12096.3.7.
(a) (1) The Office of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate is hereby established within the Governor’s office. Office of Business and Economic Development. 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.
be led by an appointee of the Governor with experience in zero-emission vehicle deployment and a strong connection with grassroots environmental justice organizations.
(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,
entities, including, but not limited to, the state board,
State Air Resources Board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Transportation Agency, and 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 used 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 forces that include state agencies, local government, utilities, labor, community-based organizations, air pollution control districts, air quality management districts,
or private sector actors key to advancing zero-emission transportation goals, or any combination of these entities.
goals.
(b) (1) The office shall provide guidance to state agencies by developing and adopting develop and adopt an equity action plan. The plan shall provide plan that considers optimizing for equity benefits in zero-emission vehicle deployment.
(2) The equity action plan shall include all of the following:
(A) Recommendations on actionable steps to advance equity in
improve access to zero-emission vehicles, infrastructure, and zero-emission vehicle transportation options in low-income and disadvantaged communities as well as to low-income, disadvantaged, and historically underserved communities.
(B) Recommendations to advance equity by reducing pollution driven by the transportation sector and related industries in low-income and disadvantaged communities
low-income, disadvantaged, and historically underserved communities, including emissions from medium- and heavy-duty vehicles,
and by supporting an equitable zero-emission vehicle industry and workforce.
(2)The equity action plan shall include all of the following:
(A)
(C) 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)
(D) 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,
State Air Resources 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
(E) Proposals for additional financing tools and policy needs to address community-based transit and transportation solutions that address key gaps and obstacles.
obstacles in access to clean transportation options.
(D)Develop and set milestones
(F) 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 vehicles, including light-, medium-, and heavy-duty zero-emission 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 and partner with community organizations, local entities, state agencies, and other private and public stakeholders to steer for an equitable zero-emission vehicle deployment.
(c) For Notwithstanding
Section 12096.1, 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.