BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 19
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 20, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                      AB 19 (Ruskin) - As Amended:  May 4, 2009

          Policy Committee:                              Natural  
          ResourcesVote:6-3                             

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the Air Resources Board (ARB) to establish a  
          program by which consumer product manufactures can voluntarily  
          assess the "carbon footprint" of their products and include that  
          information on standardized product labels.  Specifically, this  
          bill:

          1)Requires ARB to establish a program for the voluntary  
            assessment, verification, and labeling of the "carbon  
            footprint"-meaning the carbon and other greenhouse gas (GHG)  
            emissions associated with the entirety of a product's life  
            cycle, potentially from production to disposal-of consumer  
            products sold in this state.

          2)Requires ARB to establish, when feasible and practical,  
            protocols by which product manufacturers can voluntarily  
            determine the carbon footprint of their products.

          3)Requires ARB to develop a standardized label for use on  
            consumer products that communicates the carbon footprints of  
            those products.  The board may issue such labels to  
            manufacturers that meet ARB's carbon footprint measuring  
            standards.

          4)Declares that product manufacturers that label their products  
            with ARB-approved carbon footprint labels are responsible for  
            all costs related to review and validation of the carbon label  
            information required by ARB.

          5)Allows ARB to assess an application fee on manufacturers that  
            participate in the carbon label program to pay the costs of  








                                                                  AB 19
                                                                  Page  2

            the program.


           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Potential special fund costs, ranging from $100,000 to  
            $500,000, to adopt protocols as described in the bill,  
            depending on how ARB interprets the feasibility, practicality,  
            and cost-effectiveness of developing carbon footprint  
            measurement standards for various products. (Air Pollution  
            Control Fund)

          2)Ongoing annual special fund costs, likely in the tens of  
            thousands, to administer the program. (Air Pollution Control  
            Fund)

           




































                                                                 AB 19
                                                                  Page  3

          COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale.  The author believes consumers should be able to  
            determine a product's carbon footprint by looking at a  
            standardized label, similar to nutrition labels currently  
            found on food products.  Such information will, the author  
            contends, allow consumers to select products with relatively  
            smaller carbon footprints that contribute less to climate  
            change. 

           2)Supporters  , including some environmental organizations, argue  
            that the product labels described in this bill will empower  
            consumers to make more informed and, therefore, better  
            decisions when purchasing products and encourage producers to  
            make products that emit fewer GHGs.  In addition, advocates  
            note that the bill is written to minimize costs because it  
            builds upon work already underway at ARB, authorizes ARB to  
            use data developed by nonstate sources, and makes product  
            manufacturers who participate in the program pay for all  
            resulting program costs.  
           
           3)Opponents  , including representatives of some product  
            manufactures, protest the type of consumer product labeling  
            proposed by the bill.  Such labeling, they claim, is confusing  
            to consumers because it distorts highly technical,  
            product-specific data.  
           
           4)Related legislation.  AB 2538 (Ruskin, 2008) would have  
            required ARB to report to the Legislature, by January 1, 2010,  
            on the feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and potential design  
            of carbon labels that estimate the amount of greenhouse gas  
            emissions (GHG) associated with individual consumer products.  
            The bill failed in this committee.

            Opponents further claim that many product manufactures already  
            have invested resources into develop "carbon footprint" data.  
            Requiring ARB to develop protocols for the determination of  
            such data may force manufacturers to invest additional dollars  
            to comply with ARB's requirements, but with little or no  
            improvement in the data produced.  A better approach, these  
            opponents argue, would be to allow ARB to review and certify  
            the carbon footprint data produced by manufacturers.  
             
           Analysis Prepared by  :    Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081