BILL NUMBER: AB 333 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 11, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Grove
FEBRUARY 10, 2011
An act to add Section 38598.5 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to air pollution , and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 333, as amended, Grove. California Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006: unemployment. cap-and-trade
program.
The
(1) 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, in
furtherance of achieving the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit
by January 1, 2011, to adopt a regulation that establishes a system
of market-based declining annual aggregate emission limits for
sources or categories of sources that emit greenhouse gas emissions,
applicable from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2020, inclusive,
that the state board determines will achieve the maximum
technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse
gas emissions, in the aggregate, from those sources or categories of
sources. The act also authorizes the state board to include in its
regulations the use of market-based compliance mechanisms to comply
with the regulations, subject to prescribed requirements.
This bill would require the state board to exempt from an
emission reduction requirement adopted pursuant to the act an
emissions source located within a county that on January 1, 2012, has
an unemployment rate of 7% or greater, until that county's
unemployment rate drops below 7% for 6 consecutive months
make findings and submit a status report to the Legislature no
later than July 31, 2011, on the readiness of a proposed
cap-and-trade program to begin January 1, 2012. The bill would
authorize the board, if it makes a specified finding in the status
report, to commence the cap-and-trade program after January 1, 2012,
but no later than January 1, 2013. The bill would require the board
to provide an annual cap-and-trade status report to the Legislature
.
(2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) On December 16, 2010, the State Air Resources Board adopted a
cap-and-trade regulation under authority granted by the California
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, to become effective January 1,
2012, as required by that act.
(b) Cap and trade is a significant program that will provide an
estimated 20 percent of the emission reductions required to achieve
1990 emission levels by 2020, as required by the act.
(c) Many components of the cap-and-trade regulation are not yet
complete, which is creating uncertainty for regulated parties and
potential harm if the program were to start before all elements are
in place with sufficient time for regulated parties to prepare.
(d) The State Air Resources Board adopted Resolution 10-42 to
require that its executive officer report to it no later than July
31, 2011, on the progress being made on program implementation.
(e) It is in the interest of this state that the State Air
Resources Board be provided the flexibility to start the
cap-and-trade program at a later date if it determines that the
program is not ready to start on January 1, 2012.
SEC. 2. Section 38598.5 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
38598.5. (a) The state board shall make findings and submit a
status report to the Legislature no later than July 31, 2011, on the
readiness of the cap-and-trade program to begin January 1, 2012,
pursuant to this division. The findings shall include information on
the status of the following:
(1) Finalization of the allowance allocation system.
(2) Assessment of issues related to the treatment of biomass and
biofuel emissions in the cap-and-trade program, including
consideration of air quality impacts in the San Joaquin Valley.
(3) Implementation of cap-and-trade programs by other Western
Climate Initiative partner jurisdictions, and the expected timing of
board consideration of linking with Western Climate Initiative
partner programs.
(4) Implementation of a market tracking system, and a schedule for
initial deployment of the system and making training available for
covered entities and others that will need to register in the system
and use it for participating in the program.
(5) Implementation of an auction system.
(6) Implementation of an offset tracking system, and information
on any entities that have indicated an interest in applying to become
third-party registries under the cap-and-trade regulation.
(7) Efforts to address potential issues associated with the air
district development of offset projects using offset protocols
verified by the state board that are verified by a third party.
(8) Work with other agencies and other interested parties on
market oversight, including any market simulation efforts.
(9) Efforts to solicit expert advice on the design of the market
to ensure that it is protected and ensure the ongoing proper
operation of the market.
(10) Review of additional compliance offset protocols and the
schedule for bringing them to the state board for consideration.
(11) Estimates of expected offset supply during the first
compliance period based on the four compliance protocols that are
part of the rulemaking and on additional protocols that are currently
under review.
(12) Assessment of impacts of federal climate policies on sources
covered by the cap-and-trade program, such as potential conflicts,
duplication, or misaligned incentives.
(13) Efforts to develop mechanisms to measure emissions and
economic leakage from cap-and-trade and other regulations under this
division.
(14) An analysis of impact of a one-year delayed start date for
cap and trade on the ability to meet the 2020 target for emission
reductions.
(15) Identification of any remaining tasks that must be completed
before the start of the cap-and trade-program, and a schedule for
completing these tasks.
(b) If the state board finds in the status report to the
Legislature pursuant to subdivision (a) that an adjustment to the
start date for the cap-and-trade program is appropriate to ensure
successful implementation of cap-and-trade regulation, the state
board may commence the cap-and-trade program after January 1, 2012,
but no later than January 1, 2013.
(c) Ninety days after the first anniversary of the start date of
the cap-and-trade program, and annually thereafter, the state board
shall submit a cap-and-trade status report to the Legislature,
including findings on the following:
(1) Information on the operation of the state program and any
linked programs.
(2) Actions being taken by covered entities to comply with the
program.
(3) Information on shifts in business activity that may result in
emissions leakage and changes in market share for covered entities
and sectors.
(4) Shifts in fuel use in different sectors, including information
on the use of electricity in the transportation sector, and the use
of biofuels and biomass.
(5) Program effects on small businesses and on low-income
households.
(6) Any sales of allowances from the allowance reserve.
(7) The supply of offset credits registered in the board's
tracking system, approved third-party registries, or the tracking
systems of linked programs.
(8) The expected offset supply from projects listed on these
systems, including the geographic locations of listed offset
projects.
(9) Any changes to linked cap-and-trade programs.
(d) (1) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under
subdivisions (a) and (c) is inoperative on January 1, 2016, pursuant
to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.
(2) A report submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) or (c) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to obtain necessary information and ensure the timely and
appropriate implementation of portions of the Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006 by the State Air Resources Board, it is
necessary for this act to take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. Section 38598.5 is added to the
Health and Safety Code, to read:
38598.5. The state board shall exempt from an emission reduction
requirement adopted pursuant to this division an emissions source
located within a county that on January 1, 2012, has an unemployment
rate of 7 percent or greater, until that county's unemployment rate
drops below 7 percent for six consecutive months. The exemption
created pursuant to this section shall not return if the unemployment
rate rises above 7 percent at a later time.