Bill Text: CA AB1250 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Department of Transportation: low-carbon materials.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Engrossed) 2023-09-01 - In committee: Held under submission. [AB1250 Detail]

Download: California-2023-AB1250-Amended.html

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Amended  IN  Senate  July 03, 2023

Amended  IN  Senate  June 15, 2023

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 16, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1250

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Introduced by Assembly Member Friedman

February 16, 2023

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An act to add Sections 99 and 99.1 to the Streets and Highways Code, relating to transportation.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1250, as amended, Friedman. Department of Transportation: low-carbon materials.

(1) Existing law establishes the Transportation Agency in state government with various duties and responsibilities. The agency is under the supervision of the Secretary of Transportation, who has the power of general supervision over specified departments and offices, including the Department of Transportation.

This bill would require the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Director of Transportation, to submit a report to the Legislature that discusses, among other things, the carbon emissions global warming potential, as defined, associated with certain materials currently used in state transportation projects, alternative and emerging materials with lower carbon emissions or net-negative carbon emissions, and benchmarks for using materials with lower carbon materials. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature annually on the department’s progress in meeting the benchmarks described above.

(2) Existing law vests the department with the obligation to improve and maintain state highways, including all traversable highways that have been adopted or designated as state highways by the California Transportation Commission.

This bill would require the department to, no later than July 1, 2024, require bidders on specified projects to submit an environmental product declaration, as defined, for the cement, concrete, concrete and asphalt used in the project. The bill would require the department to, no later than July 1, 2024, develop language for a model performance-based bid specification that includes a global warming potential benchmark for cement, concrete, concrete and asphalt used in state projects.

Digest Key

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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Bill Text

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all the following:

(a) The Department of Transportation, the largest entity of its kind in the nation, is responsible for maintaining a complex transportation system that includes more than 50,000 state highway lane miles, 12,600 bridges, and thousands of related facilities.

(b) The department faces significant challenges in reducing the carbon emissions from its construction and maintenance of state transportation infrastructure.

(c) In order for the department to effectively accomplish this mission and to meet the state’s strategic goals on carbon reduction, carbon removal, and ultimately achieving and maintaining net-negative greenhouse gas emissions, it needs to establish public trust, which requires increased transparency, clear accountability, and effective performance measurement.

(d) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature for the department to identify the most carbon-intensive materials used in state transportation projects, identify the level of carbon emissions from those materials, identify lower carbon materials as replacements for those materials, including those commercially available today and transformational ultra low-carbon or negative-carbon materials under development for future commercial deployment, set benchmarks for the reduction of the overall carbon performance of material used in state transportation projects, and then report this information to the Legislature each year.

SEC. 2.

 Section 99 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read:

99.

 (a) On or before December 31, 2024, the Secretary of Transportation, in consultation with the Director of Transportation, shall submit a report to the Legislature discussing all the following:

(1) The carbon emissions global warming potential, as defined in Section 99.1, associated with the following typical materials and mixes currently used in state transportation projects: cement, concrete, and asphalt.

(2) Alternative materials commercially available with lower carbon emissions.

(3) Emerging alternative technologies or materials with the potential to achieve near-zero or net-negative carbon emissions associated with state transportation projects.

(4) The durability, safety, and maintenance requirements of the lower carbon materials compared to those in current use.

(5) Benchmarks for adopting a low-carbon standard for materials used in state transportation projects.

(6) The estimated carbon emissions reduction that would result from using the low-carbon and emerging alternatives. alternatives, based on comparable and consistent metrics regarding carbon emissions.

(7) The steps the department is undertaking to spur the commercial availability of emerging near-zero or net-negative carbon emissions alternative technologies or materials.

(b) On or before December 31, 2025, and each year thereafter, the department shall report to the Legislature on the department’s progress on meeting the benchmarks described in paragraph (4) of subdivision (a).

(c) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.

SEC. 3.

 Section 99.1 is added to the Streets and Highways Code, to read:

99.1.

 (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Eligible project” means a project for which bids are requested by the department that requires at least 50 cubic yards or at least 100 metric tons of concrete. that meets or exceeds the size threshold determined by the department for different materials and applications. The department shall determine the project size threshold by using a number of projects and environmental product declarations that would result in a representative industrywide average. The department shall not consider emergency work in determining the project size threshold.

(2)“Environmental product declaration” means a supply chain-specific type III environmental product declaration, as defined by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 14025, or similarly robust life cycle assessment methods that have uniform standards in data collection consistent with ISO standard 14025, industry acceptance, and integrity.

(3)

(2) “Global warming potential” or “GWP” means the CO2e of a material as reported in an environmental product declaration.

(4)

(3) “Performance-based bid specifications” means a contract provision that requires a material to achieve specified performance outcomes from the use of the structural material, including, but not limited to, outcomes related to the strength, durability, permeability, color, texture, thermal performance, or other attributes related to the function of the structural material for applied uses over its service life, as opposed to requiring that a structural material be produced using a specified manufacturing process, technology, or proportions of constituent materials. both of the following:

(A) For concrete, a specification based on clearly defined performance indicators that provide flexibility in the concrete mixture proportions and that may include greenhouse gas emissions, verified, and measured by standard test methods with defined acceptance criteria stated in contract documents.

(B) For asphalt, an asphalt balanced mixed design (BMD) that is an asphalt mix design using performance tests on appropriately conditioned specimens that address multiple modes of distress, taking into consideration mix aging, traffic, climate, and location within the pavement structure in conformance with the American Association of State Transportation Officials (AASHTO) PP 105-20 (2022), inclusive of perpetual pavement.

(5)

(4) “Supply chain-specific” means an a product-specific environmental product declaration that includes uses supply chain-specific data for production processes in the lifecycle assessment to model the impacts of key processes upstream in a product’s supply chain that contribute to 80 percent or more of a product's product’s cradle-to-gate global warming potential, as defined in ISO standard 21930, and reports the overall percentage of supply chain-specific data included. included, as available.

(5) “Valid environmental product declaration” means all of the following:

(A) A supply chain-specific type III environmental product declaration, as defined by International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard 14025, or similarly robust life cycle assessment methods that have uniform standards in data collection consistent with ISO standard 14025, industry acceptance, and integrity.

(B) A facility-specific environmental product declaration if a supply chain-specific type III environmental product declaration, as described in paragraph (A), is not feasible.

(C) A valid, current product-specific type III environmental product declaration created under a current product category rule, provided the environmental product declaration has not expired.

(b) No later than July 1, 2024, consistent with the availability of two hundred fifty million dollars ($250,000,000) through the federal Inflation Reduction Act, and to support the development of environmental product declarations, the department shall require bidders to eligible projects to submit an a valid environmental product declaration for the cement, concrete, concrete and asphalt used in the project. project, where concrete or asphalt is the end product.

(c) No later than July 1, 2024, the department shall develop language for a model performance-based bid specification that includes a global warming potential benchmark for cement, concrete, concrete and asphalt used in state projects. The global warming potential benchmark may be based on the product’s region, or other appropriate distinctions and metrics for the material, as determined by the department. The department may consult publicly available data, as well as data already collected on a voluntary basis, to establish an initial global warming potential benchmark.