BILL NUMBER: AB 1405 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 23, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 28, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 14, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members De Leon and V. Manuel Perez
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Arambula, Caballero, Carter, Coto,
Fuentes, Hernandez, Mendoza, Salas, Saldana, and Solorio)
(Coauthor: Senator Romero)
FEBRUARY 27, 2009
An act to add Section 38597.4 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to air pollution.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1405, as amended, De Leon. California Global Warming Solutions
Act of 2006: Community Benefits Fund.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the
State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the
reporting and verification of emissions of greenhouse gases and to
monitor and enforce compliance with the reporting and verification
program, and requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse
gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas
emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act requires the
state board to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process
to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act authorizes the state
board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. The
act authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of fees to be paid
by the sources of greenhouse gas emissions regulated pursuant to the
act, and requires the revenues collected pursuant to that fee to be
deposited into the Air Pollution Control Fund and be available, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, for purposes of carrying out the
act.
This bill would establish the Community Benefits Fund, and would
require a minimum of 30% of revenues generated pursuant to the act,
including the fee discussed above, to be deposited into that fund.
The moneys in the fund would be used, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities in
California to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions or
mitigate direct health impacts of climate change in those
communities. The state board would be required to develop a
methodology to identify the most impacted and disadvantaged
communities. The state board, the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission, and the State Department of Public
Health would be required to jointly develop and recommend
adopt biennial plans for the use of funds.
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 38597.4 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:
38597.4. (a) There is hereby established in the State Treasury
the Community Benefits Fund. A minimum of 30 percent of the total
revenues generated each year pursuant to this division, including,
but not limited to, Section 38597, shall be deposited by the state
board into the Community Benefits Fund. The moneys in the fund shall
be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes
described in subdivision (b).
(b) (1) Funds appropriated by the Legislature from the Community
Benefits Fund shall be used solely in the most impacted and
disadvantaged communities in California to accelerate greenhouse gas
emission reductions or mitigate direct health impacts of climate
change in those communities. The Community Benefits Fund
Funds appropriated shall be used to provide
competitive grants for projects, including, but not limited to, any
projects that do any of the following:
(A) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while achieving cobenefits
such as reductions in other air pollutants, diversification of clean
energy sources, and improving energy efficiency.
(B) Minimize health impacts caused by global warming
climate change .
(C) Assist small businesses to reduce their greenhouse gas
emissions.
(D) Install or replace equipment that reduces greenhouse gas
emissions.
(D) Reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the installation or
replacement of equipment.
(E) Improvements to mass transit that reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, including, but not limited to, subsidies to commuters.
(F) Clean distributed electricity generation systems that reduce
greenhouse gas emissions.
(G) Energy efficiency upgrades for schools, senior centers, or
low-income housing that reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(H) Emergency preparedness for extreme weather events caused by
global warming climate change .
(2) The state board shall, before June 30, 2010, adopt a
methodology to identify the most impacted and disadvantaged
communities, meeting all of the following requirements:
(A) The methodology shall identify, through a peer review and
public process, the most impacted and disadvantaged communities as
those areas within each air basin with the highest 10 percent of air
pollution impacts, taking into account air pollution exposure and
socioeconomic indicators.
(B) The state board shall limit its analysis to a consideration of
only socioeconomic indicators for any air basin where variations of
air pollution exposure within the air basin cannot be determined.
(C) The air pollution exposure indicators to be considered shall
include, but not be limited to, criteria and toxic pollutant levels,
proximity to sources, and land use, to the extent data is readily
available.
(D) The socioeconomic indicators to be considered shall include,
but not be limited to, income and poverty level, educational
attainment, linguistic isolation, and vulnerability to air pollution
impacts, to the extent data is readily available.
(E) The methodology shall be reviewed and updated as necessary
through a peer review and public process along with the update of the
scoping plan required by subdivision (h) of Section 38561.
(3) (A) The state board, the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the State
Department of Public Health shall jointly develop and adopt
biennial plans for the use of funds under this section.
(B) The environmental justice advisory committee convened pursuant
to subdivision (a) of Section 38591 shall be consulted in developing
the biennial plans pursuant to subparagraph (A), including in the
development of draft plans. Draft plans shall be submitted to the
environmental justice advisory committee, and the committee shall
make recommendations on those draft plans, that shall be considered
prior to the adoption of the biennial plans pursuant to subparagraph
(A).
(4) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, projects
shall only be funded if the state board determines, based on the
facts available to it, that the use of moneys for that project would
be consistent with Article XIII A of the California Constitution and
case law construing that provision. The state board shall ensure in
this regard that no feepayer pays for a disproportionate share of the
global warming climate change harm
addressed by this section.
(c) Costs incurred to implement the requirements of this section
may be recovered under the fee authority described in Section 38597.