Information related to the current status of legislation and regulations impacting California’s rural counties.
ACA 1 (Aguiar-Curry): Local Government Financing: Affordable Housing. ACA 1 would lower the vote threshold to 55 percent for approval of local bonded-indebtedness and specially dedicated taxes imposed for specified uses. Status: ACA 1 has been recently introduced and awaits consideration from the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
AJR 5 (L. Rivas): Wild and free-roaming horses and burros. AJR 5 would urge the federal government to declare a moratorium on all further wild horse and burro round-ups and would urge the United States Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service to introduce and support populations in areas of California where wild horses and burros were historically present. Status: AJR 5 has been recently introduced and has not yet been referred to an Assembly policy committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 1 (C. Garcia): Hazardous Waste: Assembly Bill 1 Establishes several new governance, policy, and fiscal reforms to improve the Department of Toxic Substances Control, including significantly increasing several fees and repealing several important fee exemptions. Status: AB 1 is awaiting consideration by the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 33 (Ting): Natural Gas: Prohibits new public buildings from having natural gas connections and utilities from subsidizing natural gas line connections. Status: AB 33 is awaiting consideration in the Assembly Utilities and Energy and natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Assembly Bill 318 (Levine): Hazardous waste: Assembly Bill 318 excludes from classification as hazardous waste green waste that has not been contaminated by a hazardous or toxic chemical during production, harvest, or processing. Allows those green wastes to be disposed in a permitted solid or hazardous waste landfill or composting operation. Status: AB 318 is awaiting consideration by the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 322 (Salas): Energy: Electric Program Investment Charge program: Assembly Bill 322 requires the Energy Commission to allocate at least 20% of all funds appropriated for the Electric Program Investment Charge program (roughly $25 million annually) to bioenergy projects for biomass conversion. Status: AB 322 is awaiting consideration in the Assembly Utilities and Energy and Natural Resources Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Assembly Bill 332 (ESTM): Hazardous waste: treated wood waste: Assembly Bill 332 seeks to reestablish a statutory pathway for the alternative management and disposal of treated wood waste in a landfill. STATUS: AB 332 is awaiting consideration by the Assembly Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee. RCRC Status: Support.
Senate Bill 30 (Cortese): Building Decarbonization: Senate Bill 30 prohibits state agencies from designing or constructing a state facility that is connected to the natural gas grid and prohibits state agencies from funding projects for the construction of residential and nonresidential buildings that are connected to the natural gas grid. Status: Senate Bill 30 awaits consideration by the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Senate Bill 38 (Wieckowski): Beverage Containers: Senate Bill 38 replaces the existing Beverage Container Recycling Program (Bottle Bill) with a new recycling program administered by beverage container manufacturers, increases the CRV from $0.05 to $0.10 per container if the state fails to achieve specified recycling rates, and expands the program to include many types of containers not currently subject to CRV. Status: SB 38 awaits consideration by the Senate Environmental Quality Committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 42 (Wieckowski): Department of Toxic Substances Control: Senate Bill 42 establishes a new Board of Environmental safety to oversee the Department of Toxic Substances Control, consider permit appeals, and propose regulatory changes and establishes an ombudsperson to make and receive public complaints and suggestions. SB 42 is anticipated to be amended to also include many of the fiscal changes suggested by the Administration to address DTSC’s structural deficit. Status: SB 42 awaits consideration by the Senate Environmental Quality committee. RCRC Status: Pending
Senate Bill 52 (Dodd): State of Emergency: Power Outages. Senate Bill 52 clarifies that deenergization events (also known as PSPS events) qualify as events for which a state of emergency or local emergency can be declared under the California Emergency Services Act. Status: SB 52 awaits consideration in the Senate Governmental Organization Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 55 (Stern): Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zone: Development. Senate Bill 55 would prohibit all retail, commercial, industrial, or residential development in specified fire-prone areas of the state. Status: SB 55 awaits consideration by the Senate Rules Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Senate Bill 207 (Dahle): Photovoltaic Recycling Advisory Group: Senate Bill 207 seeks to spur the recycling and reuse of solar photovoltaic panels by requiring an advisory group to make recommendations to ensure that, to the extent possible, all solar photovoltaic panels in the state are reused or recycled at the end of their lives in a safe and cost-effective manner. Status: SB 207 awaits consideration by the Senate Rules Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 244 (Archuleta): Lithium-ion batteries: illegal disposal: fire prevention: Senate Bill seeks to prevent lithium-ion battery fires by requiring the state to develop training and best practices for the detection, safe handling, and suppression of fires that originate from discarded lithium-ion batteries in solid waste collection vehicles, transfer and processing stations, and disposal facilities. Status: SB 244 awaits consideration from the Senate Environmental Quality and Natural Resources and Water Committee. RCRC Status: Support