Bill Text: CA SB1251 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1251 (Prior Session Legislation)

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

Bill Title: Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development: Zero-Emission Vehicle Market Development Office: Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 6-0)

Status: (Passed) 2022-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 372, Statutes of 2022. [SB1251 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB1251-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate March 29, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1251

Introduced by Senator Gonzalez
(Principal coauthor: Senator Stern)

February 17, 2022

An act to add and repeal Section 43022.7 to of the Health and Safety Code, relating to air pollution.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1251, as amended, Gonzalez. ~~Electric Vehicle Equity Ombudsperson.~~ Office of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. Existing law establishes various programs to promote the development and adoption of zero-emission vehicles and alternative fuels.

This bill would create the Electric Vehicle Equity Ombudsperson in state government and would require the ombudsperson to coordinate activities among state agencies to advance light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles and zero-emission infrastructure deployment and to ensure related equity, workforce development, economic development, and other needs are addressed to grow and support the sector statewide in order to achieve specified goals relating to zero-emission vehicles. establish the Office of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate in the Governor’s office to steer the development of a shared, cross-agency definition of equity, and to set an equity agenda for the deployment of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles, the supporting infrastructure, and workforce development. The bill would require the office to provide guidance to state agencies by developing and adopting an equity action plan, to publish an update of the progress on its activities on its internet website every 2 years, and to notify the relevant policy committees of the Legislature of the information provided in that update. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2028.

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

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

SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is the national leader in the adoption of zero-emission vehicles, recently surpassing one million electric vehicles sold in the state, more than the total sales in the next 10 states combined. California’s leadership on electric vehicle policy has helped spur a strong and growing transportation electrification and zero-emissions goods movement industry, with electric vehicles becoming the state’s number one export in 2020.
(b) On September 23, 2020, Governor Newsom issued Executive Order No. N-79-20, calling upon the State Air Resources Board to develop passenger vehicle and truck regulations requiring increasing volumes of new zero-emission vehicles sold in the state towards the target of 100 percent of instate sales by 2035, and also to develop regulations requiring increasing volumes of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles such as zero-emission trucks and buses to be sold and operated in the state by 2045.
(c) Senate Bill 1275 (Chapter 530 of the Statutes of 2014) established the Charge Ahead California Initiative, which created various goals, including to increase access to, and benefits for, disadvantaged, low-income, and moderate-income communities to zero-emission vehicles.
(d) In advancing the executive order and the goals created by the Charge Ahead California Initiative, the state must prioritize clean transportation solutions that are accessible to all Californians, particularly those who are low-income, experience a disproportionate share of pollution, lack access to adequate transportation solutions, or are otherwise underserved.

SEC. 2.

Section 43022.7 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

43022.7.
(a) (1) The Office of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate is hereby established within the Governor’s office. The office shall steer the development of a shared, cross-agency definition of equity, and set an equity agenda for the deployment of light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles, the supporting infrastructure, and workforce development.
(2) The office shall have an executive director.
(3) The office shall serve as a point of contact for stakeholders to provide concerns and suggestions related to the state’s progress in equitably achieving the state’s zero-emission vehicle deployment goals.
(4) The office shall provide information and propose policy and procedural changes to relevant state agencies, including, but not limited to, the State Air Resources Board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Transportation Agency, the California Transportation Commission, and the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, as needed, to ensure consistency among equity definitions, criteria, and targets utilized in the state’s zero-emission vehicle and infrastructure programs and to ensure best practices related to equity are incorporated into state planning for zero-emission vehicle deployment, funding, and program design.
(5) In order to facilitate alignment of equity goals, the office may convene meetings or task forces, or both, between state agencies, local government, utilities, labor, or private sector actors key to advancing zero-emission transportation goals, or any combination of these entities.
(b) (1) The office shall provide guidance to state agencies by developing and adopting an equity action plan. The plan shall provide actionable steps to advance equity in access to zero-emission vehicles, infrastructure, and zero-emission vehicle transportation options in low-income and disadvantaged communities as well as to advance equity by reducing pollution driven by the transportation sector and related industries in low-income and disadvantaged communities and by supporting an equitable zero-emission vehicle industry and workforce.
(2) The equity action plan shall include all of the following:
(A) Guidance on the design and implementation of state funding programs with the aim of ensuring that programs are designed so that funding is allocated to most effectively advance an equitable deployment of zero-emission vehicles towards the state’s zero-emission vehicle deployment goals.
(B) Recommendations on funding criteria to be applied to all relevant state agencies to prioritize an equitable advancement of zero-emission vehicles. These recommendations may include prioritization of either of the following projects:
(i) Vehicles and charging infrastructure in communities disproportionately impacted by pollution from the transportation sector.
(ii) Pilot projects deployed through existing aligned State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, state board, and other multiyear projects and programs identified by community-based organizations for deployment in disadvantaged communities and prioritized by severity of air pollution from mobile sources, lack of charging infrastructure and electric vehicles, and transportation or transit deserts.
(C) Propose additional financing tools and policy needs to address community-based transit and transportation solutions that address key gaps and obstacles.
(D) Develop and set milestones for equity for intervening years on the path toward goals for 2035 and beyond.
(3) The office shall assess progress towards the equity action plan and publish an update of the progress on each of the activities described in this section on its internet website on or before January 1, 2025, and every two years thereafter, and notify the relevant policy committees of the Legislature of the information provided in that update. This update shall include, but is not limited to, metrics tracking all of the following:
(A) State funding spent toward the deployment of zero-emission vehicle ownership and supporting infrastructure in emissions-overburdened communities and disadvantaged and low-income communities, and the number and type of vehicles or charging infrastructure deployed with this funding.
(B) State funding for multiyear projects that advance deployment of zero-emission vehicles in communities identified as disadvantaged communities prioritized by severity of air pollution from mobile sources, lack of charging infrastructure and electric vehicles, and transportation or transit deserts.
(C) Progress towards equity milestones as set in the equity action plan.
(4) In developing the equity action plan, the office shall coordinate with community organizations, local entities, state agencies, and other private and public stakeholders to steer for an equitable zero-emission vehicle deployment.
(c) For purposes of this section, “office” means the Office of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate established pursuant to this section.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2028, and as of that date is repealed.

SECTION 1.Section 43022.7 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:
43022.7.
There is hereby created in state government the Electric Vehicle Equity Ombudsperson who shall coordinate activities among state agencies to advance light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles and zero-emission infrastructure deployment to ensure related equity, workforce development, economic development, and other needs are addressed to grow and support the sector statewide in order to achieve the goals of Executive Order No. N-79-20.