Bill Text: CA AB2242 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Air Quality Improvement Program.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-04-28 - In committee: Set, first hearing. Hearing canceled at the request of author. [AB2242 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB2242-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 2242 AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2014 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Perea FEBRUARY 21, 2014 An act to amend Section4061244274 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2242, as amended, Perea.San Joaquin Valley Clean Air AttainmentAir Quality Improvement Program. Existing law establishes the Air Quality Improvement Program that is administered by the State Air Resources Board for the purpose of funding air quality improvement projects. Existing law requires the primary purpose of the program to be the funding of projects to reduce criteria air pollutants, and to improve air quality, and to fund research to determine and improve the air quality impacts of alternative transportation fuels and vehicles, vessels, and equipment technologies. This bill additionally would require the program to be focused where the greatest air quality impacts can be identified.Existing law establishes the San Joaquin Valley Clean Air Attainment Program for the purpose of the San Joaquin Valley achieving state and federal ambient air quality standards by the earliest practicable date. The program authorizes, in order to provide funding for air pollution control programs, the air pollution control district for that area to increase specified motor vehicle fees and adopt rules and regulations to reduce vehicle trips in order to reduce air pollution from vehicular sources.This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to these provisions.Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:noyes . State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 44274 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 44274. (a) The Air Quality Improvement Program is hereby created. The program shall be administered by the state board, in consultation with the districts. The state board shall develop guidelines to implement the program. Prior to the adoption of the guidelines, the state board shall hold at least one public hearing. In addition, the state board shall hold at least three public workshops with at least one workshop in northern California, one in the central valley, and one in southern California. The purpose of the program shall be to fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, air quality improvement projects relating to fuel and vehicle technologies. The primary purpose of the program shall be to fund projects to reduce criteria air pollutants, and to improve air quality,and provide funding forand to fund research to determine and improve the air quality impacts of alternative transportation fuels and vehicles, vessels, and equipment technologies. The program shall be focused where the greatest air quality impacts can be identified. (b) The state board shall provide preference in awarding funding to those projects with higher benefit-cost scores that maximize the purposes and goals of the Air Quality Improvement Program. The state board also may give additional preference based on the following criteria, as applicable, in funding awards to projects: (1) Proposed or potential reduction of criteria or toxic air pollutants. (2) Contribution to regional air quality improvement. (3) Ability to promote the use of clean alternative fuels and vehicle technologies as determined by the state board, in coordination with the commission. (4) Ability to achieve climate change benefits in addition to criteria pollutant or air toxic emissions reductions. (5) Ability to support market transformation of California's vehicle or equipment fleet to utilize low carbon or zero-emission technologies. (6) Ability to leverage private capital investments. (c) The program shall be limited to competitive grants, revolving loans, loan guarantees, loans, and other appropriate funding measures that further the purposes of the program. Projects to be funded shall include only the following: (1) Onroad and off-road equipment projects that are cost effective. (2) Projects that provide mitigation for off-road gasoline exhaust and evaporative emissions. (3) Projects that provide research to determine the air quality impacts of alternative fuels and projects that study the life-cycle impacts of alternative fuels and conventional fuels, the emissions of biofuel and advanced reformulated gasoline blends, and air pollution improvements and control technologies for use with alternative fuels and vehicles. (4) Projects that augment the University of California's agricultural experiment station and cooperative extension programs for research to increase sustainable biofuels production and improve the collection of biomass feedstock. (5) Incentives for small off-road equipment replacement to encourage consumers to replace internal combustion engine lawn and garden equipment. (6) Incentives for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and equipment mitigation, including all of the following: (A) Lower emission schoolbus programs. (B) Electric, hybrid, and plug-in hybrid onroad and off-road medium- and heavy-duty equipment. (C) Regional air quality improvement and attainment programs implemented by the state or districts in the most impacted regions of the state. (7) Workforce training initiatives related to advanced energy technology designed to reduce air pollution, including state-of-the-art equipment and goods, and new processes and systems. Workforce training initiatives funded shall be broad-based partnerships that leverage other public and private job training programs and resources. These partnerships may include, though are not limited to, employers, labor unions, labor-management partnerships, community organizations, workforce investment boards, postsecondary education providers including community colleges, and economic development agencies. (8) Incentives to identify and reduce emissions from high-emitting light-duty vehicles. (d) (1) Beginning January 1, 2011, the state board shall submit to the Legislature a biennial report to evaluate the implementation of the Air Quality Improvement Program established pursuant to this chapter. (2) The report shall include all of the following: (A) A list of projects funded by the Air Quality Improvement Account. (B) The expected benefits of the projects in promoting clean, alternative fuels and vehicle technologies. (C) Improvement in air quality and public health, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and the progress made toward achieving these benefits. (D) The impact of the projects in making progress toward attainment of state and federal air quality standards. (E) Recommendations for future actions. (3) The state board may include the information required to be reported pursuant to paragraph (1) in an existing report to the Legislature as the state board deems appropriate.SECTION 1.Section 40612 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read: 40612. (a) To provide funding for air pollution control programs needed to achieve and maintain state and federal air quality, the district may do both of the following: (1) Notwithstanding the limits on the amount of the motor vehicle fee specified in Sections 44223 and 44225, increase the fee established pursuant to these sections to up to, but not exceeding, thirty dollars ($30) per motor vehicle per year for the purposes of establishing and implementing incentive-based programs to achieve surplus emissions reductions that the district determines are needed to remediate air pollution harms created by motor vehicles on which the fee is imposed and that are intended to achieve and maintain state and federal ambient air quality standards required by the federal Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 7401 et seq.). Except for the amount of the fee, any increase shall be subject to Chapter 7 (commencing with Section 44220) of Part 5, including, but not limited to, the adoption of a resolution providing for both the fee increase and a corresponding program for expenditure of the moneys raised by the increased fees for the reduction of mobile source emissions. (2) Notwithstanding Section 40717.9, adopt rules and regulations to reduce vehicle trips in order to reduce air pollution from vehicular sources. (b) Fees adopted pursuant to this section are in addition to any other fees imposed by the district, and may be charged in any of fiscal years 2009-10 to 2023-24, inclusive. Fees may be assessed after the 2012-13 fiscal year only if the United States Environmental Protection Agency approves the district's proposed reclassification of its nonattainment status for ozone from severe to extreme. The fees adopted pursuant to this section are for the district portion of the total amount needed to achieve and maintain state and federal ambient air quality standards. At least ten million dollars ($10,000,000) shall be used to mitigate the impacts of air pollution on public health and the environment in disproportionately impacted environmental justice communities in the San Joaquin Valley. The district board shall convene an environmental justice advisory committee, selected from a list given to the board by environmental justice groups from the San Joaquin Valley, to recommend the neighborhoods in the district that constitute environmental justice communities, and how to expend funds within these communities. (c) (1) The fees adopted pursuant to this section shall become effective after the state board makes both of the following findings: (A) The district has undertaken all feasible measures to reduce nonattainment air pollutants from sources within the district's jurisdiction and regulatory control. (B) The district has notified the state board that fees have been adopted pursuant to this section and provided the state board with an estimate of the total funds that will be provided annually by each of those fees. (2) The state board shall file a written copy of its findings made pursuant to this subdivision with the Secretary of State within two days of its determination. (3) The fees adopted pursuant to this section shall be collected nine months after the requirements of paragraph (2) are met.