BILL NUMBER: SB 535 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 31, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 24, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator De León
FEBRUARY 17, 2011
An act to add Part 5 (commencing with Section 71420) to Division
34 of the Public Resources Code, relating to climate change.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 535, as amended, De León. California Communities Healthy Air
Revitalization Trust.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the
State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the
reporting and verification of emissions of greenhouse gases and to
monitor and enforce compliance with the reporting and verification
program, and requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse
gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas
emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act requires the
state board to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process
to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act authorizes the
state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms.
The act authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of fees to be
paid by the sources of greenhouse gas emissions regulated pursuant
to the act, and requires the revenues collected pursuant to that fee
to be deposited into the Air Pollution Control Fund and be available,
upon appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of carrying out
the act.
This bill would establish the California Communities Healthy Air
Revitalization Trust in the State Treasury and would require
a minimum of 10% of specified revenues generated for the state each
year from the act, to be deposited into that trust . The
moneys in the trust would be used, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities, as
defined, to fund programs or projects that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions or mitigate direct health or environmental impacts of
climate change through competitive grants, loans, or other funding
mechanisms. The bill would require the Secretary for
Environmental Protection State Air Resources Board
to administer moneys appropriated from the trust, establish
criteria and procedures, and meet other specified requirements in
connection with implementation.
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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California embraced the challenge posed by climate change with
the passage of the California Global Warming Solutions Act in 2006,
enacted as Chapter 488 of the Statutes of 2006 ,
(Assembly Bill 32). Assembly Bill 32 recognizes the
disproportionate impacts climate change will have on disadvantaged
and low-income communities in California, which already face
disproportionate impacts from substandard air quality in the form of
higher rates of respiratory illness, hospitalizations, and premature
death.
(b) Assembly Bill 32 recognizes the potential vulnerability of
California's low-income and disadvantaged population to efforts to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions and requires that activities taken to
comply with Assembly Bill 32 do not disproportionately impact those
communities.
(c) Assembly Bill 32 recognizes the public health impacts of
climate change and requires that activities taken to comply with
Assembly Bill 32 consider the localized and cumulative impacts in
communities that are already adversely impacted by air pollution.
(d) Assembly Bill 32 requires that public and private investment
be directed toward the most disadvantaged communities in California
to provide an opportunity for small businesses, schools, affordable
housing associations, and other community institutions to participate
in and benefit from statewide efforts to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions.
(e) Assembly Bill 32 does not provide a definition, however, for
California's most impacted and disadvantaged communities, nor
direction on how the state will mitigate adverse impacts from climate
change in these communities, nor direction on how the state will
ensure these communities can participate in and receive investments
from activities taken pursuant to Assembly Bill 32 and not experience
disproportionate impacts.
(f) Since the passage of Assembly Bill 32, the State Air Resources
Board and other state agencies have adopted various regulatory
programs to enable California to achieve Assembly Bill 32's
greenhouse gas emissions reduction target. The people of California
voiced their strong support for continued implementation of Assembly
Bill 32 with the defeat of Proposition 23 in November 2010.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that this act continue
California's implementation of Assembly Bill 32 by directing
resources to the state's most impacted and disadvantaged communities
to ensure activities taken pursuant to that authority will provide
economic and health benefits to these communities as originally
intended.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that funds collected
pursuant to this act continue California's implementation of Assembly
Bill 32 by achieving additional emission reductions and mitigating
direct health impacts on California's most impacted and disadvantaged
communities.
SEC. 2. Part 5 (commencing with Section 71420) is added to
Division 34 of the Public Resources Code, to read:
PART 5. CALIFORNIA COMMUNITIES HEALTHY AIR REVITALIZATION
TRUST
71420. This part shall be known, and may be cited, as the
California Communities Healthy Air Revitalization Trust (Cal CHART).
71421. As used in this part, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Trust" means the California Communities Healthy Air
Revitalization Trust.
(b) (1) "Most impacted and disadvantaged communities" means either
those areas having the highest 10 percent air pollution exposure and
socioeconomic vulnerability within an air basin that does not meet
one or more national or state ambient air quality standards, or those
areas having the highest 10 percent socioeconomic vulnerability to
direct health or environmental impacts of climate change.
(2) The evaluation criteria for air pollution exposure shall
include, at a minimum, criteria and toxic air pollution levels,
proximity to sources of air pollution, and sensitive populations.
(3) The evaluation criteria for socioeconomic vulnerability shall
include, to the extent feasible, multiple indicators, including, but
not limited to, poverty level, percent home ownership, unemployment
level, and educational attainment.
71422. (a) The California Communities Healthy Air Revitalization
Trust is established in the State Treasury. Not less than 10
percent of the revenues deposited in the Air Pollution Control Fund
pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and
Safety Code), other than revenues collected for administrative
purposes pursuant to Section 38597 of the Health and Safety Code,
shall be allocated to the trust and used, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, for the purposes described in this part. These revenues
shall include, but are not limited to, revenues from the state of
compliance instruments pursuant to Part 5 (commencing with Section
38570) of Division 25.5 of the Health and Safety Code, penalties
collected pursuant to Part 6 (commencing with Section 38580) of
Division 25.5 of the Health and Safety Code, or generated by any
future carbon pricing mechanism adopted pursuant to Division 25.5
(commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code.
Moneys in the trust are available, upon appropriation
by the Legislature for the purposes described in this part.
(b) (1) Moneys allocated to the trust shall be used solely in the
most impacted and disadvantaged communities in California.
(2) Moneys allocated to the trust shall be used to fund programs
or projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or mitigate direct
health impacts of climate change, through competitive grants, loans,
or other funding mechanisms.
(3) To the extent allowed by law, and consistent with paragraph
(2), moneys allocated to the trust may be appropriated for green
collar employment or training opportunities for the most impacted and
disadvantaged communities.
(4) Up to 5 percent of the moneys allocated to the trust may be
used for purposes of administering this part, upon appropriation by
the Legislature.
(c) To the extent that funds allocated to the trust are provided
to existing programs, those funds shall be used to supplement, not
supplant, those programs to meet the goals of this part.
71423. (a) The secretary in consultation with the
Climate Action Team State Air Resources Board
shall administer moneys appropriated from the trust and shall
establish criteria and procedures for the implementation of this
part. The secretary shall implement State Air
Resources Board shall begin implementation of the program
created pursuant to this part before January 1, 2013
within 90 days of finding that more than five million
dollars ($5,000,000) has been deposited in the trust .
(b) The secretary State Air Resources
Board , following an open and public process, shall develop and
adopt a report that describes the support structure and framework
for the implementation of this part, the list of the most
impacted and disadvantaged communities in California that shall be
updated every three years, the types of programs and
projects to be funded under this part, the selection and oversight
process for the programs and projects to be funded, and the
eligibility criteria. The report shall be made available to the
public on the California Environmental Protection Agency's
State Air Resou rces Board's Internet
Web site.
(c) By July 1, 2012, and every three years
Upon implementation of the program, and by every third January 1
thereafter, the secretary State Air
Resources Board , in consultation with the Climate Action Team,
in an open process, shall develop and adopt the list of the
most impacted and disadvantaged communities in California
and triennial plans describing the specific type of programs
and projects to be solicited for funding during the three-year
period, the plans period. The plans and lists
shall be made public on the California Environmental
Protection Agency's State Air Resources Board
Internet Web site.
71424. (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), the
State Air Resources Board shall only approve a program or project for
funding after determining, based on the available evidence, that the
use of moneys for that program or project is consistent with the
requirements for the use of moneys derived from valid regulatory
fees, as established by the California Supreme Court in Sinclair
Paint Co. v. State Bd. of Equalization (1997) 15 Cal.4th 866 and
reaffirmed in California Farm Bureau Federation v. State Water
Resources Control Bd. (2011) 51 Cal.4th 421.
(b) The requirements of subdivision (a) do not apply to the use of
penalty moneys, if those moneys are segregated from fee moneys.
71424. 71425. Nothing in this part
shall be construed as resulting in any taxpayer paying a higher tax
within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIII A of the California
Constitution.