BILL NUMBER: AJR 21 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Olsen
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Achadjian, Bigelow, Dahle, Eggman,
Gray, Jones, Patterson, Perea, and Salas)
MAY 20, 2013
Relative to the federal Renewable Fuel Standard program.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AJR 21, as introduced, Olsen. Renewable Fuel Standard program:
reform.
This measure would urge Congress to swiftly enact House Resolution
1462, the RFS Reform Act of 2013, to revise the requirements of the
Renewable Fuel Standard program.
Fiscal committee: no.
WHEREAS, The Renewable Fuel Standard program was created under the
Energy Policy Act of 2005, and established the first renewable fuel
volume mandate in the United States; and
WHEREAS, The Energy Policy Act of 2005 required 7.5 billion
gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into gasoline by 2012 and,
under the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the Renewable
Fuel Standard program was expanded to include diesel, in addition to
gasoline; and
WHEREAS, The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
increased the volume of renewable fuel required to be blended into
transportation fuel from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion
gallons by 2022; and
WHEREAS, The 2013 requirement of corn-starch-derived ethanol of
13.8 billion gallons represents approximately 84 percent of the total
renewable fuel mandated in the Energy Independence and Security Act
of 2007; and
WHEREAS, At the time that the Renewable Fuel Standard program
became law, the daily price of a metric ton of corn used in biofuel
ethanol production was $99, and at the time the Energy Independence
and Security Act of 2007 became law, the daily price of a metric ton
of corn used in biofuel ethanol production had risen to nearly $180,
with the latest price of a metric ton of corn currently reported by
the United States Department of Agriculture as approximately $310,
representing an increase of over 300 percent since the inception of
the Renewable Fuel Standard program; and
WHEREAS, The Environmental Protection Agency has determined that
as a result of the Renewable Fuel Standard program, the increase in
overall commodity prices expected as a result of the demand for
agricultural products used in biofuel production will result in an
annual increase of food costs to consumers of over $3 billion by
2022; and
WHEREAS, The loss of alternative feedstock acreage to biofuel crop
production combined with the unprecedented rise in corn prices due
to the requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard program have
significantly contributed to the loss of dairy production capacity in
California, as represented by the 387 California dairies that have
gone out of business since 2007, with over 100 dairy farms lost in
2012 alone; and
WHEREAS, A bipartisan group of Members of Congress have authored
the RFS Reform Act of 2013 in the form of House Resolution 1462,
which will eliminate corn-based ethanol requirements, limit the
amount of ethanol that can be blended into conventional gasoline to
10 percent, and require the United States Environmental Protection
Agency to set cellulosic biofuels levels at production levels,
bringing fundamental and urgently needed reform to this costly and
unworkable federal policy; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly and the Senate of the State of
California, jointly, That the Legislature join a diverse group of
businesses, industry representatives, and dairymen across California
in urging Congress to swiftly enact House Resolution 1462, the RFS
Reform Act of 2013, and bring immediately necessary relief to
consumers and agricultural families of California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of
this resolution to the President and Vice President of the United
States, to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to the
Minority Leader of the House of Representatives, to the Majority
Leader of the Senate, to the Minority Leader of the Senate, and to
each Senator and Representative from California in the Congress of
the United States.