BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 892|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 892
Author: Furutani (D)
Amended: 7/9/09 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMM : 9-0, 7/7/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman,
Hollingsworth, Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Kehoe, Oropeza
SENATE ENV. QUALITY COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/13/09
AYES: Simitian, Runner, Ashburn, Corbett, Hancock,
Lowenthal, Pavley
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 6/1/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program
SOURCE : South Coast Air Quality Management District
DIGEST : This bill provides that returned or unspent
funds from an obligated contract received by a local agency
under the Goods Movement Emission Reduction Program (GMERP)
may either be awarded to fund other equipment projects
included on the same competitively ranked list approved by
the Air Resources Board (ARB) pursuant to the grant
agreement, or be returned to ARB for reallocation to other
projects in the same source category in the same trade
CONTINUED
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corridor. This bill also allows ARB not to allocate funds
to a local agency until the local agency is ready to enter
into a contract with an equipment owner.
ANALYSIS : Existing law, under the GMERP Law:
1. Requires an applicant (local public entity (air
pollution control district)) receiving funds under the
program to have up to 2 years from the date funds are
allocated to award a contract for a project, or else
the funds revert to the California Ports
Infrastructure, Security, and Air Quality Improvement
Account (Account) for allocation. Funds not
liquidated within 4 years of the contract award date
between the applicant and the contractor must also
revert to that Account.
2. Requires the State Air Resources Board (ARB) to
submit an annual report to the Legislature summarizing
its activities related to administration of the GMERP
Law. The report must include information relating to
funded projects, allocated funds, project locations,
project status, and project emission reductions.
This bill:
1. Authorizes returned funds or unspent funds from
obligated contracts received by the applicant prior to
the end of the 4 year liquidation period to be awarded
by the applicant to fund equipment projects included
on the same competitively ranked list approved by the
ARB pursuant to the grant agreement, or if there are
no other eligible projects included on that list,
returned to the ARB for reallocation to an applicant
pursuant to ARB guidelines. The ARB guidelines must
follow certain priorities and all funds allocated by
the applicant must be liquidated within 4 years of the
original contract award or must revert to the Account.
2. Requires ARB to include a description of any changes
to the grant agreement scope or changes to grant award
amounts.
Background
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The Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality and Port
Security Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1B), approved by
voters November 2006, included provisions for $1 billion to
reduce emissions associated with freight movement along the
state's trade corridors. SB 88 (Committee on Budget and
Fiscal Review) Chapter 181, Statutes of 2007, among other
things included the GMERP Law to provide guidance for ARB
to implement the program.
ARB must consider certain criteria in evaluating projects
(e.g., emission reduction magnitude, public health benefit,
cost-effectiveness; reduction in greenhouse gases; degree
to which funds are leveraged from other sources). Projects
eligible for funding include replacement, repower, or
retrofit of heavy-duty diesel trucks, diesel locomotive
engines, harbor craft, and cargo handling equipment;
on-shore electrical power; mobile or portable shoreside
distributed power generation; and infrastructure
electrification to reduce engine idling.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/17/09)
Automobile Club of Southern California
Bay Area Air Quality Management District
California Air Pollution Control Officers Association
California State Automobile Association
Harbor Association of Industry & Commerce
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, "Due to
the slowing economy, some GMERP recipients are backing out
of their contracts and returning GMERP funds to the
district. This may occur because a company cannot fund
their share of the project, or the company is simply going
out of business. Although the local air districts have
dozens of qualified projects waiting to receive GMERP
funding, current law does not allow the air district to
apply the returned funds to otherwise qualified projects.
Funds must be returned to the main Prop 1B account,
re-appropriated by the legislature, and then awarded by the
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[ARB]."
The author notes that this bill "would allow funds
resulting from a cancelled contract to be applied to an
approved back-up project. If no eligible project exists,
then funds would revert to the [ARB]. The amendment would
not change current law with respect to total time a
district has to liquidate funds."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Tom
Berryhill, Blakeslee, Blumenfield, Brownley, Buchanan,
Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway,
Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon, DeVore, Duvall,
Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes,
Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gilmore,
Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill, Huber,
Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu, Logue,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava,
Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Yamada, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Bill Berryhill, Block
JA:nl 8/17/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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