Amended in Assembly April 21, 2014

Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 1992

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

February 20, 2014

An act to add Section 38568 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 1992, as amended, Quirk. California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: very low carbon begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuels.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit to be achieved by 2020 equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions levels of 1990. The state board additionally is required to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions. Pursuant to the act, the state board has adopted the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard regulations.

This bill would authorize the state board to establish a very low carbon fuel market commitment program that requires wholesalers, producers, importers, or any other entity that provides begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel to a retailer or sells begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel to a consumer to begin delete sell very low carbon liquid transportation fuel, as defined, up to a specified percentage not to exceed 2% of their fuel sales in the state. The bill would authorize the state board to declare this authorization inoperative 5 years after achieving the 2% objective and would require the state board to notify the Secretary of State of that determination. end delete begin insert include as part of their transportation fuel sales in the state percentages of very low carbon transportation fuel, as defined, to be determined by the state board. These provisions would become inoperative 5 years after the state board makes a specified notification to the Secretary of State. end insert

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.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) Low-carbon begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuels are an important
element of the state’s greenhouse gas reduction policy and
increasing the supply of those fuels will help the state achieve its
greenhouse gas reduction goals.

(b) Existing incentives for the development of low-carbon begin delete liquid end delete
transportation fuels, including the Low-Carbon Fuel Standard
regulation (Subarticle 7 (commencing with Section 95480) of
Article 4 of Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of Title 17
of the California Code of Regulations), the California Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with
Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), and begin delete AB end delete begin insert Assembly
Bill end insert 118 (Chapter 750 of the Statutes of 2007), have not resulted
in sufficient development of low-carbon begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuels.

SEC. 2.  

Section 38568 is added to the Health and Safety Code,
to read:

38568.  

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms
have the following meanings:

(1) “Indirect land use change emission” means the carbon
emissions associated with changes in agricultural activity that
result from the market-mediated effects of using an agricultural
commodity that is a food product as feedstock for the production
of the begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel.

(2) “Very low carbon begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel” means a liquid
begin insert or gaseous end insert transportation fuel having no greater than 50 percent
the carbon intensity of the closest comparable petroleum fuel for
that year, as measured by the methodology in the Low-Carbon
Fuel Standard regulation (Subarticle 7 (commencing with Section
95480) of Article 4 of Subchapter 10 of Chapter 1 of Division 3
of Title 17 of the California Code of Regulations). The carbon
intensity for the begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel shall include the indirect
land use change emission if an agricultural commodity that is a
food product is used as a feedstock for the production of the begin delete liquid end delete
transportation fuel.

(b) The state board may establish a very low carbon fuel market
commitment program that requires a wholesaler, producer,
importer, or any other entity that provides begin delete liquid end delete transportation
fuel to a retailer or sells begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel to a consumer
to include begin delete no less than one-quarter of one percent, as measured in
energy equivalent units, with a cap of no more than two percent end delete
begin insert as part of its transportation fuel sales in the state percentages end insert of
very low carbon begin delete liquid end delete transportation fuel begin delete as part of its fuel sales
in the state. end delete begin insert to be determined by the state board and measured in
energy equivalent units. The state board may require percentages
of very low carbon transportation fuel as low as one-quarter of 1
percent or as high as 2 percent. end insert

(c) When begin insert the state board determines that end insert very low carbon begin delete liquid end delete
transportation fuel sales begin delete reach two end delete begin insert have reached end insert begin insert 2 end insert percent of all
begin delete liquid end delete transportation begin insert fuel end insert sales in the state begin delete , as specified in
subdivision (b) end delete , the state board shall notify the Secretary of State
begin delete that end delete begin insert and end insert this section shall be inoperative five years from that
notification.