BILL NUMBER: AB 2691	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hall

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Sections 38594 and 38598 of, and to add Section
38598.5 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2691, as introduced, Hall. California Global Warming Solutions
Act of 2006: fees.
   The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the
State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with
monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases.
The state board is required to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas
emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions
level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020, and 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 adopt by
regulation, after a public workshop, a schedule of fees to be paid by
the sources of greenhouse gas emissions regulated pursuant to the
act. The fee revenues are deposited into the Air Pollution Control
Fund and are available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for
purposes of carrying out the act. The state board is authorized to
adopt market-based compliance mechanisms, as defined, meeting
specified requirements to be used for compliance with those
regulations.
   This bill would prohibit a state agency, city, county, city and
county, air pollution control or air quality management district, or
another political subdivision of the state from imposing a greenhouse
gas emissions fee, whether emissions-based or otherwise, on a source
of greenhouse gas emissions that is included in a market-based
compliance mechanism and a fee regulation adopted by the state board.
The bill would require the state board to transfer, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to an air pollution control or air
quality management district $1 for every $1 expended by that district
in providing requested assistance to the state board.
   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 38594 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   38594.   Nothing   Except as provided in
Section 38598.5, nothing in this division shall limit or expand
the existing authority of any district, as defined in Section 39025.
  SEC. 2.  Section 38598 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to
read:
   38598.  (a)  Nothing   Except as  
provided in Section 38598.5, nothing  in this division shall
limit the existing authority of a state entity to adopt and implement
greenhouse gas emissions reduction measures.
   (b) Nothing in this division shall relieve any state entity of its
legal obligations to comply with existing law or regulation.
  SEC. 3.  Section 38598.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   38598.5.  (a) (1) A state agency, city, county, city and county,
district as defined in Section 39025, or another political
subdivision of the state shall not impose a greenhouse gas emissions
fee, whether emissions-based or otherwise, on a source of greenhouse
gas emissions that is included in both of the following:
   (A) A market-based compliance mechanism established by the state
board pursuant to Section 38570.
   (B) A fee regulation adopted by the state board pursuant to
Section 38597.
   (2) Paragraph (1) does not apply to a fee adopted solely to
mitigate for, or pay the administrative costs relating to, air
pollutants not including greenhouse gases, if legal authority exists
for the imposition of that fee.
   (b) Whenever a district, as defined in Section 39025, provides
information, support, analysis, or another type of assistance
requested by the state board, in connection with the state board's
duties under this division, the state board, upon appropriation by
the Legislature, shall transfer to that district one dollar ($1) for
every dollar expended by that district in providing the requested
assistance.