BILL ANALYSIS
AB 2329
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Date of Hearing: May 12, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 2329 (Ruskin) - As Amended: April 26, 2010
Policy Committee: Natural
ResourcesVote:6-3
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill establishes in law the Climate Action Team (CAT),
which currently exists per executive order. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Establishes the CAT, chaired by the Secretary for
Environmental Protection and made up of the heads of several
other state agencies, to coordinate state climate policy
consistent with AB 32 and Executive Order No. S-3-05 (EO).
2)Assigns the following activities to the CAT, all in keeping
with AB 32 and the EO:
a) Identify and review activities, funding programs, and
other revenue of state agencies that may be coordinated.
b) Recommend policies, investment strategies, and
priorities.
c) Provide information to local governments and regional
activities.
3)Subjects CAT meetings to the state's open-meeting laws.
FISCAL EFFECT
The California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA)
indicates that existing staff currently supports CAT activity.
Because this bill does not require CAT to do anything it does
not currently do, Cal EPA contends it has no costs. However,
the CAT currently operates consistent with EO, not statute.
Should this bill become law, the cost for CAT administration,
while not new, would be attributable to this bill. Therefore,
AB 2329
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this bill would result in annual cost of an unknown amount but,
based on passed budget requests, likely around $1 million a year
(mainly special funds).
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author intends this bill to require, in law,
coordination of the state's GHG emissions reduction
activities. The author wants to ensure that CAT's efforts
continue beyond the current administration.
2)Background.
a) AB 32 (N??ez, Chapter 455, Statutes of 2006) requires
California to limit its emissions of GHGs so that, by 2020,
those emissions are equal to what they were in 1990. To
that end, AB 32 requires ARB to quantify the state's 1990
GHG emissions and to adopt, by January 1, 2009, a "scoping
plan" that describes the board's plan for achieving the
maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
reductions of GHG emissions reductions by 2020.
b) EOs S-3-05 and S-20-06 create the CAT to engage in AB
32-related activities and overall climate policy; directs
the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal EPA) to
coordinate multi-agency efforts to meet GHG emission
reduction targets; and requires each agency to annually
prepare and submit GHG-related information to Cal EPA.
3)Related Legislation.
a) SB 721 (Steinberg, 2009) would have codify the CAT under
the Secretary for Environmental Protection. SB 721 did not
include representatives of some state departments that, at
that time, were active CAT members. The bill was held in
the Senate Appropriations.
b) SB 1760 (Perata, 2008) sought to formalize the structure
and duties of the CAT to coordinate climate policy and
expenditure of state funds. SB 1760 was vetoed by the
Governor.
4)Support. This bill is supported by some public health and
environmental groups.
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5)There is no registered opposition to this bill.
Analysis Prepared by : Jay Dickenson / APPR. / (916) 319-2081