BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SB 11
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Date of Hearing: August 21, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Mike Gatto, Chair
SB 11 (Pavley) - As Amended: August 6, 2013
Policy Committee:
TransportationVote:10-3
Natural Resources
6-2
Urgency: Yes State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill extends numerous surcharges and fees on vehicle
registration, boat registrations, and tire sales to fund the AB
118 and Carl Moyer programs. Specifically, this bill:
1)Extends for eight to nine years, until January 1, 2024, the
sunset dates of each of the various fees and surcharges that
support AB 118 and the Moyer Program, as follows:
a) $3 increase of the annual vehicle registration fee.
b) $8 increase of the smog abatement fee, paid to register
vehicles that are less than six years old and therefore
exempt from smog check.
c) $5 increase of the fee for special identification plates
for construction equipment, farm trailers, cotton trailers,
logging vehicles, and cemetery equipment.
d) $10 or $20 (depending upon the even or odd year of
registration) increase of the vessel registration fee.
e) $0.75 from the retail fee on new tires to the Air
Pollution Control Fund (ARB) for the Moyer Program and
other air emission reduction efforts.
f) $2 surcharge for local air districts on vehicle
registrations to fund emission reduction programs,
including the Moyer Program.
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2)Preempts, until January 1, 2024, the Air Resources Board (ARB)
from enforcing regulations related to the Clean Fuels Outlet
regulation and the deployment of hydrogen-fueling stations.
Requires the Energy Commission (CEC) to allocate $20 million
annually until there are at least 100 publicly available
hydrogen-fueling stations.
3)Requires a benefit-cost score preference that reflects the
expected or potential greenhouse gas emission reduction per
dollar awarded by CEC and the reasonably expected or potential
criteria pollutant emission reductions per dollar awarded by
ARB.
4)Specifies that consumer incentives for light-duty vehicles
shall not be greater than compensation given under the
Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program at the Bureau of
Automotive Repair (BAR).
5)Adds intelligent transportation systems as a category of
projects eligible for funding under the AB 118 program.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Increased annual revenues of $180 million (special fund) for
various AB 118 programs at CEC, ARB and the BAR.
2)Increased annual tire revenues of $26 million for the Carl
Moyer Program at ARB.
3)Annual costs in the hundreds of thousands of dollars to CEC,
ARB, and BAR to administer the programs (special fund).
COMMENTS
1)Rationale. The author intends this bill to ensure funding,
currently set to expire, for programs that reduce air
emissions from existing vehicles and develop cleaner
alternative vehicle fuels.
2)Background. The state has several distinct programs that seek
to address air pollution caused by existing vehicles and to
develop cleaner alternative vehicle fuels for widespread use.
These programs include:
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a) The Carl Moyer Program , administered by ARB, which
provides grants to fund the incremental cost of
cleaner-than-required heavy-duty engines. Carl Moyer has
funded the incremental cost of a diverse range of project
types, including purchase of new alternative-fuel
heavy-duty vehicles (primarily transit buses and trash
trucks) and engine replacements or agricultural irrigation
pumps, construction equipment, and marine vessels.
According to ARB, these projects have reduced smog-forming
nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by over 18 tons per day and
toxic diesel particulate matter (PM) emissions by almost 1
ton per day, with a cost-effectiveness of about $2,600 per
ton of NOx reduced. Funding for Carl Moyer is conditioned
upon a cost-effectiveness threshold.
The Moyer Program has received funding from a variety of
sources, including bond funds, and currently receives
dedicated funding from a $0.75 charge on the sale of each
new tire, which expires January 1, 2015. The Moyer Program
was modified in 2004 by AB 923 (Firebaugh and Pavley,
Chapter 707), which allowed local air districts to levy a
$2 vehicle registration surcharge to fund local Moyer-like
projects.
b) AB 118 Programs , created in 2007 by Chapter 750 (Núñez),
temporarily raised various vehicle and vessel registration
fees and smog abatement fees. The statute created three
new accounts into which the resulting revenue are to be
placed in order to pay for new programs, as follows:
i) Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle
Technology Fund . With estimated annual revenues of about
$105 million, this fund provides resources to CEC for
financial awards to further the development and
commercialization of technologies for renewable and
nonpetroleum fuels that help to achieve the state's
climate change goals.
ii) Air Quality Improvement Fund . Bringing in about $45
million each year, the AQI Fund is to provide resources
for ARB to award competitive grants for air quality
improvement projects related to fuel and vehicle
technologies.
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iii) Enhanced Fleet Modernization Subaccount . With
annual revenues of about $30 million, this subaccount of
the High Polluter Removal and Repair Account is to be
used by the BAR, in consultation with ARB, to provide
financial compensation for the retirement of
high-polluting California vehicles.
c) Hydrogen Fueling Stations On January 26, 2016, ARB
considered amendments to the Clean Fuels Outlet regulation
as part of its Advanced Clean Cars package. In order for
the amendments to be officially adopted, ARB is required to
submit the amendment package to the Office of
Administrative Law within one year of the initial
rulemaking notice. The amendments were intended to ensure
that there was sufficient hydrogen fueling infrastructure
necessary to meet forecasted fuel cell vehicle deployment.
Under the amendments, this infrastructure would have helped
to ensure sufficient availability of hydrogen after fuel
cell vehicles had become commercially available (i.e.,
large volumes). In order to meet the infrastructure needs,
the amendments would have required that oil refiners assure
that hydrogen fueling stations were available to the public
once certain triggers were met (10,000 fuel cell vehicles
in a regional air basin or 20,000 fuel cell vehicles
statewide).
The ARB did not file the amendments with the Office of
Administrative Law because ARB contends that a better way
to achieve the goals of the regulation was developed
through legislation, which is embodied in this bill. In
the event this bill fails passage, ARB issued a new notice
in February of this year to amend the regulation. If this
bill fails passage, ARB will consider the amendments at its
September board hearing.
Analysis Prepared by : Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081
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