BILL NUMBER: AB 2522 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Arambula
(Principal coauthor: Senator Florez)
FEBRUARY 21, 2008
An act to add Chapter 5.8 (commencing with Section 40610) to Part
3 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to air
quality.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2522, as introduced, Arambula. San Joaquin Valley Unified Air
Pollution Control District.
(1) Existing law authorizes air pollution control districts and
air quality management districts, except as provided, to levy a fee
up to $2 on motor vehicles, and authorizes the districts to increase
this fee up to $6 if certain conditions are met.
This bill would authorize the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air
Pollution Control District to increase this fee by up to but not
exceeding $30 for incentive-based programs to achieve surplus
emissions reductions, as specified. The bill would require the Bureau
of State Audits to audit the assessment of fees and expenditure of
funds pursuant to these provisions and require the state board to
assess the use of these fees in achieving and maintaining state and
federal ambient air standards.
The bill would authorize the San Joaquin Valley district to adopt
rules and regulations to reduce vehicle trips in order to reduce air
pollution from vehicular sources.
The district would be required to submit a specified proposal
relating to vehicle fees. By imposing this duty on the San Joaquin
Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program.
(2) The bill would become operative only if SB 240 of the 2007-08
Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective.
(3) 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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Chapter 5.8 (commencing with Section 40610) is added to
Part 3 of Division 26 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
CHAPTER 5.8. SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY CLEAN AIR ATTAINMENT PROGRAM
40610. The Legislature finds and declares as follows:
(a) Residents of the San Joaquin Valley suffer some of the worst
air quality in the world. This poor air quality poses a significant
threat to public health, the environment, and the economy of the
valley.
(b) The extreme difficulty for the valley to meet state and
federal ambient air quality standards requires an urgent and unified
program that combines more strict clean air rules and regulations and
ongoing funding to clean up those sources that cannot be regulated
effectively.
(c) The purpose of this chapter is to establish a program for the
San Joaquin Valley to achieve state and federal ambient air quality
standards by the earliest practicable date.
40612. (a) In order to provide funding for air pollution control
programs needed to achieve and maintain state and federal air
quality, the district may do both of the following:
(1) Notwithstanding the limits on the amount of the motor vehicle
fee specified in Sections 44223 and 44225, increase the fee
established pursuant to these sections by up to, but not exceeding,
thirty dollars ($30) per motor vehicle per year for the purposes of
establishing and implementing incentive-based programs to achieve
surplus emissions reductions that the district determines are needed
to remediate air pollution harms created by motor vehicles on which
the fee is imposed and that are intended to achieve and maintain
state and federal ambient air quality standards required by the
federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.). Except for the
amount of the fee, any increase shall be subject to Chapter 7
(commencing with Section 44220) of Part 5, including, but not limited
to, the adoption of a resolution providing for both the fee increase
and a corresponding program for expenditure of the moneys raised by
the increased fees for the reduction of mobile source emissions.
(2) Notwithstanding Section 40717.9, adopt rules and regulations
to reduce vehicle trips in order to reduce air pollution from
vehicular sources.
(b) Fees adopted pursuant to this section are in addition to any
other fees imposed by the district, and may be charged in any of
fiscal years 2009-10 to 2023-24, inclusive. Fees may be assessed
after the 2012-13 fiscal year only if the United States Environmental
Protection Agency approves the district's proposed reclassification
of its nonattainment status for ozone from severe to extreme. The
fees adopted pursuant to this section are for the district portion of
the total amount needed to achieve and maintain state and federal
ambient air quality standards. At least ten million dollars
($10,000,000) shall be used to mitigate the impacts of air pollution
on public health and the environment in disproportionately impacted
environmental justice communities in the San Joaquin Valley. The
district board shall convene an environmental justice advisory
committee, selected from a list given to the board by environmental
justice groups from the San Joaquin Valley, to recommend the
neighborhoods in the district that constitute environmental justice
communities, and how to expend funds within these communities.
(c) (1) The fees adopted pursuant to this section shall become
effective after the state board makes both of the following findings:
(A) The district has undertaken all feasible measures to reduce
nonattainment air pollutants from sources within the district's
jurisdiction and regulatory control.
(B) The district has notified the state board that fees have been
adopted pursuant to this section and provided the state board with an
estimate of the total funds that will be provided annually by each
of those fees.
(2) The state board shall file a written copy of its findings made
pursuant to this subdivision with the Secretary of State within two
days of its determination.
(3) The fees adopted pursuant to this section shall be collected
nine months after the requirements of paragraph (2) are met.
40613. (a) The Bureau of State Audits shall audit the district's
assessment and expenditure of any fees authorized pursuant to Section
40612 every two years that the fee is assessed, and shall submit
these audits to the Legislature within two weeks of their completion.
(b) The state board shall assess the district's progress in using
any fees assessed pursuant to Section 40612 to achieve and maintain
state and federal ambient air quality standards every two years that
the fee is assessed, and shall submit these assessments to the
Legislature within two weeks of their completion.
40614. The district shall submit an assessment to the Legislature
by January 1, 2010, on the manner in which vehicle license fees or
other types of fees could be imposed on vehicles that are not
registered in the district, but that travel through the district.
SEC. 2. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a
local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section
17556 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3. This bill shall only become operative if Senate Bill 240
of the 2007-08 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective.