Fiscal committees in the California State Legislature met last week to announce which bills they had approved to continue moving through the legislative process given the state’s growing fiscal deficit reported during Governor Gavin Newsom’s May Revise press conference.  According to the Governor, the state budget shortfall has ballooned to almost $32 billion since the release of the his initial 2023-2024 State Budget Proposal back in January.

Over 20% of the bills in each Appropriations Committee were held.  To avoid this outcome (which could make it more difficult to reconsider the bills in the next legislative session), several authors preemptively requested their bills be made “two-year” measures.  This means the legislation will remain with the committees and may be considered in January 2024.   

Among these two-year measures is CRTA’s sponsored bill AB 1012 (Quirk-Silva).  It was tagged with an unusually high cost (millions of dollars) by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). It requires CARB to conduct a greenhouse gas lifecycle analysis (LCA) on the vehicle technology proposed in a future on-road mobile source regulation. With costs in mind, the bill is narrowed to both “future” and “on-road” mobile source regulations and makes the LCA part of the environmental analysis CARB is already required to perform for such rulemakings. Requesting the bill become a two-year measure gives us additional time to explore and address CARB’s fiscal estimate.

Similarly, SB 709 by Senator Ben Allen was also made a two-year bill.  This action was a welcomed outcome by the large coalition that oppose this challenging measure, includes CRTA.  The bill threatens to severely restrict the Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) incentive programs targeted at reducing dairy methane emissions and circumvents a discussion that is currently underway at CARB on possible modifications to the LCFS program. Senator Allen intends to work with affected stakeholders leading up to next year on various aspects of his measure.

You can read more about these bills in our previous articles listed below.

CRTA Sponsors Legislation to Better Inform Clean Transportation Decisions
Assembly Transportation Committee Approves AB 1012
Bill Threatens Progress on Methane Emission Reductions