BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2050
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2050 (Quirk)
As Amended May 23, 2014
Majority vote
NATURAL RESOURCES 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-4
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|Ayes:|Chesbro, Garcia, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Muratsuchi, Stone, | |Bradford, |
| |Williams | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Patterson |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Wagner |
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SUMMARY : Requires the Air Resources Board (ARB) to include
specified items, including proposed greenhouse gas (GHG)
reduction goals for 2050, in the next AB 32 (N��ez), Chapter
488, Statutes of 2006, Scoping Plan Update and report to the
Legislature (2019). Revises the composition and purpose of the
AB 32 Economic and Technology Advancement Advisory Committee
(ETAAC). Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires ARB, on or before January 1, 2019, as part of the
Scoping Plan Update, to include:
a) A proposal for further reducing GHG emissions by 2050,
including intermediate goals.
b) An evaluation of these proposed goals based on what
technologies can be scaled to the rest of the country and
the world that assure cost-effectiveness and maintain local
and system-wide reliability.
c) Consistent metrics to accurately quantify GHG emissions
from technologies that are designed to reduce GHG emissions
and retrofits to existing technologies that increase
overall efficiency for the purposes of reducing their
carbon footprint.
AB 2050
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2)Requires ARB to submit the element above to the appropriate
committees of the Legislature.
3)Requires ETAAC to include at least five, but no more than 10,
members who are experts in energy technology and economics.
4)Authorizes ETAAC to conduct an economic assessment that
includes a marginal cost analysis of various strategies for
reducing GHG.
EXISTING LAW requires ARB, pursuant to the California Global
Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB 32), to:
1)Adopt a statewide GHG emissions limit equivalent to 1990
levels by 2020 and adopt regulations to achieve maximum
technologically feasible and cost-effective GHG emission
reductions.
2)Prepare and approve a scoping plan, on or before January 1,
2009, and at once every five years thereafter, for achieving
the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
reductions in GHG emissions from sources or categories of
sources of GHGs by 2020.
3)Appoint an ETAAC to advise on activities that will facilitate
investment in and implementation of technological research and
development opportunities, including, but not limited to,
identifying new technologies, research, demonstration
projects, funding opportunities, developing state, national,
and international partnerships and technology transfer
opportunities, and identifying and assessing research and
advanced technology investment and incentive opportunities
that will assist in the reduction of GHG emissions.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
1)Annual costs of up to $650,000 per year for 2015-16 and
2016-17, increasing to $1.1 million for 2017-18 and 2018-19,
for ARB to update the Scoping Plan and report to the
Legislature (Cost of Implementation Account);
2)Annual costs of $50,000 to $100,000 for four years to staff
the ETAAC (Cost of Implementation Account).
AB 2050
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COMMENTS : As part of AB 32's direction that ARB adopt a
statewide GHG emissions limit equivalent to 1990 levels by 2020
and adopt regulations to achieve maximum technologically
feasible and cost-effective GHG emission reductions, AB 32
requires ARB to prepare and approve a scoping plan at five-year
intervals.
The first AB 32 scoping plan, adopted by ARB in 2008, described
the specific measures ARB and others must take to reduce
statewide GHG emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Pursuant to AB
32, the reduction measures identified in the scoping plan had to
be proposed, reviewed, and adopted as individual regulations by
January 1, 2011, to become operative beginning on January 1,
2012. According to ARB, a total reduction of 80 million metric
tons (MMT), or 16% compared to business as usual, is necessary
to achieve the 2020 limit. Approximately 78% of the reductions
will be achieved through identified direct regulations. ARB
proposes to achieve the balance of reductions necessary to meet
the 2020 limit (approximately 18 MMT) through a cap-and-trade
program that covers an estimated 600 entities.
In October 2013, ARB released a scoping plan update discussion
draft. The discussion draft proposed establishing both a 2050
target and a midterm (2030) target for GHG emission reductions.
In February 2014, ARB revised a revised proposed scoping plan
update. The proposed update discusses the objective of
achieving an 80% reduction by 2050 and the need for a midterm
target, but does not propose or adopt a specific target.
According to ARB, the update defines ARB's climate change
priorities for the next five years and sets the groundwork to
reach California's long-term climate goals set forth in
Executive Orders S-3-05 and B-16-2012. The update will
highlight California's progress toward meeting the near-term
2020 GHG emission reduction goals defined in the initial scoping
plan. These efforts put California on course to achieve the
near-term 2020 goal, and have created a framework for ongoing
climate action that can be built upon to maintain and continue
economic sector-specific reductions beyond 2020, as required by
AB 32.
This bill requires ARB to include a proposal for further
reducing GHG emissions by 2050, including intermediate goals, in
AB 2050
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the next (2019) scoping plan update. The current proposed
update arguably already includes 2050 and intermediate goal
"proposals," though it stops short of proposing or adopting
specific targets. It makes sense that future scoping plan
updates should include proposals for long-term GHG emission
reductions, though it's possible that more formal 2050 and/or
mid-term targets may be set by legislative or regulatory action
prior to the 2019 deadline in this bill.
As part of AB 32's initial implementation phase, the ETAAC was
formed to advise ARB on activities that will facilitate
investment in and implementation of technological research and
development opportunities, including, but not limited to,
identifying new technologies, research, demonstration projects,
funding opportunities, developing state, national, and
international partnerships and technology transfer
opportunities, and identifying and assessing research and
advanced technology investment and incentive opportunities that
will assist in the reduction of GHG emissions. The ETAAC was
composed of experts and stakeholders, but was not focused on
economic analysis. It worked 2007 through 2009, producing a
report recommending policies and technologies to reduce GHG
emissions in February 2008 and an update focused on advanced
technologies in December 2009.
This bill would reinstate the ETAAC, limit it to 10 members who
are experts in energy technology and economics, and authorize
the committee to conduct an economic assessment that includes a
marginal cost analysis of various strategies for reducing GHG
emissions.
Analysis Prepared by : Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092
FN: 0003696