BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 570
Page 1
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 570 (Rubio)
As Amended April 25, 2011
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE : 40-0
TRANSPORTATION 14-0 APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Bonnie Lowenthal, |Ayes:|Fuentes, Harkey, |
| |Jeffries, Achadjian, | |Blumenfield, Bradford, |
| |Blumenfield, Bonilla, | |Charles Calderon, Campos, |
| |Buchanan, Eng, Furutani, | |Davis, Donnelly, Gatto, |
| |Galgiani, Logue, Miller, | |Hall, Hill, Lara, |
| |Norby, Portantino, | |Mitchell, Nielsen, Norby, |
| |Solorio | |Solorio, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Authorizes the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air
Pollution Control District (District) to administer a voluntary
program to replace or retrofit high-polluting school buses.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Authorizes the District to administer a voluntary program to
replace or retrofit high-polluting school buses, using only
interest generated from the funds allocated to it from the
Traffic Congestion Relief Fund.
2)Repeals the District's existing authority to develop and
administer a vehicle exchange program to replace
high-polluting vehicles with donated, smog-compliant vehicles.
3)Requires the District, in implementing the new program, to
follow the California Air Resources Board's (ARB) "2008
Lower-Emission School Bus Program Guidelines," giving funding
priority to model year 1987 and older school buses.
4)Requires that the District submit to the Legislature, by
January 1, of 2013, and 2014, a report on the implementation
and status of the program, including, but not limited to, the
number of school buses replaced or retrofitted, and the
estimated emission reductions achieved through the program.
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5)Sunsets the program on January 1, 2014.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Designates generally the ARB as the state agency with the
primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from
vehicles, and air pollution control districts and air quality
management districts with the primary responsibility for the
control of air pollution from all other sources.
2)Establishes the District to administer a regional air quality
improvement program for Fresno, Kings, Madera, Merced, San
Joaquin, Stanislaus, and Tulare counties, and a portion of
Kern County.
3)Creates, as approved by the statewide voters, the Traffic
Congestion Relief Act of 2000 that established the
Transportation Congestion Relief Program (TCRP), committing
$6.4 billion to specific projects designated in law. One such
program was the San Joaquin Valley Emergency Clean Air
Attainment Program that provided $25 million to the District
for incentives to reduce emissions from heavy-duty diesel
engines operating within the District's boundaries.
4)Authorizes the District to use the interest earnings to
administer a program to voluntarily exchange high-polluting
automobiles for donated replacement vehicles (SB 23 (Cogdill)
Chapter 634, Statutes of 2007).
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, makes approximately $2.5 million in interest earnings
available for the school bus program created by this bill.
Absent this bill, interest earnings would be available to the
California Transportation Commission to fund other
transportation projects.
COMMENTS : Under current law, the District was appropriated $25
million to award incentives to reduce emissions from heavy-duty
diesel engines operating in the District. Although almost all
of the initial appropriation has been expended for those
purposes, approximately $2.5 million in interest earnings on the
initial appropriation were left over once the incentives were
awarded. Normally, those interest earnings would have reverted
SB 570
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to the TCRP, from which the California Transportation Commission
allocates funding for a variety of transportation projects.
SB 23 (Cogdill) authorized the District to use the remaining
interest earnings to administer a program to voluntarily
exchange high-polluting automobiles for donated replacement
vehicles. The intention was for the District to partner with
one or more private entities (such as an automobile manufacturer
or rental car company) that would be willing to donate newer,
less polluting automobiles for the exchanges. The District has
been unable to secure donated automobiles and hence no exchanges
have taken place.
Accordingly, since the SB 23 program has been inactive, this
bill would authorize the District to use the remaining interest
earnings, upon appropriation of the Legislature, to administer a
program to replace or retrofit high-polluting school buses
within the District, following guidelines established by ARB.
This authority would sunset on January 1, 2014.
The author contends that school buses serve a vital need in the
state by transporting students to and from school. However,
school buses that were built prior to 1987 are also one of the
biggest mobile polluters in the state. In the Central Valley
alone, there are over 100 school buses in operation that were
manufactured prior to 1987. Most alarmingly, more than one out
of every four school age children in Kern County has been
diagnosed with asthma, a much higher percentage than most
counties in the state. Allocating funds to replace pre-1987
buses will improve air quality in communities throughout the
Central Valley and California.
ARB guidelines: The ARB staff, in coordination with the
California Energy Commission and the local air pollution control
districts, has developed guidelines to establish a
Lower-Emission School Bus Program. The guidelines provide
criteria for the purchase of new school buses and retrofits of
existing school buses to reduce particulate matter emissions.
The bus replacements and retrofits of existing school buses will
reduce school children's exposure to harmful diesel exhaust
emissions. This bill would require that the funds authorized
for school bus purchase and retrofit conform with these adopted
guidelines.
SB 570
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Analysis Prepared by : Ed Imai / TRANS. / (916) 319-2093
FN: 0002201