2020 Legislative Tracker

The below list of bills related to climate change, particularly adaptation, are being tracked by ARCCA as a resource to its members and adaptation professionals in California. Please note that descriptions are pulled directly from the bill text in the Legislative Counsel’s Digest without any analysis, and some descriptions only include a portion of the summary. If you are interested in a particular bill, we encourage you to follow the link (bill number) to read the full text.

Last updated: Friday, October 2nd at 5:57 PM PST

New bill tracking progress bars

To help users visually see the status of each bill, ARCCA launched a new progress bar tracker under each bill that simplifies the legislative process into 10 key steps:

10% Introduction / First reading in the house of origin
20% Committee hearings
30% Second reading
40% Third reading
50% First reading in the other house
60% Committee hearings
70% Second reading
80% Third reading
90% Resolution of differences
100% To Governor to sign or veto

AB-291 (Chu) Local Emergency Preparedness and Hazard Mitigation Fund

This bill would establish a Local Emergency Preparedness and Hazard Mitigation Fund to to, upon appropriation by the Legislature, support staffing, planning, and other emergency mitigation priorities to help local governments meet emergency management, preparedness, readiness, and resilience goals. The bill would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, require the Controller to transfer $500,000,000 to the fund. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to establish the Local Emergency Preparedness and Hazard Mitigation Fund Committee under the Standardized Emergency Management System Advisory Board. The bill, on or before July 1, 2020, 2021, would require the committee to adopt guidelines identifying eligible uses of the funds by establishing an outline of standard activities distributed pursuant to these provisions for the mitigation, prevention, preparedness, response, and recovery phases of emergency management that supports the development of a resilient community. The bill would require, upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Office of Emergency Services to receive $1,000,000 annually and each county to receive $500,000 annually for specified purposes. The bill would require the Office of Emergency Services to distribute funds to lead agencies, subject to certain requirements and restrictions, as specified. The bill would require lead agencies to further distribute those funds to local governments pursuant to a specified schedule for specified purposes, and impose various requirements on local governments that receive funds pursuant to these provisions.

06/23/20: Referred to Com. on G.O60%
60%

AB-323 (Daly) Disaster Preparedness Account

This bill would establish the Disaster Preparedness Account in the State Treasury and would provide that funds in the account are available only for specified purposes, for appropriation by the Legislature, upon the Governor’s proclamation of a state of emergency, as provided.

06/23/20: Referred to Com. on G.O60%
60%

AB-1071 (Limón) Climate change: agriculture: Agricultural Climate Adaptation Tools Program: grants

This bill would require the Department of Food and Agriculture to administer a program for the disbursement of grants, known as the Agricultural Climate Adaptation Tools Program, as specified, to provide funding for activities that include the development of specified planning tools for adapting to climate change and developing resiliency strategies in the agricultural sector, using the best available science, as specified. The bill would require the department to conduct specified pilot projects in the central valley, central coast, and desert regions of the state, and hold trainings for technical assistance providers on how to use the specified planning tools with an emphasis on meeting the needs of small and moderately scaled farmers and ranchers, socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers, and female farmers and ranchers. The bill would require the department to make available, upon appropriation, up to $2,000,000 to fund the grant program, as specified. The bill would not require the department to implement the program if the appropriation is not made. The bill would require the department to provide to the office the planning tools developed as part of the grant program, as well as information on any projects funded pursuant to these provisions, for possible incorporation into the clearinghouse for climate adaptation information. The bill would require the department to provide the council with regular updates on the implementation of the program.

08/06/20: Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.80%
80%

AB-1567 (Aguiar-Curry) Organic waste: scoping plan

This bill, on or before December 31, 2021, would require the [Strategic Growth Council], in consultation with stakeholders and relevant permitting agencies, to prepare and submit to the Legislature a report that provides a scoping plan for the state to meet its organic waste, climate change, and air quality mandates, goals, and targets and would require the scoping plan to include, among other things, recommendations on policy and funding support for the beneficial reuse of organic waste.

06/29/20: Referred to Com. on N.R. and W60%
60%

AB-1659 (Bloom) Large electrical corporations: wildfire mitigation: securitization

This bill would enact the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Act of 2020 and would require the Natural Resources Agency, in consultation with the commission, to adopt an interim expenditure plan and an expenditure plan that are focused on reducing wildfire risk on the ground and in communities through activities such as defensible space implementation, home hardening, improved public safety, including expenditures to add trained emergency medical technicians to the workforce, and other authorized activities, as well as to prepare residents for wildfires through public education and outreach, as provided. The bill would establish the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund and, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require moneys in the fund be used for the implementation of those plans. […] The bill would require the commission to require large electrical corporations, as defined, to collect, on and after a specified time, a nonbypassable charge from their ratepayers, as provided, to finance the bonds issued for the support of the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund, as described below.

This bill would authorize the department to issue bonds, in an aggregate amount of up to $3,000,000,000, the repayment of which, including interest, commences on the date on which the department has paid in full, at maturity, or legally defeases all of its any outstanding bonds issued for the support of the Wildfire Fund or on January 1, 2036, whichever is earlier, later, to support the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund. The bill would entitle the department to recover, as a revenue requirement, amounts necessary to enable it to finance the bonds in support of the Wildfire Prevention and Community Resilience Fund.

08/30/20: Ordered to third reading.80%
80%

AB-2076 (Bigelow) Public lands: Department of Parks and Recreation: wildfire management plan: fire hazard severity zones

This bill would require, on or before January 1, 2024, the Director of Parks and Recreation to develop and implement a wildfire prevention strategy for all property that is partially or wholly under the jurisdiction of the Department of Parks and Recreation that is located within a high or a very high fire hazard severity zone, as provided. The bill would require the wildfire prevention strategy to outline the department’s fire prevention goals and future projects for prescribed fire, defensible space, fire resilient restoration projects, and the fire hardening of the department’s structures, as provided, among other things. The bill would require the department to post the wildfire prevention strategy on its internet website, as provided. The bill would require the department to, on or before January 1, 2026, provide an update on the implementation of the wildfire prevention strategy to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the implementation of the above-described provisions to be contingent on the enactment of an appropriation of moneys not from the General Fund for these purposes.

06/23/20: Referred to Com. on N.R. and W60%
60%

AB-2371 (Friedman) Climate change: Strategic Growth Council: science advisory team: climate adaptation and hazard mitigation.

This bill would require the office, by July 1, 2021, to convene a climate science advisory team to provide independent, timely, and science-based advice on the state’s climate adaptation and climate-related hazard mitigation efforts and to, among other things, provide input to improve climate adaptation and climate-related hazard mitigation planning across state agencies, including the plan. The bill would require the team to serve as a working group of a specified ICARP advisory group. The bill would require the team to provide recommendations to inform certain activities of the council regarding climate change. The bill would require, by January 1, 2022, the office to produce, in consultation with the team and relevant state agencies, regional governments, and local governments, an evidence-based list of recommended existing projects and potential projects of statewide significance and urgency that should be prioritized in order to advance the state’s climate resilience, including projects that improve community resilience and climate-related hazard mitigation through natural infrastructure. The bill would require the office, by July 1, 2024, to submit to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature a report summarizing the actions of the team, the team’s contribution to climate resiliency and adaptation planning, and the office’s recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the team.

07/08/20: Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on EQ.70%
70%

AB-2621 (Mullin) Office of Planning and Research: regional climate networks: climate adaptation action plans

This bill would authorize eligible agencies, as defined, to establish and participate in a regional climate network, as defined, to prepare a regional climate adaptation action plan for certain regions, as described. The bill would authorize eligible agencies to voluntarily determine whether to establish membership in a regional climate network. The bill would not limit the number of regional climate networks that may be established within each region.
This bill would also require, by January 1, 2022, the office to develop guidelines, as prescribed, establishing how a regional climate network may develop a regional climate adaptation action plan, including certain information, analyses, and contents to be included in a plan and certain considerations and procedures for a regional climate network when preparing a plan. The bill would require the office to provide technical assistance to eligible agencies developing regional climate networks and plans. The bill would require, by January 1, 2022, the office to make recommendations to certain policy committees of the Legislature on improving state support for the creation and work of regional climate networks, as prescribed, and the potential sources of financial assistance and options for distributing state funds to support the creation and implementation of plans.
08/14/20: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 5. Noes 1.)80%
80%

AB-2800 (Quirk) Climate change: state infrastructure planning: Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group

Existing law requires state agencies to take into account the current and future impacts of climate change when planning, designing, building, operating, maintaining and investing in state infrastructure, as provided. Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency to establish a Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group for the purpose of examining how to integrate scientific data concerning projected climate change impacts into state infrastructure engineering, including oversight, investment, design, and construction.

Existing law requires the working group to work in coordination with other state climate adaption planning efforts, and to consider and build upon existing information produced by the state, as specified.
This bill would add a specified 5-year infrastructure plan to the information that the working group is required to consider and build upon.
This bill would delete both the above requirement for the working group to make recommendations to the Legislature and the above inoperative and repeal dates, thereby extending the above provisions indefinitely beginning January 1, 2021. The bill would also provide that the working group shall only convene and perform its functions to the extent resources are available to fund the support of the working group and its activities.
09/24/20: Chaptered by Secretary of State – Chapter 118, Statutes of 2020.100%
100%

AB-2954 (Rivas) California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: climate goal: natural and working lands

This bill would require the [State Air Resources Board] when updating the scoping plan and in collaboration with relevant state agencies and departments, to take specified actions, including, among others, to identify by January 1, 2023, an overall climate goal for the state’s natural and working lands, as defined, to sequester carbon and reduce atmospheric greenhouse gas emissions and identify practices, policy incentives, and potential reductions in barriers that would help achieve the climate goal.

08/14/20: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 4. Noes 2.) Re-referred to Com. on APPR.80%
80%

AB-3030 (Allen) Resource conservation: land and ocean conservation goals.

This bill would declare it to be the goals of the state by 2030 to protect at least 30% of the state’s land areas and waters; to help advance the protection of 30% of the nation’s oceans; and to support regional, national, and international efforts to protect at least 30% of the world’s land areas and waters and 30% of the world’s ocean. The bill would authorize the state to achieve these goals through specified activities.
The bill would declare it a further goal of the state to improve access to nature for all people in the state and to provide for recreational and educational opportunities, including wildlife-dependent recreational activities, with a specific emphasis on increasing access for communities of color and economically disadvantaged communities.
08/05/20: In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.70%
70%

AB-3205 (Salas) Regions Rise Grant Program

This bill would establish the Regions Rise Grant Program within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development for the purpose of supporting inclusive, cross-jurisdictional, and innovative processes that lead to inclusive strategies to address barriers and challenges confronting communities in creating economic prosperity for all. The bill would define “region” as a geographic area comprised of one or more counties and cities that form a functional economy.
This bill would require the office to develop and implement a process for the awarding of competitive grants to eligible applicants. This bill would define an eligible applicant as a regional collective comprised of public and private stakeholders who organize themselves around one or more community challenges or priorities impacting a region and meet certain requirements established in the bill. The process for awarding grants would be required to meet certain minimum conditions, including, but not limited to, that the funds awarded be available for a period of 3 years, and that the application contain specified information. The bill would require the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to issue grants to qualified regional collectives as specified. The bill would also require the regional collective receiving funding to submit a copy of its annual and final report, as provided, to the office and each city and county within the areas identified in their application as the geographic boundary of their work.
08/13/20: In committee: Referred to APPR. suspense file.60%
60%

SB-182 (Jackson) Local government: planning and zoning: wildfires.

This bill would require the safety element, upon the next revision of the housing element or the hazard mitigation plan, on or after June 1, 2022, whichever occurs first, to be reviewed and updated as necessary to include a comprehensive retrofit strategy to reduce the risk of property loss and damage during wildfires, as specified, and would require the planning agency to submit the adopted strategy to the Office of Planning and Research for inclusion into the above-described clearinghouse.
This bill would require a city or county that contains a very high fire risk area, as defined, upon each revision of the housing element on or after June 1, 2022, to amend the land use element of its general plan to contain, among other things, the locations of all very high fire risk areas within the city or county and feasible implementation measures designed to carry out specified goals, objectives, and policies relating to the protection of lives and property from unreasonable risk of wildfire. The bill would require the city or county to complete a review of, and make findings related to, wildfire risk reduction standards, as defined, upon each subsequent revision of the housing element, as provided. The bill would require the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to review the findings and make recommendations, as provided.
The bill would additionally require the Office of the State Fire Marshal, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research and the Board of Forestry and Fire Protection, by January 1, 2023, to adopt wildfire risk reduction standards that meet certain requirements and reasonable standards for third-party inspection and certifications for a specified enforcement program
This bill would additionally prohibit the legislative body of a city or county that contains a very high fire risk area, upon the effective date of the revision of the city or county’s land use element, from entering into a development agreement for property that is located within a very high fire risk area, approving specified discretionary permits or other discretionary entitlements for projects located within a very high fire risk area, or approving a tentative map or a parcel map for which a tentative map was not required for a subdivision that is located within a very high fire risk area, unless the city or county makes specified findings based on substantial evidence in the record.
09/30/20: Vetoed by the Governor90%
90%

SB-795 (Beall) Economic development: housing: workforce development: climate change infrastructure.

This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would make up to $2,000,000,000 available in each fiscal year for the purpose of providing emergency economic recovery and development, climate change, and disaster response. Of the amount made available for any fiscal year, the bill would require the Controller to allocate $1,808,000,000, or a proportional amount of the total available amount for the applicable fiscal year, among various housing programs administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program, and for distribution by the California Workforce Development Board among local agencies to participate in, invest in, or partner with new or existing pre-apprenticeship training programs established as described above. […]
Of the amount made available for any fiscal year under its provisions, the bill would require the Controller to allocate $192,000,000, or a proportional amount of the total available amount for the applicable fiscal year, to the State Coastal Conservancy, the Strategic Growth Council, and GO-Biz, to be used for the Climate, Sea Level, and Natural Disaster Program and the Community Economic Development Program. The bill would require the State Coastal Conservancy and the Strategic Growth Council, in consultation with the Office of Planning and Research or any other appropriate state agency, to allocate $100,000,000, or a proportional amount, under the Climate, Sea Level, and Natural Disaster Program among specified eligible entities for the purpose of protecting communities dealing with the effects of climate change, as specified. The bill would require GO-Biz, in consultation with the Department of Housing and Community Development and any other appropriate state agency, council, or department, to allocate $92,000,000, or a proportional amount, under the Community Economic Development Program among these specified eligible entities for various purposes relating to community development. The bill would require eligible applicants to comply with specified requirements, including submitting plans for outreach to, and retention of, women, minority, disadvantaged youth, formerly incarcerated, and other underrepresented subgroups and, subject to certain exceptions, certifying that a skilled and trained workforce, as defined, will be used to complete any project funded under those programs.
08/03/20: Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.70%
70%

SB-801 (Glazer) Electrical corporations: wildfire mitigation plans: deenergization: public safety protocol

This bill would require an electrical corporation to deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance if the customer meets those conditions. The bill would require an electrical corporation to develop its program to provide backup electrical resources or financial assistance in consultation with community disability rights groups or other local disability rights advocates.

Because this bill would add additional requirements to an electrical corporation’s wildfire mitigation plan that would be approved and overseen by the commission and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.

07/27/20: From committee with author’s amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on U. & E.70%
70%

SB-862 (Dodd) Planned power outage: public safety

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency, and local officials and local governments to proclaim a local emergency, when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist, and authorizes the Governor or the appropriate local government to exercise certain powers in response to that emergency. Existing law defines the terms “state of emergency” and “local emergency” to mean a duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by, among other things, fire, storm, or riot.

This bill would additionally include a planned deenergization event, as defined, within those conditions constituting a state of emergency and a local emergency.

This bill would require an electrical corporation, as a part of its public safety mitigation protocols, to include protocols that deal specifically with access and functional need individuals, as defined, including those individuals who are enrolled in the California Alternative Rates for Energy program, as specified.

This bill would recast those provisions to authorize the electrical corporation to deploy backup resources to a customer, including an individual with an access of functional need, as defined, and would delete the requirement that the customer not be eligible for backup electrical resources from the other providers.

06/29/20: Referred to Com. on U. & E.60%
60%

SB-1320 (Stern) Climate change: California Climate Change Assessment

This bill would require the office, through the Integrated Climate Adaptation and Resiliency Program, to develop the California Climate Change Assessment, in coordination with the Natural Resources Agency, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the Strategic Growth Council, and in consultation with partner public agencies designated by the office. The bill would require the office to conduct complete the assessment no less frequently than every 5 years. The bill would require the assessment to provide an integrated suite of products that report the impacts and risks of climate change, based on the best available science, and identify potential solutions to inform legislative policy, as provided. The bill would require the products to include, among other things, downscaled climate projections that assess climate change impacts throughout the state, including at regional and local levels, for near-term, medium-term, and long-term timescales, and under varied emissions scenarios, as provided. The bill would require the office to engage with regional and local governments, tribes, vulnerable communities, businesses, and members of the public public, as necessary, in determining the scope of the assessment and would require all final assessment products to be posted on or accessible through a state internet website. The bill would make the implementation of these provisions contingent upon an appropriation of funds by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes.

09/24/20: Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 136, Statutes of 2020100%
100%

SB-1348 (Stern) Fire prevention: vegetation management: public education: grants

Existing law requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to establish a local assistance grant program for fire prevention activities in the state. Exiting law requires that the eligible activities include, among other things, fire prevention activities, as provided.
This bill would also specifically include vegetation management along roadways and driveways and public education outreach regarding home and community wildfire resistance, as provided, as part of the eligible activities, as provided.

This bill would authorize any project or program described above, or any grant, funded from the Greenhouse Reduction Fund, to include projects or programs for vegetation management along roadways and driveways, including defensible space training, as well as public education outreach regarding home and community wildfire resistance, as provided.

08/26/20: Read third time and amended.80%
80%
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