BILL NUMBER: AB 572 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Atkins FEBRUARY 20, 2013 An act to add Section 38571.5 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 572, as introduced, Atkins. California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: market-based compliance mechanisms. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum, technologically feasible, and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The act authorizes the state board to include use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature. This bill, for purposes of determining the viability of incentivizing greenhouse gas emissions reductions through increased energy efficiency, would require the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to identify and evaluate the energy efficiency investments of at least one large-scale building development project that the state board determines will likely provide a significant low-cost opportunity for greenhouse gas emissions reductions through investment in energy efficient measures that are more stringent than applicable building code standards. 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. Section 38571.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read: 38571.5. To determine the viability of incentivizing greenhouse gas emissions reductions through increased energy efficiency, the state board, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, shall identify and evaluate the energy efficiency investments of at least one large-scale building development project that the state board determines will likely provide a significant low-cost opportunity for greenhouse gas emissions reductions through investment in energy efficient measures that are more stringent than applicable building code standards.