, symbol, emblem, or other physical impression, including, but not limited to, a Nazi swastika, and burning, desecrating, or destroying a religious symbol, such as a cross, at schools and public places, generally, as specified, for the purpose of terrorizing a person, as specified. The bill would, for the first conviction, punish a person who hangs a noose, places or displays certain symbols, or burns or desecrates a religious symbol, as specified, with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $10,000, or both the fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $5,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. For a 2nd or subsequent conviction under these provisions, the bill would punish a person with imprisonment for 16 months or 2 or 3 years, by a fine of not more than $15,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment, or by imprisonment in a county jail not to exceed one year, by a fine not to exceed $10,000, or by both the fine and imprisonment. This bill would state the intent of the Legislature is to criminalize, for the purpose of terrorizing a person, the display or placement of the Nazi swastika and not swastikas associated with Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. By creating a new crime, 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.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates 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 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 requires the state board to conduct a series of public workshops to give interested parties an opportunity to comment on the plan and requires a portion of those workshops to be conducted in regions of the state that have the most significant exposure to pollutants. The act specifically includes as regions for these workshops communities with minority populations, communities with low-income populations, or both. This bill would instead include as regions for these workshops federal extreme nonattainment areas that have communities with minority populations, communities with low-income populations, or both. Under existing law, it is the policy of the state that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2045. This bill would revise that state policy to instead provide that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2040, 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2045, and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2035, as specified. Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires the PUC to ensure that facilities needed to maintain the reliability of the electrical supply remain available and operational. Existing law establishes an Independent System Operator (ISO) as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and requires the ISO to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the electrical transmission grid consistent with achieving planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the PUC, ISO, transmission owners, users, and consumers, to adopt a strategic plan for the state's electrical transmission grid using existing resources in order to identify and recommend actions required to implement investments needed to ensure reliability, relieve congestion, and meet future growth in load and generation. This bill would authorize the PUC and Energy Commission, upon request of the ISO, to disclose to the ISO confidential information relating to power purchase agreements with electric generation and energy storage projects for purposes of transmission planning. This bill would require the PUC, Energy Commission, and state board, on or before December 1, 2023, and annually thereafter, to issue a joint reliability progress report that reviews system and local reliability within the context of that state policy described above, with a particular focus on summer reliability, identifies challenges and gaps, if any, to achieving system and local reliability, and identifies the amount and cause of any delays to achieving compliance with all energy and capacity procurement requirements set by the PUC. This bill would require the PUC to develop a definition of energy affordability, as specified, and to use energy affordability metrics to guide the development of any protections, incentives, discounts, or new programs to assist residential customers facing hardships or disconnections due to electricity or gas bills and to assess the impact of proposed rate increases on different types of residential customers. The California Public Records Act requires a public agency, defined to mean a state or local agency, to make its public records available for public inspection and to make copies available upon request and payment of a fee, unless the public records are exempt from disclosure. The act makes specified records exempt from disclosure and provides that disclosure by a state or local agency of a public record that is otherwise exempt constitutes a waiver of the exemptions. This bill would specify that a disclosure made through the sharing of information between the ISO and a state agency does not constitute a waiver of the exemptions. Existing law prohibits information furnished to the PUC by a public utility, a business that is a subsidiary or affiliate of a public utility, or a corporation that holds a controlling interest in a public utility from being open to public inspection or made public, except as specified. This bill would authorize a present officer or employee of the PUC to share information with the ISO pursuant to an agreement to treat the shared information as confidential. 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. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain of the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC 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 generally designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution. Existing law establishes or authorizes the establishment of various incentive programs that are administered or funded by the State Air Resources Board to provide financial assistance for the purchase of zero-emission or near-zero-emission vehicles by individuals, including, among others, the Clean Cars 4 All Program. Under existing law, the Clean Cars 4 All Program is administered by the state 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. This bill would, on or before July 1, 2024, require the state board, with respect to the various zero-emission and near-zero-emission vehicle incentive programs administered or funded by the state board, to adopt certain revisions to those programs if the state board finds those revisions to be feasible. The bill would require the state board, if it finds that the adoption of the revisions is infeasible, to prepare a report, as specified, describing the rationale for the finding, to post the report on its internet website, and to provide a notice of the report to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the state board, contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature, to create a single unified education and application portal that enables an applicant for any of those programs to access information about the program and to submit one application for all of the programs. This bill would require the regulations implementing the Clean Cars 4 All Program to ensure that by January 1, 2025, all hybrid vehicles purchased using an incentive are capable of plug-in charging. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 44124.5 of the Health and Safety Code proposed by SB 1382 to be operative only if this bill and SB 1382 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board (state board) as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. This bill would require the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , to prepare an evaluation posted to the state board's internet website by June 1, 2024, that includes specified information relative to the deployment, development, and use of hydrogen. The bill would require the state board, in making this evaluation, to consult with the California Workforce Development Board and labor and workforce organizations. (2) Existing law requires the Energy Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and every 2 years thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report that includes an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state. This bill would require the Energy Commission, as part of the 2023 and 2025 editions of the integrated energy policy report, to study and model potential growth for hydrogen and its role in decarbonizing, as defined, the electrical and transportation sectors of the economy, and helping to achieve specified goals. (3) Existing law requires the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission to consider green electrolytic hydrogen an eligible form of energy storage, and to consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen. This bill would require the PUC, state board, and Energy Commission to consider other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen specifically in all of their decarbonization strategies, as defined.
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 approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020 and to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the 1990 level by 2030. This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature that state agencies aim to achieve net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases resulting from their operations no later than January 1, 2035, or as soon as feasible thereafter. The bill would require the Department of General Services, in consultation with the state board, and to the extent feasible, to publish, on its internet website or other publicly available location, an inventory of the greenhouse gas emissions of state agencies for the prior calendar year, on or before July 1, 2024, and annually thereafter until the goal has been achieved. The bill would require the department to develop and publish a plan, on or before January 1, 2026, that describes required actions and investments for achieving net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases and an estimate of the costs associated with the planned actions, and ensure that the required actions and investments are incorporated into the sustainability roadmaps of all state agencies. The bill would require the department to update the plan beginning June 30, 2028, and every 2 years thereafter until the goal has been achieved. The bill, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, would require the department to provide information, training, coordination, best practices, and other technical assistance to state agencies to help those state agencies implement the required actions and investments. The bill would require state agencies to incorporate the required actions and investments into their future budget proposals, as provided. The bill would require the department, beginning December 31, 2027, and biennially thereafter until the achievement of the above stated goal, to report to the Legislature on progress toward achieving that goal, as provided.