AB-1992 | Boerner
Coastal resources: coastal development permits: blue carbon demonstration projects

This bill would authorize the [California Coastal Commission] to authorize blue carbon demonstration projects, as defined, in order to demonstrate and quantify the carbon sequestration potential of these projects to help inform the state’s natural and working lands and climate resilience strategies. The bill would, among other things, authorize the commission to require an applicant with a nonresidential project that impacts coastal wetland, subtidal, intertidal, or marine habitats or ecosystems to build or contribute to a blue carbon demonstration project.

This bill would, commencing on January 1, 2028, authorize the Natural Resources Agency to authorize teal carbon demonstration projects, as defined, in order to demonstrate and quantify the carbon sequestration potential of these projects to help inform the state’s natural and working lands and climate resilience strategies. The bill would require the Natural Resources Agency to consult with certain state and federal agencies and entities in developing a teal carbon demonstration project program. The bill would, among other things, require project results to be provided to the Natural Resources Agency and posted on a public portion of its internet website. The bill would require these provisions to be implemented only upon an appropriation by the Legislature for its purposes.

AB-2214 | Bauer-Kahan
Ocean Protection Council: microplastics

This bill would require, on or before March 1, 2025, the [Ocean Protection Council] to establish and lead an interagency coordination group, and would require the council, in coordination with the interagency coordination group, to identify and recommend to the Legislature, on or before December 31, 2025, statutory changes that are needed to implement the recommendations described in the Statewide Microplastics Strategy, as specified. The bill would require the council, in coordination with the interagency coordination group, to adopt a workplan, on or before December 31, 2025, outlining which participating agencies within the interagency coordination group will implement the recommendations. The bill would require the workplan to be provided to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2025. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.

AB-2286 | Aguiar-Curry, Friedman, and Kalra
Vehicles: autonomous vehicles

This bill would require a manufacturer of an autonomous vehicle to report to the [Department of Motor Vehicles] a collision on a public road that involved one of its autonomous vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more that is operating under a testing or deployment permit that resulted in damage of property, bodily injury, or death within 10 days of the collision.

The bill would require a manufacturer of an autonomous vehicle to annually submit to the department specified information regarding the deactivation of the autonomous mode for its autonomous vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,001 pounds or more that were operating under a testing or deployment permit that authorized the vehicle to operate on public roads.

AB-1195 | Calderon
Climate Change Preparedness, Resiliency, and Jobs for Communities Program: climate-beneficial projects: grant funding

This bill would establish the Climate Change Preparedness, Resiliency, and Jobs for Communities Program, to be administered by the [Strategic Growth Council], and would require the council to fund grants to develop and implement multibenefit, community-level, climate-beneficial projects to support community and landscape resiliency and workforce development. The bill would require the council to award competitive grants to eligible entities, as defined, through an application process, as provided. The bill would require the council, on or before July 1, 2024, to develop guidelines to implement the program and criteria to select projects eligible for grant funding that include, at a minimum, specified information related to community resiliency grants, landscape resiliency grants, and climate and career pathways grants.

AB-1922 | Davies and Rivas
California Conservation Corps: Green Collar Certification Program

This bill would require young adults participating in the [California Conservation Corps] program to be generally engaged in projects that, among other things, directly contribute to and promote the conservation of clean energy, enhance climate resilience, and develop sustainable climate infrastructure.

AB-1923 | Davies
Green Assistance Program

This bill would establish the Green Assistance Program within the California Environmental Protection Agency to, among other things, assist small businesses and small nonprofit organizations in applying for moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. The bill would authorize the Secretary for Environmental Protection to apply for and accept grants or contributions of funds from any public or private source for the program.

AB-2190 | Mathis
California Environmental Quality Act: expedited judicial review: infrastructure projects: hydrogen

This bill would delete an exclusion from the definition of “energy infrastructure project” for these purposes any project using hydrogen as a fuel in the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This would authorize the Governor to certify energy infrastructure projects that use hydrogen as a fuel for streamlining benefits related to CEQA, such as the requirement that judicial actions, including any potential appeals, challenging the certification of an EIR or the granting of approval by a lead agency for certified projects be resolved, to the extent feasible, within 270 days after the filing of the certified record of proceedings with the court. Because the bill would impose additional duties on lead agencies in conducting the environmental review of energy infrastructure projects using hydrogen as a fuel that are certified by the Governor, including the concurrent preparation of the record of proceedings, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

AB-2285 | Rendon
Natural resources: equitable outdoor access: 30×30 goal: urban nature-based projects.

This bill would provide that, to advance and promote environmental, conservation, and public access policies and budget actions, the Governor’s office, state agencies, and the Legislature, when distributing resources, shall aspire to recognize the coequal goals and benefits of the 30×30 goal and Outdoors for All, and, to the extent practical, maximize investment in historically underserved urban communities consistent with those initiatives. The bill would encourage decisionmakers, when distributing resources to achieve the goals and benefits of the 30×30 goal and Outdoors for All, to consider factors that are unique to urban settings, including, among other things, higher land value acquisition and development costs per acre, the acute health needs of a local population due to historic lack of greenspace access and development externalities, local park needs assessment plans, current or impending loss of parks or greenspace as a result of state or federal infrastructure projects, and the availability of mobility options near a proposed land conservation site. The bill would encourage regulatory agencies, including the Department of Toxic Substances Control, to work with local communities to restore degraded lands that could contribute to a more equitable strategy for meeting the state’s environmental, conservation, and public access goals. The bill would require state funding agencies, including certain state conservancies and the Wildlife Conservation Board, to allow allow, to the extent consistent with the funding source, the funding program’s authorizing statutes, and the state’s goals, for urban nature-based projects on degraded lands that are consistent with the state’s goals to be eligible and competitive for state funds.

AB-2320 | Irwin
Wildlife Connectivity and Climate Adaptation Act of 2024: wildlife corridors: fish passage

This bill would additionally require the [Natural Resources Agency], as part of [an annual report submitted to the Legislature], to identify key wildlife corridors, as defined, in the state, connections between large blocks of natural areas and habitats, progress on protecting additional acres of wildlife corridors, and goals for wildlife corridor protection in the next 5 years, as provided. include an update on the state’s progress towards addressing the priority wildlife corridors, as defined, identified in the Restoring California’s Wildlife Connectivity report by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, and goals for wildlife corridor protection in the next five years. The bill would also make related findings and declarations.

This bill would additionally make it the policy of the state to preserve, protect, and restore wildlife habitats and biodiversity through the acquisition and restoration of blocks of habitat and natural lands that are connected by wildlife corridors, as defined, and the infrastructure that supports wildlife corridors. The bill would provide that “acquire” and “acquisition,” for purposes of the policy statement regarding the program and its purposes, do not refer to the use of eminent domain for certain lands identified by the state as having mineral resources.

This bill would remove from the contingency requirement that appropriate funds be from bonds and would specify that the department not only investigate, study, and identify, but also track the protection and conservation of the above-described areas. The bill would also revise and recast various provisions involving voluntary steps to protect the functioning of these wildlife corridors to additionally include, among other means, acquisition or protection of wildlife corridors as open space through fee title acquisitions.

AB-3051 | Muratsuchi
Personal income taxes: voluntary contributions: California K–12 Climate Change Education Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund.

This bill, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2024, would allow an individual to designate on their tax return that a specified amount in excess of the taxpayer’s personal income tax liability be transferred to the California K–12 Climate Change Education Voluntary Tax Contribution Fund. The bill would continuously appropriate the fund to the Franchise Tax Board and the Controller for administrative costs, and to the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery’s Office of Environmental Justice, Tribal Relations, Education and Outreach to award grants to school districts, county offices of education, resource conservation districts, district and county office of education partnerships with higher education institutions, and community-based nongovernmental organizations focused on environmental and climate change education, as specified. The bill would repeal these provisions on December 1, 2031, or on December 1 of the year that the minimum contribution amount of $250,000 is not met, whichever is earlier, as specified. By continuously appropriating these funds, the bill would make an appropriation.

SB-945 | Alvarado-Gil
The Wildfire Smoke and Health Outcomes Data Act

This bill, the Wildfire Smoke and Health Outcomes Data Act, would require the State Department of Public Health, in consultation with the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, to create, operate, and maintain a statewide integrated wildfire smoke and health data platform no later than July 1, 2026, that, among other things, would integrate wildfire smoke and health data from multiple databases. Under the bill, the purposes for the data platform would include providing adequate information to understand the negative health impacts on California’s population caused by wildfire smoke and evaluating the effectiveness of investments in forest health and wildfire mitigation on health outcomes in California.

This bill would authorize the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, and the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force, where appropriate, to utilize data from existing sources, including open source data and other external data, for purposes of implementing the act.

SB-1029 | Min
Fire protection: Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program: reports

Exiting law establishes in the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection Conservation the Regional Forest and Fire Capacity Program (program) to support regional leadership to build local and regional capacity and develop, prioritize, and implement strategies and projects that create fire adapted communities and landscapes, as provided. Existing law authorizes the [Department of Forestry and Fire Protection] to, upon appropriation, provide block grants to specified entities for purposes of the program, as provided. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, authorizes the department to authorize advance payments on the above-described grants, as provided.

This bill would authorize the department to provide the advance payments on the grants indefinitely. The This bill would require the department, on or before December 31, 2028, and every 5 years thereafter, to submit a report to the Legislature that evaluates the program’s impact and effectiveness, as provided. The bill would require the department to contract with an independent third party to prepare the report.