BILL NUMBER: AB 32 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Pavley
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Chan and Laird)
(Coauthor: Senator Simitian)
DECEMBER 6, 2004
An act to amend Sections 42801 and 42823 of the Health and Safety
Code, relating to air pollution.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 32, as introduced, Pavley. Greenhouse Gas Emissions:
California Climate Action Registry.
Existing law requires the Secretary of the Resources Agency to
establish the California Climate Action Registry (hereafter registry)
as a public benefit nonprofit corporation, and makes legislative
findings and declarations relating to the registry. Existing law
requires the registry to perform various functions, including, among
other things, the adoption of procedures and protocols for the
reporting and certification of greenhouse gas emission reductions
resulting from a project or an action of a participant in the
registry.
This bill would revise the functions and duties of the registry by
requiring the registry, in coordination with the California
Environmental Protection Agency and the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission, to adopt specified
procedures and protocols both for monitoring, estimating,
calculating, reporting, and certifying greenhouse gas emission
reduction projects, and for monitoring, estimating, calculating,
reporting, and certifying greenhouse gas emissions resulting from
specified industrial sectors, as provided. This bill would require
the registry to coordinate with state agencies to promote the
development of harmonized reporting standards, as specified, and
would require the registry, to the extent possible, to coordinate
with other states and regions to ensure that businesses and
organizations operating both in this state and out of state follow
uniform protocols when reporting to multiple registries, states, or
regions.
This bill would also make additional legislative findings and
declarations.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 42801 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
42801. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) It is in the best interest of the State of California, the United
States of America, and the earth as a whole, to encourage voluntary
actions to achieve all economically beneficial reductions of
greenhouse gas emissions from California sources.
(b) Mandatory greenhouse gas emissions reductions may be imposed
on California sources at some future point, and in view of this, the
state has a responsibility to use its best efforts to ensure that
organizations that voluntarily inventory their emissions receive
appropriate consideration for changes in emissions quantities made
prior to the implementation of any mandatory programs.
(c) Past initiatives in the state that took early and responsible
action to reduce air pollution and ozone smog have demonstrated
political, economic, and technological leadership, and have proven to
benefit the state.
(d) The state's tradition of environmental leadership should be
recognized through the establishment of a registry to provide
documentation of greenhouse gas emissions levels voluntarily achieved
by sources in the state. The registry will provide participants an
opportunity to register greenhouse gas emissions information in a
consistent format using publicly reviewed and adopted procedures and
protocols.
(e) The state hereby commits to use its best efforts to ensure
that organizations that establish greenhouse gas emissions baselines
and register emissions results that are certified in accordance with
this chapter receive appropriate consideration under any future
international, federal, or state regulatory scheme relating to
greenhouse gas emissions. The state cannot guarantee that any
regulatory regime relating to greenhouse gas emissions will recognize
the baselines and annual results recorded in the registry.
(f) The state hereby commits to review future international or
federal programs related to greenhouse gas emissions and to make
reasonable efforts to promote consistency between the state program
and these programs and to reduce the reporting burden on
participants, if changes to the state program are consistent with the
goals and intent of Section 42810.
(g) The state has supported developing standardized greenhouse gas
emission accounting, reporting, and certifying guidelines through
the creation of the California Climate Action Registry. Further
industry-specific and project greenhouse gas emissions reporting
protocols are needed to facilitate participation in the registry and
to provide streamlined guidance for certain sectors. To the extent
feasible, the state hereby commits to coordinate greenhouse gas
emissions programs with other states and regions, until a national
program is established to limit greenhouse gas emissions.
SEC. 2. Section 42823 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
42823. The registry shall perform all of the following functions:
(a) Provide participants with referrals to approved providers for
technical assistance and advice, upon the request of a participant,
on any or all of the following:
(1) Designing programs to establish greenhouse gas emissions
baselines and to monitor, estimate, calculate, report, and certify
greenhouse gas emissions.
(2) Establishing emissions reduction goals based on international
or federal best practices for specific industries and economic
sectors.
(3) Designing and implementing organization-specific plans that
improve energy efficiency or utilize renewable energy, or both, and
that are capable of achieving emission reduction targets.
(4) Designing plans for the conservation and management of native
forest reservoirs as a means to assist participants in attaining
emission reduction goals and reporting annual emissions results.
(b) In coordination with the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission, the registry shall adopt and periodically
update a list of organizations recognized by the state as qualified
to provide the detailed technical assistance and advice in
subdivision (a) and assist participants in identifying and selecting
providers that have expertise applicable to each participant's
circumstances. The registry shall coordinate with the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection and the State Board of Forestry and Fire
Protection to provide referrals to providers for purposes of
paragraph (4) of subdivision (a).
(c) The registry shall adopt procedures and protocols for the
reporting and certification of greenhouse gas emission reductions
resulting from a project or an action of a participant. A participant
shall report emission reductions as a separate item in its annual
emissions results.
(d) (1) In coordination with
the California Environmental Protection Agency and the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the registry shall
perform both of the following functions:
(A) Adopt procedures and protocols for
monitoring, estimating, calculating, reporting, and certifying
greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects, including, but not
limited to, projects that improve energy efficiency, utilize
renewable energy, and promote conservation tillage.
(B) Adopt procedures and protocols for monitoring, estimating,
calculating, reporting, and certifying greenhouse gas emissions
resulting from all of the following industrial sectors:
( i I) Oil and natural gas
exploration, extraction, processing, refining, transmission, and
distribution.
(ii) Cement production.
(iii) Municipal solid waste and industrial waste hauling and
disposal.
(2) The California Environmental Protection Agency and the State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission are strongly
encouraged to partially fund the development of the registry's
protocols for greenhouse gas emissions reduction projects under
subparagraph (A), and to assist in finding resources for the
development of the registry's industry specific protocols under
subparagraph (B).
(e) In coordination with the Resources
Agency and consistent with the data and information acquired and
developed pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 25730 of the Public
Resources Code, the registry shall adopt procedures and protocols for
the monitoring, estimating, calculating, reporting, and certifying
of carbon stocks and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the
conservation and conservation-based management, including
reforestation, of native forest reservoirs in California in order to
permit participants to include the results of those activities as a
participant's registered emissions results, or as a part thereof.
Procedures and protocols shall require, at a minimum, that those
forestry activities meet the following criteria in order to be
reported as a participant's emissions results, or as a part thereof:
(1) Forestry activities that are reported as a participant's
emissions results, or as a part thereof, shall be based on forest
management practices within a defined project area that exceed
applicable federal, state, and local land use laws and regulations,
including, but not limited to, the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act
of 1973 (Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 4511) of Part 2 of
Division 4 of the Public Resources Code). Applicable federal, state,
and local land use laws and regulations shall be those in effect each
time a participant registers a defined project area in the registry.
(2) Forestry activities that are reported as a participant's
emissions results, or a part thereof, shall occur on forestland that
is permanently dedicated to forest use through a restriction, granted
in perpetuity, on the use that may be made of real property that is
consistent with the conservation purposes listed in Section 170(h)(4)
(A)(ii) and (iii) of Title 26 of the United States Code.
(3) Forestry activities reported as emissions results, or as a
part thereof, shall reflect the amount of time that net carbon gains
are stored.
(4) Forestry activities maintain and promote native forest types.
(5) If emissions results are derived from forest lands undergoing
harvest and regeneration, those results are derived from natural
forest management practices.
(f) Adopt procedures and protocols for
certification of reported baseline emissions and emissions results.
When adopting procedures and protocols for the certification, the
registry shall consider the availability and suitability of
simplified techniques and tools.
(f)
(g) Qualify third-party organizations that
have the capability to certify reported baseline emissions and
emissions results, and that are capable of certifying the
participant-reported results as provided in this chapter.
(g)
(h) Adopt procedures and protocols,
including a uniform format for reporting emissions baselines and
emissions results to facilitate their recognition in any future
regulatory regime.
(h)
(i) Maintain a record of all certified
greenhouse gas emissions baselines and emissions results. Separate
records shall be kept for direct and indirect emissions results. The
public shall have access to this record, except for any portion of
the data or information that is exempt from disclosure pursuant to
the California Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with
Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code).
(i)-Encourage
(j) Coordinate with state agencies to promote the
development of harmonized reporting standards for measuring,
accounting, reporting, and certifying greenhouse gas
emissions. The registry shall also encourage organizations from
various sectors of the state's economy, and those from various
geographic regions of the state, to report emissions, establish
baselines and reduction targets, and implement efficiency improvement
and renewable energy programs to achieve those targets , and,
to the extent possible, coordinate its policies and programs with
policies and programs in other states and regions to ensure that
businesses and organizations operating both in this
state and out of state follow uniform and consistent protocols
when reporting to multiple registries, states, or regions .
(j)
(k) Recognize, publicize, and promote
participants.
(k)
(l) In coordination with the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission and the state board, adopt
industry-specific reporting metrics at one or more public meetings.
(l)
(m) In consultation with the state board,
adopt procedures and protocols for the reporting and certification of
reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases, to the extent permitted
by state and federal law, for those reductions achieved prior to the
operative date of the regulations adopted pursuant to subdivision
(a) of Section 43018.5.