Existing law designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts as having the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources, and, subject to the powers and duties of the State Air Resources Board, requires that air districts adopt and enforce rules and regulations to achieve and maintain the state and federal ambient air quality standards in all areas affected by emission sources under their jurisdiction.

Existing law requires the board of each air district to establish by regulation a system by which all reductions in the emission of air contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases in the emission of air contaminants be banked as credits prior to use to offset future increases in emissions, except as specified.

This bill would require each air district, for all active permits required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that require or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits, to use a template developed by the Office of Data and Innovation to make publicly available on its internet website a map of permitted facilities containing specified information regarding those permits. The bill would require the Office of Data and Innovation to consult with local community groups when determining how best to design the template so that air district permit information is presented in a specified manner. By adding to the duties of these air districts, this the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law designates air pollution control districts and air quality management districts as having the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources, and, subject to the powers and duties of the State Air Resources Board, requires that air districts adopt and enforce rules and regulations to achieve and maintain the state and federal ambient air quality standards in all areas affected by emission sources under their jurisdiction.

Existing law requires the board of each air district to establish by regulation a system by which all reductions in the emission of air contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases in the emission of air contaminants be banked as credits prior to use to offset future increases in emissions, except as specified.

Existing law establishes the Office of Data and Innovation within the Government Operations Agency for the purpose of delivering better government services to the people of California through technology and service innovation, data, and design.

This bill would require each air district, for all active permits required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that require or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits, to use a template developed by the Office of Data and Innovation to make publicly available on its internet website a map of permitted facilities containing specified information regarding those permits. The bill would require the Office of Data and Innovation to consult with local community groups when determining how best to design the template so that air district permit information is presented in a specified manner. By adding to the duties of these districts, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Date of Hearing: April 30, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS

Buffy Wicks, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1305

Author:(Arambula) – As Amended Ver:April 23, 2025

Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: Yes Reimbursable: Yes

SUMMARY:

This bill requires each air district in the state, for any active permit required for equipment or processes that may release or control air pollutants and that requires or required the use of one or more emission reduction credits, to make publicly available on its website a map of permitted facilities containing specified information regarding those permits.

The bill requires each map to include the following information about each applicable permit:

1. Site address.
2. Permit holder contact information.
3. Name of the permitted business and the names of all parent organizations.
4. The scope or description of the permitted process or equipment.
5. A list of all credits used in conjunction with the identified permit, including the type and quantity of emissions allowed under the permit.
6. Any best available control technology, best available retrofit control technology, or other emissions control measures identified as a requirement of the permit.

FISCAL EFFECT:

Local air districts will incur ongoing costs of an unknown but potentially significant amount, cumulatively in the hundreds of thousands to millions of dollars, to comply with this bill (local funds). By requiring local air districts to publish the required maps, this bill creates a state-mandated local program. Air districts have the authority to adopt and impose various fees on regulated entities. For example, Health and Safety Code section 42311 authorizes an air district to adopt a schedule of annual fees for the evaluation, issuance, and renewal of permits to cover to the cost of district programs related to permitting stationary sources. However, it is not clear to this committee if air districts can recover the costs they incur to develop, publish, and continually update the required maps with their existing fee authority.

There are 35 local air districts in the state that issue thousands of permits each year. According to the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (CAPCOA), while a handful of districts currently do some form of permit mapping, the vast majority do not. Air districts will likely incur significant startup costs, which may include purchasing new software. Smaller districts with limited staff capacity and in-house expertise may need to hire contractors to complete the required work. These costs are potentially reimbursable by the state, subject to a determination by the Commission on State Mandates (General Fund).

COMMENTS:

1) Purpose. According to the author:

Unfortunately, there is no way to publically verify that a polluter is implementing emissions control technology guidelines. Worse, air pollution control and air quality management districts are unable to monitor every polluter for compliance due to limited resources. As a result, communities are often left with little to no information on polluters and the conditions of their permits. AB 1305 requires air control districts to publicize information about pollution permits issued to empower communities to hold polluters accountable.

2) Background. The federal Clean Air Act describes the procedures that regulatory agencies must use to control emissions from affected stationary sources. In California, local air districts have the authority to grant permits to stationary sources, while the Air Resources Board reviews and helps coordinate programs for air districts. Air districts regulate the emissions of criteria pollutants and toxic air contaminants by requiring every potential pollutant-emitting stationary source to get a permit to construct and operate, unless explicitly exempted from permitting requirements. Permits issued by air districts outline all of the local, state, and federal rules that apply to each emission source, as well as any additional restrictions or emissions controls that must be enacted for the source.

Each air district in California is authorized by the federal Clean Air Act and by the state to operate emission reduction credit programs within its jurisdiction. These programs function similarly to cap-and-trade. If a polluter reduces emissions beyond what is currently required, they can earn a credit. In order for a credit to be issued, the qualifying source emissions must be “quantifiable, enforceable, permanent, and surplus.” These credits can then be sold to polluters that need to offset anticipated future emissions in order to obtain a permit. Credits are stored in “banks” managed by the air districts. Once a credit is used by a permit, it is permanently removed from its bank.

Among others in support of this bill, the Central California Environmental Justice Network and Leadership Counsel Action write:

Air permitting is an extremely complicated process that mostly occurs behind closed doors, and very few air permitting decisions are required to be shared publicly. Easily understandable and accessible air permitting information is needed for residents to know about and engage on the decisions impacting their health. Therefore, we support Dr. Arambula’s Assembly Bill 1305, which seeks to improve public transparency of air permitting to ensure polluters are meeting emissions control technology guidelines.

Among others in opposition, CAPCOA notes that California’s air districts have reduced emissions from stationary sources by 90% since initial implementation of the Clean Air Act. CAPCOA writes:

Requiring individual air districts to redirect resources away from activities that achieve much needed emissions reductions to provide information that is already publicly available makes it more difficult to achieve our common goal of protecting public health…Should an interested member of the public wish to know more about the compliance status of a particular facility, whether BACT or BARCT is being implemented, the air quality in their region, how their local district is achieving attainment with health-protective standards, or any other air quality-related information, they are encouraged to contact their air district.

Analysis Prepared by: Nikita Koraddi / APPR. / (916) 319-2081

Date of Hearing: April 21, 2025

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES

Isaac G. Bryan, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 1305 (

Author:Arambula) – As Introduced Ver:February 21, 2025

SUBJECT: Air pollution control and air quality management districts: permit information: internet website

SUMMARY: Requires the Office of Data and Innovation (ODI) to develop a website template, based on specified design criteria, for each local air district to use to present specified information regarding district-permitted facilities in map form.

EXISTING LAW:

1. Establishes the Federal Clean Air Act to regulate, reduce, and control air pollution nationwide, including national ambient air quality standards for major air pollutants, hazardous air pollutants standards, state attainment plans, stationary source emissions standards and permits, and enforcement provisions. (42 United States Code 7401)
2. Designates the Air Resources Board (ARB) as the state agency with the primary responsibility for the control of vehicular air pollution and air pollution control and air quality management districts with the primary responsibility for the control of air pollution from all sources other than vehicular sources. (Health and Safety Code (HSC) 39500 et seq.)
3. Requires the board of every air district to establish, by regulation, an emission reduction credit (ERC) system by which all reductions in the emission of air contaminants that are to be used to offset certain future increases in the emission of air contaminants be banked prior to use to offset future increases in emissions, except as specified. (HSC 40709)
4. Requires ARB to develop and adopt a methodology for use by air districts to calculate the value of ERCs from stationary, mobile, indirect, and area-wide sources when those credits are used interchangeably, consistent with certain requirements. Requires ARB to periodically update the methodology as it applies to future transactions, if necessary. (HSC 40716)
5. Requires ARB to make available on its website the emissions from stationary sources of greenhouse gases, criteria pollutants, and toxic air contaminants throughout the state, as specified, and to update that information at least once a year.
6. Requires the plans developed by air districts with moderate or more serious air pollution (nonattainment districts) to include the use of best available control technology (BACT) for new sources and best available retrofit control technology (BARCT) for existing sources, with specified exceptions.

THIS BILL:

1. Requires ODI to develop a website template to present specified permit information on each air district’s website.
2. Requires ODI to consult with local community groups when determining how best to design the website template so that district permit information is presented in a manner that does all of the following:
   1. Simplifies, and displays visually, complex data wherever possible and empowers communities to assess and manage local health and safety risk.
   2. Reveals patterns and trends and makes data easily and publicly accessible to third parties for analyzing those patterns and trends.
   3. Enables the use of data-driven decisionmaking.
   4. Maximizes accessibility.
   5. Makes real-time monitoring possible.
   6. Provides tools for predictive analysis and makes data easily and publicly accessible to third parties for that analysis.
   7. Enhances storytelling.
3. Requires each air district to use the ODI template to post a map on its website of specified permitted facilities (i.e., those that rely on ERCs) containing information regarding permits that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following information:
   1. Site address.
   2. Permitholder contact information.
   3. Name of the permitted business and the names of all parent organizations.
   4. The scope or description of the permitted process or equipment.
   5. A list of all credits used in conjunction with the identified permit, including the type and quantity of emissions allowed under the permit.
   6. Any best available control technology, best available retrofit control technology, or other emissions control measures identified as a requirement of the permit.
4. Makes related findings.
5. Provides that no reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because air districts have the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act.

FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown

COMMENTS:

1. Background. The federal Clean Air Act requires the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) to set health-based limits, called National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), for six dangerous outdoor air pollutants: particulate matter (PM), ozone, NOx, SOx, CO, and lead. The NAAQS identify what is considered a safe level of each pollutant to breathe based on the most recent health and medical science, including an adequate margin of safety for those most at risk. These standards require states and local governments to take steps to reduce emissions to attain the standards.

Geographic areas within each state that do not meet a standard are called non-attainment for that air pollutant. The designation of an area as non-attainment triggers the regulatory requirements for banking and use of emission reductions credits. California is home to several regions with some of most severe air pollution in the U.S., including air districts with severe non-attainment for one or more NAAQS.

For example, the San Joaquin Valley is designated as a nonattainment area for the federal 1997 annual and 2006/2012 PM2.5 standards and the federal 8-hour ozone standards. The American Lung Association's 2022 State of the Air report gave the Valley an ‘F’ for Ozone, an ‘F’ for particle pollution in a 24-hour period, and a failing grade for particle pollution annually. The report also indicates that 13,971 kids and 52,942 adults in San Joaquin County are at risk of developing asthma, and it reports that San Joaquin County has experienced an increase in dangerous “high particle days” every year since 2014, culminating in a record 25 high particle days in 2020.

Despite successes reducing criteria air pollutants with more stringent source-specific regulations, the San Joaquin Valley continues to face major air quality challenges with the worst air quality in the nation.

All air districts in California are authorized by the federal Clean Air Act and by the state to operate emission reduction credit or ERC programs within their jurisdictions. These programs function similarly to cap-and-trade. If a polluter reduces emissions beyond what is currently required, they can earn a credit. In order for a credit to be issued, the qualifying source emissions must be “quantifiable, enforceable, permanent, and surplus.” These credits can then be sold to polluters that need to offset anticipated future emissions in order to obtain a permit. Credits are stored in “banks” managed by the air districts. Once a credit is used by a permit, it is permanently removed from its bank.

1. Author’s statement:

All Californians should be able to breathe clean air. Exposure to air pollution is linked to increases in mortality in infants, hospital admissions for cardiovascular and chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases, and severity of asthma attacks among children. Rural communities, farmworker communities, disadvantaged communities, tribal nations, young people, and those living at or below the poverty level often live adjacent to transportation corridors or commercial and industrial facilities and are at the highest risk of adverse health outcomes.

Unfortunately, there is no way to publically verify that a polluter is implementing emissions control technology guidelines. Worse, air pollution control and air quality management districts are unable to monitor every polluter for compliance due to limited resources. As a result, communities are often left with little to no information on polluters and the conditions of their permits.

AB 1305 requires air control districts to publicize information about pollution permits issued to empower communities to hold polluters accountable.

1. Will the bill help confirm or enforce the validity of ERCs or BACT and BARCT requirements? This bill provides a basic, standardized level of information about district-permitted sources that rely on ERCs. This may be useful as a first step for members of the public to identify significant sources in their communities. However, the bill does not provide air quality data, or information regarding permittees’ compliance, including the quality of ERCs or performance of BACT or BARCT equipment. Though the format may be different, and it might not be as user-friendly, existing ARB and air district websites provide more detailed information about permitted sources.
2. Should ODI provide website design to non-state agencies? According to ODI, developing and implementing website templates or data tools for local, regional, or other non-state agencies is not a service ODI currently provides. ODI indicates its work is primarily focused on supporting state agencies and departments, and it is not resourced at this time to implement the provisions outlined in AB 1305. If this bill were to move forward, ODI would most likely need to coordinate with ARB, the Department of Finance, and others to identify the necessary resources to complete the work. Additionally, any engagement of this nature would likely require cost recovery from the air districts, as this type of support falls outside ODI’s standard scope of work.

Meanwhile, air districts object to surrendering website design to ODI. Requiring each district to do the assignment itself preserves the districts’ autonomy and would likely be faster and less expensive. The author and the committee may wish to consider striking the requirements on ODI, and instead make the bill a direct requirement on each air district. (Striking subdivision (a) of Section 40714.)

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

350 Humboldt: Grass Roots Climate Action
A Voice for Choice Advocacy
California Environmental Voters
Central California Environmental Justice Network
Leadership Counsel Action
Public Health Advocates

Opposition

African-American Farmers League
Agricultural Council of California
Agricultural Energy Consumers Association
Almond Alliance
American Chemistry Council
BOMA California
California Advanced Biofuels Alliance
California Air Pollution Control Officers Association
California Association of Winegrape Growers
California Business Properties Association
California Chamber of Commerce
California Cotton Ginners and Growers Association
California Fresh Fruit Association
California Grain and Feed Association
California League of Food Producers
California Manufacturers & Technology Association
California Poultry Federation
California Retailers Association
California Special Districts Association
California Walnut Commission
California Warehouse Association
Milk Producers Council
NAIOP of California
Nisei Farmers League
Pacific Coast Renderers Association
Pacific Egg and Poultry Association
San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District

Western Growers Association
Western Plant Health Association
Western States Petroleum Association

Western Tree Nut Association

Analysis Prepared by: Lawrence Lingbloom / NAT. RES. /