AB 287: California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: competitive grant programs: funding objectives.

The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms in regulating these sources. Existing law requires all moneys, except for fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances 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. Existing law requires the moneys from the fund to be used to facilitate the achievement of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the act and, where applicable and to the extent feasible, to maximize economic, environmental, and public health benefits to the state, among other goals.

This bill, beginning July 1, 2025, would require state agencies administering competitive grant programs that allocate moneys from the fund to give specified communities preferential points during grant application scoring for programs intended to improve air quality, to provide for a specified application timeline, and to allow applicants from the Counties of Imperial and San Diego to include daytime population numbers in grant applications.

This bill, for competitive grant programs that involve housing, urban forestry, urban greening, or planning and that allocate moneys from the fund after July 1, 2025, would require state agencies administering those moneys from the fund to develop at least 3 categories for applications based on the population and density of the communities in which the proposed project is to be located and to develop scoring criteria for each category.

This bill would additionally require the moneys in the fund to be used to facilitate the achievement of reductions of greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the act and, where applicable and to the extent feasible, to promote climate adaptation, accelerate the development of low-carbon technology and reduce vehicle miles traveled, and promote partnerships between jurisdictions and public agencies, Native American tribes in the state, nonprofits, and other community institutions, among other objectives.

This bill also would require the Department of Finance to include in an annual report to the Legislature specified information on the applications received for each grant program allocating moneys from the fund.