BILL ANALYSIS
AB 32
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 32 (Pavley)
As Amended March 31, 2005
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 6-2 APPROPRIATIONS 13-5
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|Ayes:|Hancock, Koretz, Laird, |Ayes:|Chu, Bass, Berg, |
| |Nava, Salda?a, Wolk | |Calderon, Levine, |
| | | |Karnette, Klehs, Leno, |
| | | |Nation, Monta?ez, Mullin, |
| | | |Salda?a, Yee |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|La Malfa, Keene |Nays:|Sharon Runner, Emmerson, |
| | | |Haynes, Nakanishi, |
| | | |Walters |
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SUMMARY : Expands the responsibilities of the California Climate
Action Registry (Registry) by specifying the Registry work in
coordination with the California Environmental Protection Agency
and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission to adopt procedures and protocols on greenhouse gas
emissions for oil and natural gas exploration, extraction,
processing, refining, transmission, and distribution and cement
production and municipal solid waste and industrial waste
hauling and disposal.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Registry as a nonprofit public benefit
corporation to voluntarily record and register greenhouse gas
emissions reductions made by California entities after 1990.
2)Requires the Registry to provide referrals to approved
providers for advice on designing programs to establish
emissions baselines and to monitor and track greenhouse gas
emissions, establishing emissions reduction goals, and
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.
AB 32
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3)Requires the Registry to perform various functions, including
among other things, adopting standards for verifying emissions
reductions, adopting a list of approved auditors that verify
emission reductions, establishing emissions reduction targets,
designing and implementing efficiency improvement plans,
maintaining a record of all emission baselines and reductions,
and recognizing, publicizing, and promoting entities that
participate in the Registry.
4)Requires the Registry adopt procedures and protocols for the
various offsets that a participant can use to mitigate
emissions.
5)Requires the Registry adopt procedures and protocols for the
monitoring, estimating, calculating, reporting, and certifying
of carbon stores and carbon dioxide emissions resulting from
the conservation and conservation-based management of native
forest reservoirs in California, so that participants can
include those conservation activities in registered emissions
results.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, moderate costs, about $210,000 in fiscal year
2005-06, to the Registry to develop the specified procedures and
protocols.
COMMENTS : California established the Registry in 2000 to
encourage entities to start voluntarily reducing their
greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide, and to
register the savings under guidelines established by the
Registry. The Registry establishes emissions baselines against
which any future federal or state greenhouse gas emission
reduction requirements may be applied. It encourages voluntary
actions by Registry participants to increase energy efficiency
and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and record voluntary
greenhouse gas emissions made after 1990.
According to the author's office, on two different occasions (SB
527 (Sher) Chapter 769, Statutes of 2001 and SB 812 (Sher)
Chapter 423, Statutes of 2002) the Legislature has passed laws
to expand and clarify activities of the Registry. This bill is
the next iteration of legislative direction to expand the work
of the Registry to the oil and natural gas, cement production,
AB 32
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and municipal solid and industrial waste industries by
establishing additional procedures and protocols to support
California's efforts to measure and monitor emissions from
sources within its boundaries.
Analysis Prepared by : Kyra Emanuels Ross / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0009657