Bill Text: CA AB153 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: offsets.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2014-02-03 - From committee: Filed with the Chief Clerk pursuant to Joint Rule 56. [AB153 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB153-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 153 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 8, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bonilla
JANUARY 18, 2013
An act to add Part 8 (commencing with Section 38600) to Division
25.5 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to greenhouse gases.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 153, as amended, Bonilla. California Global Warming Solutions
Act of 2006: offsets.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 requires the
State Air Resources Board to adopt regulations to require the
reporting and verification of emissions of greenhouse gases and to
monitor and enforce compliance with the reporting and verification
program, and requires the state board to adopt a statewide greenhouse
gas emissions limit equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas
emissions level in 1990 to be achieved by 2020. The act requires the
state board to adopt rules and regulations in an open public process
to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
greenhouse gas emission reductions. The act authorizes the state
board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms.
This bill, if the state board uses its authority to include the
use of market-based compliance mechanisms, would require the state
board, on or before January 1, 2014 2015
, to adopt a specified process for the review and consideration
of new offset protocols and, commencing in 2014 and continuing
annually thereafter, use that process to review and consider new
offset protocols. The bill would require the state board to
adopt guidelines and incentives that prioritize the approval of
specified offset protocols. The bill would require the
state board to submit a specified annual report to the Legislature.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division
25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code)
requires the state to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels
by 2020.
(b) On October 20, 2011, the State Air Resources Board adopted the
final cap-and-trade regulation pursuant to the act, to become
effective January 1, 2012, as required by that act, and also adopted
Resolution 11-32 to require that its executive officer develop
implementation documents laying out the process for the review and
consideration of new offset protocols.
(c) The cap-and-trade regulation is part of the state's global
warming scoping plan and is intended to provide covered entities
under the act the flexibility to seek out and implement the
lowest-cost options to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and will
provide an estimated 20 percent of the emissions reductions required
to achieve 1990 emission levels by 2020, as required by the act.
(d) The cap-and-trade regulation allows offset credits to be used
as a means by which parties subject to the regulation can lower their
cost to comply with the regulation while still ensuring a reduction
of greenhouse gas emissions and caps the use of offset credits at no
more than 8 percent of a covered entity's compliance obligation.
(e) The State Air Resources Board has adopted four compliance
offset protocols for use in the United States that can be used to
certify high-quality offset credits that are additional, real,
permanent, quantifiable, verifiable, and enforceable as required by
the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Livestock Manure
projects, Urban Forests projects, Ozone Depleting Substances
Destruction projects, and Forests projects.
(f) While a state comprehensive offset protocol review process
would provide more certainty for carbon dioxide offset suppliers and
purchasers to invest in environmentally worthwhile projects that meet
certain criteria under the California Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006, it is the intent of the Legislature that only high-quality
offset credits that represent rigorously evaluated offset protocols
and that meet the statutory requirements of the act be allowed for
compliance with the cap-and-trade regulation.
SEC. 2. Part 8 (commencing with Section 38600) is added to
Division 25.5 of the Health and Safety Code, to read:
PART 8. Certification of Compliance Offsets
38600. (a) On or before January 1, 2014
2015 , if the state board has exercised its authority pursuant
to subdivision (a) of Section 38570, the state board, in accordance
with Section 38571, shall adopt a process for the review and
consideration of new offset protocols. The process shall include, but
not be limited to, all of the following:
(1) A schedule, to be posted on the state board's Internet Web
site, that depicts the timeline for review and consideration of new
offset protocols by the state board. This schedule shall be updated
regularly and at least annually.
(2) An online tracking system that will allow the public to track
the progress of new offset protocols under review and consideration
by the state board.
(3) A point of contact at the state board for entities interested
in the process of review and consideration of new offset protocols by
the state board.
(4)
(3) An explanation of how the review and consideration
process will accommodate public input and comments on new offset
protocols under consideration.
(5)
(4) An explanation of the criteria used for
consideration of new offset protocols, including, but not limited to,
a description of the standards for protocol approval, rejection, and
delay. This description also shall include, to the extent feasible,
a description of the social, environmental, and financial impacts
analysis used in making offset protocol decisions as well as an
estimate of potential supply and expected development costs.
(b) Commencing in 2014, and continuing annually thereafter, if the
state board has exercised its authority pursuant to subdivision (a)
of Section 38570, the state board shall use the process adopted
pursuant to subdivision (a) to review and consider new offset
protocols.
(c) The state board shall establish incentives and guidelines that
prioritize the approval of offset protocols, in the following order,
that result in the following:
(1) The creation of green jobs in the state and the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions in the state.
(2) Air quality benefits in California communities
disproportionately impacted by air pollution, as determined by the
state board.
(3) Cobenefits to public health and the environment anywhere in
the state.
(d) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code,
the state board shall submit to the appropriate committees of the
Legislature an annual report on the status of the offset supply.
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
