AB 96: California Clean Truck, Bus, and Off-Road Vehicle and Equipment Technology Program.

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. The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulation of emissions of greenhouse gases the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and to be available upon appropriation by the Legislature.

The California Clean Truck, Bus, and Off-Road Vehicle and Equipment Technology Program, upon appropriation from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, funds zero- and near-zero-emission truck, bus, and off-road vehicle and equipment technologies and related projects. The program provides that projects eligible for funding include, among others, technology development, demonstration, precommercial pilots, and early commercial deployments of zero- and near-zero-emission medium- and heavy-duty truck technology, and requires, until December 31, 2021, no less than 20% of funding made available for that purpose to support early commercial deployment of existing zero- and near-zero-emission heavy-duty truck technology. The program defines zero- and near-zero-emission for its purposes.

This bill would extend the requirement that 20% of funding be made available to support early commercial deployment of existing zero- and near-zero-emission heavy-duty truck technology until December 31, 2026. The bill would further require at least 20% of that funding support early commercial deployment of existing near-zero-emission heavy-duty truck technology. The bill would create a separate definition for near-zero-emission define near-zero-emission heavy-duty truck and revise the definition for zero-emission, as provided.