Bill Text: CA AB3109 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

California Assembly Bill 3109 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: State Air Resources Board: report.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-16 - Re-referred to Com. on NAT. RES. [AB3109 Detail]

Download: California-2019-AB3109-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly March 12, 2020

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 3109

Introduced by Assembly Member Ting

February 21, 2020

An act ~~to amend Section 40930 of the Health and Safety Code,~~ relating to ~~air resources.~~ nonvehicular air pollution.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 3109, as amended, Ting. ~~Air districts: state ambient air quality standards.~~ State Air Resources Board: report.

Existing law imposes various limitations on emissions of air contaminants for the control of air pollution from vehicular and nonvehicular sources. Existing law generally designates the State Air Resources Board 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.
This bill would require the state board, no later than January 1, 2022, to submit a report to the Legislature summarizing the best scientific information available regarding the potential adverse effects on public health from the use of natural gas in buildings in the state, as specified.
Existing law requires air pollution control districts and air quality management districts to prepare a plan to achieve and maintain the state and federal ambient air quality standards. Existing law requires each district that has adopted that plan to, on or before January 31 of each year, report to the State Air Resources Board the number of days during the preceding calendar year that the air quality in the district violated each state ambient air quality standard for which the district’s status is nonattainment.
~~This bill would instead require the district to report that information to the state board on or before March 1 of each year.~~

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

(a) No later than January 1, 2022, the State Air Resources Board shall submit a report to the Legislature summarizing the best scientific information available regarding the potential adverse effects on public health from the use of natural gas in buildings in the state. The report shall include all of the following:

(1) The impact on vulnerable populations, including, but not limited to, individuals with asthma or other respiratory conditions, elderly persons, infants, children, and environmental justice concerns.
(2) Readily available information about the effects of existing regulations and current industry practices in mitigating exposure to the vulnerable populations described in paragraph (1).
(3) A list of natural gas indoor air pollutant sources that the State Air Resources Board has determined, based upon empirical data or other scientific information, are likely to have significant adverse impacts on human health through exposure in schools, nonindustrial workplaces, homes, and other indoor locations.
(4) An analysis of the indoor air emissions, indoor exposures, and potential health effects from the natural gas indoor sources described in paragraph (3), and options for mitigating those health effects in schools, nonindustrial workplaces, homes, and other indoor locations, including, but not limited to, a discussion of the feasibility and public health effects of implementing each option.
(b) Prior to submitting the report to the Legislature described in subdivision (a), the State Air Resources Board shall do all of the following:
(1) (A) Submit the draft report described in subdivision (a) to an external scientific peer review entity for evaluation. The external scientific peer review entity may be the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California, the California State University, or a similar institution that has scientific expertise.
(B) The external scientific peer review entity described in subparagraph (A), within a timeframe agreed upon by the State Air Resources Board and the external scientific peer review entity, shall prepare written comments that contain an evaluation of the scientific basis for the draft report. If the State Air Resources Board disagrees with any aspect of the findings of the external scientific peer review entity, the State Air Resources Board shall include as part of the final report to the Legislature an explanation of the State Air Resources Board’s basis for arriving at that determination, including, but not limited to, the reasons that the State Air Resources Board determined that the report was based on sound scientific knowledge, methods, and practices.
(2) Present and review the content of the report described in subdivision (a) at a public meeting.
(c) (1) A report to be submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(2) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section is repealed on January 1, 2026.

SECTION 1.Section 40930 of the Health and Safety Code is amended to read:
40930.
(a) Each district that has adopted a plan pursuant to this chapter shall, on or before March 1 of each year, prepare and submit to the state board a report identifying the number of days during the preceding calendar year that air quality in the district violated each state ambient air quality standard for which the district’s status is nonattainment.
(b) For any pollutant for which the report indicates that the applicable state ambient air quality standard was not violated during more than three days during the calendar year at any one or more monitoring locations within the district, the district shall not adopt any new or more stringent control measure until after preparation, and approval by the district board, of an analysis that does all of the following:
(1) Assesses the costs and benefits of all additional district, state, and federal regulatory actions that would be necessary to achieve attainment of the applicable state ambient air quality standard, taking into account only the additional costs and benefits attributable to achieving the state standard for the remaining three or fewer days each year.
~~(2) Includes consideration of all of the socioeconomic impacts specified in Section 40728.5.~~
(3) Identifies, if the district is an upwind district, the benefits of the additional regulatory actions in the district on the air quality in any downwind district, and identifies the costs attributable to those regulatory actions.
(c) The state board shall review the district analyses prepared pursuant to subdivision (b) to ensure expeditious progress towards attainment in both the district that prepared the analysis and any downwind district and to ensure that any resulting action of the district that prepared the analysis does not adversely affect any downwind district.