BILL ANALYSIS Ó
SENATE COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
Senator Wieckowski, Chair
2015 - 2016 Regular
Bill No: AB 197
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|Author: |Eduardo Garcia |
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|Version: |6/8/2016 |Hearing |6/29/2016 |
| | |Date: | |
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|Urgency: |No |Fiscal: |Yes |
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|Consultant:|Rebecca Newhouse |
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SUBJECT: State Air Resources Board: greenhouse gases.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1) Establishes the California Air Resources Board (ARB) with 14
members, 12 of which are appointed by the Governor with consent
of the Senate, and two members appointed by the Senate Committee
on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly, respectively. Of the
12 members appointed by the Governor, six must have specified
qualifications and six must be board members from air districts,
and the two members of the Legislature are required to be
persons who work directly with pollution-burdened and vulnerable
communities. (Health and Safety Code §39510)
2) Existing law, under the California Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006 (HSC §38500 et seq.):
a) Requires ARB to determine the 1990 statewide greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions level and approve a statewide GHG
emissions limit that is equivalent to that level, to be
achieved by 2020, and to adopt GHG emissions reductions
measures by regulation to achieve the maximum technologically
feasible and cost-effective reductions in GHG emissions in
furtherance of achieving the statewide GHG emissions limit.
b) Requires ARB when adopting regulations, to the extent
feasible and in furtherance of achieving the statewide GHG
goal, to do the following:
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i) Ensure that activities undertaken to comply with the
regulations do not disproportionately impact low-income
communities.
ii) Ensure that activities pursuant to the regulations do
not interfere with efforts to achieve and maintain federal
and state ambient air quality standards and to reduce
toxic air contaminant emissions, and consider
cost-effectiveness of these regulations.
iii) Consider overall societal benefits, including
reductions in other air pollutants, diversification of
energy sources, and other benefits to the economy,
environment, and public health.
iv) Consider cost-effectiveness of these regulations.
c) Authorizes ARB to include the use of market-based
mechanisms to comply with the regulations.
This bill:
1) Establishes the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change
Policies, consisting of three members of the Senate and three
members of the Assembly, to ascertain facts and make
recommendations to the Legislature concerning the state's
climate change programs and policies.
2) Requires ARB to consider adopting measures to achieve the
statewide GHG emissions limit based on the following priority:
a) Measures that result in direct GHG emissions reductions
from large stationary sources, such as refineries, and the
transportation sector in the most technologically feasible
and cost effective manner possible that accounts for the
societal costs of GHG emissions.
b) Measures that result in direct reductions in GHG emissions
from sources other than large stationary sources and
transportation in the most technologically feasible and cost
effective manner possible that accounts for the societal
costs of GHG emissions.
3) Requires ARB rank GHG emission reduction measures based on the
AB 197 (Eduardo Garcia) Page 3 of ?
reductions in GHG emissions, criteria pollutants, and toxic air
contaminants, and cost-effectiveness.
4) Requires ARB to make all data related to the above ranking
available to the public and present on the rankings annually at
a regular ARB meeting.
5) Establishes six-year terms for voting members of ARB.
6) Specifies that a member of ARB whose appointment satisfies local
air district membership requirements for ARB's makeup, shall not
be a member of ARB effective immediately if they cease to hold
the qualifying membership of a local air district.
7) Requires that two Legislative members serve as ex-officio,
nonvoting members of ARB, with one member appointed by the
Senate Committee on Rules, and the other member appointed by the
Speaker of the Assembly.
8) Provides that the provisions of this bill are only operative if
SB 32 (Pavley) is enacted and becomes law on or before January
1, 2017.
Background
1) Air Resources Board. The Air Resources Board was created in
1967 through the Mulford-Carrell Act, which combined two
Department of Health bureaus, the Bureau of Air Sanitation and
the Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board.
AB 1062 (Costa, Chapter 579, Statutes of 1993) added a public
member and a permanent member representing the San Joaquin
Valley Unified Air District, to increase the board's membership
from 9 to 11.
In 2012, AB 146 (Dickinson, Chapter 522, Statutes of 2012)
expanded the board membership from 11 to 12, adding a
requirement that one member represent an air district in the
Sacramento region.
Six of the board members must have certain qualifications
(e.g., automotive engineering; chemistry, meteorology, or
related field; surgeon or an authority on health effects). The
other 6 members must be board members from the following
entities: South Coast AQMD, Bay Area AQMD, San Joaquin Valley
AB 197 (Eduardo Garcia) Page 4 of ?
AQMD, San Diego APCD, one of six Sacramento region air
districts, and a board member from any other district. These
board members must reflect the "qualitative requirements" of
the other 6 members to the extent practicable.
In 2015, AB 1288 (Atkins, Chapter 586, Statutes of 2015) adds
two additional members to the board, which increased the
membership from 12 to 14, appointed by the Senate Committee on
Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly, and requires those
members be persons who work directly with pollution-burdened and
vulnerable communities.
The Board members serve part-time, except the Chairperson, who
serves as a full-time member.
2) The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. In 2006, the Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006, AB 32 (Núñez, Pavley, Chapter
488, Statutes of 2006) established a statewide GHG emissions
limit by 2020. AB 32 defines greenhouse gasses (GHGs) as
carbon dioxide (CO2), methane, nitrous oxide,
hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride
and requires ARB to determine the 1990 statewide GHG emissions
level and approve a statewide GHG emissions limit that is
equivalent to that level, to be achieved by 2020.
AB 32 requires ARB, among other things, to:
Inventory greenhouse gas emissions in California.
Implement regulations that achieve the maximum
technologically feasible and cost-effective reduction of
GHG emissions and impose fees for administrative
implementation costs.
Identify and adopt regulations for discrete early
action measures.
Prepare and approve a scoping plan to achieve the
maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
reduction of GHG emissions by 2020, to be updated every
five years.
Convene an Environmental Justice Advisory Committee to
advise ARB in the development of the scoping plan.
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Appoint an economic advisory committee to obtain
recommendations for GHG reduction measures.
The statute also specifies that ARB may include market-based
compliance mechanisms in the AB 32 regulations after
considering the potential for direct, indirect, and cumulative
emission impacts from these mechanisms, including localized
impacts in communities that are already adversely impacted by
air pollution, and must design any market-based compliance
mechanisms to prevent any increase in the emissions of toxic
air contaminants or criteria air pollutants. Additionally, AB
32 requires that market-based compliance mechanisms maximize
additional environmental and economic benefits for California,
as appropriate.
1) AB 32 Scoping Plan. Pursuant to AB 32, ARB approved the first
Scoping Plan in 2008. The Scoping Plan outlined a suite of
measures aimed at achieving 1990-level emissions, a reduction of
80 million metric tons of CO2 (MMT CO2e). Average emission data
in the Scoping Plan reveal that transportation accounts for
almost 40% of statewide GHG emissions, and electricity and
commercial and residential energy sector account for over 30% of
statewide GHG emissions. The industrial sector, including
refineries, oil and gas production, cement plants, and food
processors, was shown to contribute 20% of California's total
GHG emissions.
The 2008 Scoping Plan recommended that reducing GHG emissions
from the wide variety of sources that make up the state's
emissions profile could best be accomplished through a
cap-and-trade program along with a mix of other strategies
including:
a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS);
light-duty vehicle GHG standards;
expanding and strengthening existing energy efficiency
programs, and building and appliance standards;
achieving a 33% Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS);
regional transportation-related GHG targets; and
creating targeted fees on water use and high global
warming potential pollutants.
The basic design of the program, as recommended by the original
Scoping Plan, is that the combination of direct regulatory
measures and cap-and-trade is intended to achieve the emission
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reduction target by 2020. Specifically, the Scoping Plan lays
out a strategy where the overall limit on GHG emissions from
most of the California economy is "capped" through a
cap-and-trade program, and direct regulations within both
capped and uncapped sectors would achieve additional emissions
reductions.
Pursuant to authority under AB 32, ARB adopted a Low Carbon
Fuel Standard in 2009, and a cap-and-trade program, approved on
December 13, 2011.
Of the 80 MMTCO2 of GHG emissions reductions required to reach
the 2020 AB 32 target, four programs are estimated by ARB to
result in the largest emissions reductions, including cap and
trade, LCFS, energy efficiency measures and the RPS. Together,
they are projected to result in 70% of the total emissions
reductions necessary to meet the 2020 goal. The measures that
make up the other 30% include the Advanced Clean Cars program,
which sets GHG emissions standards for passenger vehicles, the
Sustainable Communities and Climate Protection Act of 2008,
created by SB 375 (Steinberg, Chapter 728, Statutes of 2008),
which requires ARB to set regional targets for GHG emissions
reductions from passenger vehicle use, programs for the
reduction of high global warming potential gasses, and others.
Scoping Plan Update. ARB approved an update to the Scoping Plan
on May 22, 2014. The update asserts that California is on track
to meet the near-term 2020 greenhouse gas limit and is well
positioned to maintain and continue reductions beyond 2020 as
required by AB 32.
Comments
1) Purpose of Bill. According to the author, "In order for
California to remain an economic and environmental leader the
state will need to also be a leader on issues related to equity.
Placing the health and economic impacts of climate policy on
vulnerable populations second will stunt the state's prosperity.
A great degree of transparency and investment in California's
environmentally and socioeconomically disadvantaged populations
has the potential to yield significant climate, economic, public
health and quality of life benefits while knocking down barriers
to opportunity."
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2) Term limits. AB 197 limits the term of office for ARB's voting
members to six years. As ARB's jurisdiction includes a number
of complex policy issues and growing challenges (e.g., climate
change and GHG emissions reductions), it may be prudent to allow
voting members serve for additional terms in order to retain
institutional knowledge on the Board. The committee may wish to
amend the bill to allow voting members serve more than one
six-year term.
3) Contingent enactment. AB 197 (E. Garcia) contains contingent
enactment language with SB 32 (Pavley), currently in the
Assembly Natural Resources Committee, and will only become
operative if SB 32 (Pavley) is enacted.
Related/Prior Legislation
SB 32 (Pavley) requires ARB to approve a statewide GHG emissions
limit of 40% below the 1990 GHG emissions level to be achieved by
2030.
SOURCE: Asian Pacific Environmental Network
California Environmental Justice Alliance
SUPPORT:
None received
OPPOSITION:
None received
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