BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1691
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1691 (Gipson and Cristina Garcia)
As Amended May 12, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Transportation |13-1 |Frazier, Linder, |Melendez |
| | |Baker, Bloom, Brown, | |
| | |Chu, Daly, Dodd, | |
| | |Gomez, Mathis, | |
| | |Medina, Nazarian, | |
| | |O'Donnell | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |15-5 |Gonzalez, Bloom, |Bigelow, Chang, |
| | |Bonilla, Bonta, |Jones, Obernolte, |
| | |Calderon, McCarty, |Wagner |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, Chau, | |
| | |Holden, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 1691
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SUMMARY: Requires the California Air Resources Board (ARB) to
update the Enhanced Fleet Modernization Program (EFMP)
guidelines to create efficiencies in the EFMP Plus Up Pilot
Project (Plus Up). Specifically, this bill:
1)Declares the intent of the Legislature that Plus Up be focused
on disadvantaged communities.
2)Requires ARB, no later than June 30, 2017, to update EFMP
guidelines to ensure the following occur with regard to the
EFMP Plus Up Pilot Project (Plus Up):
a) That each local air district implementing a vehicle
retirement program with a backlog or a waiting list for
applicants is required to develop a plan on how to
eliminate the backlog or waiting list;
b) That specific steps are taken to ensure that the program
is not being misused, including, but not limited to, random
income eligibility verification and contact with program
participants at least once after their vehicles are
replaced;
c) That the program is accessible to the lowest income
disadvantaged communities by developing mandatory
partnerships with, and a mandatory minimum amount of
overall funding allocated for outreach to community-based
organizations;
d) Requires that an outreach and partnership report be
submitted to every six months after July 1, 2017;
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e) The applicant prescreening be enhanced, if deemed
appropriate; and,
f) That priority is given to the retirement of vehicles
that are 15 years old or older and vehicles with more than
75,000 miles.
1)Sunsets the provisions on July 1, 2022.
EXISTING LAW:
1)AB 32 (Núñez), Chapter 488, Statutes of 2006, requires ARB to
reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to the 1990 level by
2020 and authorized ARB to use market-based mechanisms (cap
and trade) to achieve compliance with these regulations.
2)Created the Consumer Assistance Program (CAP) to encourage
voluntary accelerated vehicle retirement ("car scrap") which
provides a monetary incentives to vehicle owners to retire
older, high polluting vehicles. Under this program owners who
scrap their vehicles are given $1,000 ($1,500 for low income
consumers) for vehicles that have failed their last smog test.
3)Established the EFMP pursuant to AB 118 (Núñez), Chapter 750,
Statutes of 2007, to be funded by a $1 surcharge on motor
vehicle registration, to encourage the retirement of high
polluting passenger vehicles and light- and medium-duty trucks
in areas with the greatest air quality impacts. The program
offers $1,000 ($1,500 for low-income consumers) to retire
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specified high-polluting vehicles.
4)Established the EFMP-Plus-Up as a pilot project in the Greater
Los Angeles area and San Joaquin Valley to help low-income
individuals and families retire high-polluting vehicles and
purchase cleaner cars. The program provides increasingly
larger cash payments for the lowest-income families to move
into the cleaner cars.
5)Established the Charge Ahead California Initiative
(Initiative), pursuant to SB 1275
(de León), Chapter 530, Statutes of 2014, to provide
incentives that increase the availability of zero-emission
vehicles (ZEV) and near-zero-emission vehicles (NZEV)
vehicles, particularly in disadvantaged and
low-and-moderate-income communities.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, one-time special fund cost of around $100,000 for the
ARB to update the EFMP and EFMP Plus-Up guidelines as prescribed
by July 1, 2017. Ongoing costs to monitor compliance should be
absorbable within existing program resources. [Air Pollution
Control Fund]
COMMENTS: Approximately 40% of emissions generated in
California can be attributed to the transportation sector.
Older vehicles are known to be some of the highest polluting
vehicles, because they lack the modern emission-reducing
technologies that are currently available. ARB estimates that
California has five times more cars that are over 20-years old
compared to the national average.
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To help improve air quality, meet the state's emissions
reduction goals, a number of programs have been developed to
encourage vehicle owners to scrap their older, high-polluting
cars and trucks and replace them with newer, cleaner vehicles.
While many of these programs are offered to all consumers, some
programs are specifically target toward disadvantaged
communities and lower-income residents who tend to own and
operate some of the oldest, highest-polluting cars on our roads.
EFMP is a vehicle retirement and replacement program that was
authorized by AB 118 and funded by a surcharge on motor vehicle
registrations. EFMP has two components. The first is the
retirement-only portion and the second is the
retirement-and-replacement. The retirement-only portion of the
program (CAP) is run by Bureau of Automotive Repair following
guidelines set by ARB. Specifically, CAP provides compensation
to vehicle owners to retire their older, high polluting
vehicles. CAP offers consumers $1,000 to retire an older, high
polluting vehicle ($1,500 for low-income consumers).
The retirement-and-replacement component of EFMP is administered
by the South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD) and
the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District in
partnership with ARB. This component provides higher incentives
to a person who retires a vehicle and purchases a replacement
vehicle that meets certain fuel economy requirements. The
program has tiered incentives, with the highest amounts allotted
to the lowest income participants and the cleanest replacement
vehicles. The Plus Up program offers additional incentives to
lower-income vehicle owners living in or near disadvantaged
communities in the South Coast or San Joaquin Valley regions if
they purchase new or used hybrid, plug-in hybrid or pure
zero-emission vehicles
For example, a qualifying participant who wants to purchase a
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plug-in hybrid (such as a Chevy Volt) or battery electric
vehicle (such as a Nissan LEAF) would receive $4,500 from EFMP
and an additional $5,000 from Plus Up for a total incentive of
$9,500. When coupled with a Clean Air Vehicle Project rebate,
an eligible consumer could receive as much as $12,000 towards
the purchase of a new electric car.
EFMP and Plus-Up have been extremely successful and has resulted
in the retirement of 292 high emitting vehicles in the first six
months of the program in the San Joaquin Valley alone. The
model used for the Plus-Up program in the San Joaquin Valley
differs slightly for the pilot program established in the South
Coast Air District. For example, in the San Joaquin Valley, the
program uses "grass roots" advertising to encourage low- and
moderate-income individuals and households to participate. The
programs are offered at "events" where participants are offered
free smog testing and information about what programs are
available. Participants are screened at the event to determine
their program qualification status. Following the screening
participants are encouraged to take part in various programs for
which they qualify. At the events, which are offered monthly,
substantial numbers of individuals are offered vouchers for smog
repairs and other interested, qualifying individuals informed
about the car scrap and vehicle replacement programs. Using the
pre-screening process, staff are able to identify qualifying
participants operating the oldest, highest polluting vehicles.
This style of outreach is contrasted with the Plus-Up program
piloted in the South Coast Air District whereby individuals are
encouraged to participate using more traditional outreach
methods like posters, flyers, billboards, and websites. While
this style of outreach has been successful, it has resulted in
long waiting lists of participants, it does not necessarily
provide the pre-screening that allows the oldest, dirtiest cars
to receive priority.
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The author has introduced this bill to help encourage the most
efficient use of EFMP funds within the Plus-Up program, to
encourage the replacement of the oldest and dirtiest cars from
California roadways, and to help the lowest-income individuals
and households access vehicle retirement and replacement
programs. To accomplish this, this bill would require ARB to
update EFMP guidelines by June 30, 2017, to ensure that
districts implementing the program have strategies in place to
eliminate backlogs and waiting lists. Additionally, this bill
would also call upon ARB to ensure the programs are not misused
by requiring income eligibility verification and follow up with
participants. This bill also calls upon ARB to continuously
evaluate the program to determine where program enhancements
might be made.
The requirement that ARB continuously work to enhance and update
the program will undoubtedly increase program success statewide
by encouraging the use of new and innovative methodologies to
better reach and assist low income program participants and
further encourage the retirement and replacement of the oldest
and dirtiest cars first. With these measures in place, this
bill will result in air quality improvements in some of
California's most highly polluted areas.
Please see the policy committee analysis for full discussion of
this bill.
Analysis Prepared by: Victoria Alvarez
/ TRANS. / (916) 319-2093 FN:
0002949
AB 1691
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