In early July, the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development’s (GO-Biz’s) Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) Unit completed their efforts to map compliance to a 2015 law (Assembly Bill 1236) mandating all municipalities, including small rural jurisdictions, to streamline electric vehicle (EV) charging station permits in order to expedite the availability of EV charging stations. Thus far only 18% of all municipalities have taken action to comply. Napa, San Luis Obispo and Sonoma Counties comply with the AB 1236 law, while Butte, Calaveras, Humboldt, Monterey, Sutter, Tuolumne and Yolo Counties have taken proactive steps and are currently in the process of complying, leaving 27 RCRC-member counties with action needed.
While many counties meet the spirit of the law and continue to issue building permits for EV charging, it is incumbent upon local governments to comply with all aspects of the EV charging streamlining law to prevent undesirable enforcement efforts or other law changes that could negatively infringe on local building and planning departments. Earlier this year, RCRC along with its local governments partners led a successful effort to oppose AB 2168 (McCarty), a deemed approved permitting scheme for EV charging stations regardless if a municipality has a streamlined process pursuant to current law.
RCRC has put together a follow-up informational memo for the upcoming August 12th Board of Directors meeting, see here. GO-Biz continues to offer assistance to local government agencies (and businesses alike) on ZEV readiness and AB 1236 compliance, including best practices and streamlining templates. For more information, or to let them know your county has initiated streamlining and compliance, please utilize the GO-Biz contact form (click here) or reach out to the ZEV unit at zev@gobiz.ca.gov.