AB 197: State Air Resources Board: greenhouse gases: regulations.

(1)Existing law establishes the State Air Resources Board consisting of 14 members and vests the state board with regulatory jurisdiction over air quality issues.

This bill would add 2 Members of the Legislature to the state board as ex officio, nonvoting members. The bill would provide that the voting members of the state board are appointed for staggered 6-year terms and upon expiration of the term of office of a voting member, the appointing authority may reappoint that member to a new term of office, subject to specified requirements. The bill would require the state board to establish the initial staggered terms. The bill would create the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies consisting of at least 3 Members of the Senate and at least 3 Members of the Assembly and would require the committee to ascertain facts and make recommendations to the Legislature and to the houses of the Legislature concerning the states programs, policies, and investments related to climate change, as specified.

(2)Existing law requires the state board to inventory sources of air pollution within the air basins of the state and determine the kinds and quantity of air pollutants. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the reporting and verification of statewide greenhouse gas emissions and to monitor and enforce compliance with the act.

This bill would require the state board to make available, and update at least annually, on its Internet Web site the emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants, and toxic air contaminants for each facility that reports to the state board and air districts. The bill would require the state board, at least once a year at a hearing of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies, to present an informational report on the reported emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants, and toxic air contaminants from all sectors covered by the scoping plan, as specified.

This bill would require the state board to make available, and update at least annually, on its Internet Web site the emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants, and toxic air contaminants throughout the state broken down to a local and subcounty level for stationary sources and to at least a county level for mobile sources, as specified.

(3)The act requires the board to approve a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

This bill would require the state board, when adopting rules and regulations to achieve greenhouse gas emissions reductions beyond the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit and to protect the states most impacted and disadvantaged communities, to follow specified requirements, consider the social costs of the emissions of greenhouse gases, and prioritize specified emission reduction rules and regulations.

This bill would require the state board, when updating the scoping plan, to identify specified information for each emissions reduction measure, including each alternative compliance mechanism, market-based compliance mechanism, and potential monetary and nonmonetary incentive.

(4)This bill would become operative only if SB 32 of the 201516 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2017.