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Updated 2/25/2021
The 2021 California legislative session is underway. Note that committees have begun to schedule bill hearings. Throughout 2021 updates to this page will be made weekly and a link to it will be published weekly in The Climate Center’s e-news.
Below is a partial list of bills we are tracking in the 2021 legislative session. For details on any bill listed below, click on the hyperlinked bill number and that will bring you to the State’s official legislative info page for that bill. For the complete list of 71 bills we are tracking, click HERE. One final note: yes, we are tracking a lot of bills, but consider this: in the Assembly alone about 2400 bills have been introduced this year!
Bills sponsored by The Climate Center
AB 1325 (Burke) This bill would require the California Public Utilities Commission (“Commission” or “CPUC”) to develop and implement a Clean Community Microgrid Incentive Program by 2022 to fund community microgrids that support the critical needs of vulnerable communities that utilize distributed energy resources for the generation of electricity. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 99 (Dodd) The Community Energy Resilience Act of 2021 would require the California Energy Commission to develop and implement a technical assistance and grant program to support local governments in developing community energy resilience plans, prioritizing state support for the most vulnerable communities. The bill sets forth guiding principles for plan development, including equitable access to reliable energy, and integration with other existing local planning documents. For more information about this bill visit our Community Energy Resilience page. STATUS: referred to Senate Energy Committee.
Bills that The Climate Center supports
AB 39 (Chau) Would establish the California-China Climate Institute, housed at UC Berkeley, in partnership with the Institute of Climate Change and Sustainable Development at Tsinghua University, China to foster collaboration to inform and shape climate policy and advance the goals of the Paris Agreement, advance joint policy research on major climate issues, support high-level dialogue on specific climate issues, and provide training to specified entities to advance climate and environmental policies. STATUS: Referred to Asm Higher Education Committee.
AB 43 (Friedman, Ting Chiu, Quirk) The Climate Center supports this bill because it aims to improve active transportation safety. Active transportation (walking, bicycling) is an important part of GHG reductions in the transportation sector. The bill would require the California Traffic Safety Program to identify and address locations with pedestrian and bicycle related crashes and would extend the period of time a lowered speed limit can be justified as necessary for safety (as opposed to being used as a speed trap) if there has been an increase in traffic-related crashes. Replaces the 85% rule for setting speed limits. STATUS: Referred to Asm Transportation Committee.
AB 50 (Boerner-Horvath) Existing law requires the Natural Resources Agency, in collaboration with the Ocean Protection Council, to create, and update biannually, a Planning for Sea Level Rise Database describing steps being taken throughout the state to prepare for and adapt to sea level rise. This bill would establish the Climate Adaptation Center and Regional Support Network in the Ocean Protection Council to provide local governments facing sea level rise with information and scientific expertise necessary to proceed with sea level rise mitigation. STATUS: Assigned to Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
AB 339 (Cristina Garcia, Lee) This is a bill aimed at improving on the existing open meetings laws (Ralph M. Brown, Bagley-Keene, and the Dymally-Alatorre Bilingual Services Acts). The bill focuses on ensuring meaningful public participation in light of the increased use of remote access platforms. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 18 (Skinner) This is a bill that has several elements aimed at advancing green (renewables-based) hydrogen in California. STATUS: Referred to Senate Energy Committee.
SB 27 (Skinner) Would establish carbon sequestration goals for natural and working lands and would require the Air Resources Board, as part of its scoping plan, to establish specified carbon dioxide removal targets for 2030 and beyond. STATUS: Referred to Senate Env. Quality Committee.
Note: the following four bills (30, 31, 32, and 37) constitute a “building decarbonization package.”
SB 30 (Cortese) This bill, dubbed the “State Buildings and Assets Decarbonization Act of 2021” mandates that State buildings and assets achieve carbon-neutrality by 2035 and that the State divest from projects that are not zero emission by 2023. Beginning in 2022, all newly designed and constructed state buildings must be zero emission. SB 30 Fact Sheet. STATUS: Referred to Senate Governmental Organization Committee.
SB 31 (Cortese) This bill, dubbed the “Decarbonization Programs Act” would develop new building decarbonization programs through the California Energy Commission and the Public Utilities Commission, with a particular emphasis on providing opportunities for low income customers. SB 31 Fact Sheet. STATUS: Referred to Senate Energy Committee.
SB 32 (Cortese) This bill, dubbed the “Decarbonization Act of 2021” would require all cities and counties in California to update their General Plans with objectives, targets, and policies to fully decarbonize their building stock. SB 32 Fact Sheet. STATUS: Referred to Senate Governance and Finance Committee.
SB 37 (Cortese) Would enact the Dominic Cortese “Cortese List” Act of 2021 and would expressly provide that a project that is included on the Cortese List shall also not be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) as a project where it can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the activity in question may have a significant effect on the environment, commonly known as the “common-sense exemption.” SB 37 Fact Sheet. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 67 (Becker) This bill aims to accelerate the state’s progress toward having 100% of electricity provided by renewable or other zero-carbon sources on a 24-hour, 7-day basis. STATUS: Referred to Senate Rules Committee.
SB 260 (Wiener, et al) This bill would require the Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop regulations requiring publicly traded corporations (covered entities) with annual revenues in excess of $1 billion that do business in California to publicly disclose their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to set science-based emissions reduction targets. The bill would require covered entities to disclose their GHG emissions reduction targets in a manner that is easily understandable and accessible to residents of the state, including, but not limited to, by making that information available on a widely available online platform. The bill would also require covered entities to ensure that their public disclosures have been independently verified by a third-party auditor, approved by the ARB, with expertise in greenhouse gas emissions accounting. STATUS: Double-referred to the Env. Quality and Judiciary Committees.
SB 467 (Wiener, Limón) Fracking ban and health & safety setbacks bill. STATUS: Introduced February 17. Double-referred to Natural Resources and Env. Quality Committees.
Bills that The Climate Center opposes
SB 84 (Hurtado) This bill is a reintroduced version of 2020’s SB 1012 by Hurtado, which The Climate Center opposed in 2021. SB 84 will unnecessarily make it more difficult and take longer to make oil & gas operators who are responsible for wells they owned and operated remediate and plug deserted oil & gas wells. Read the opposition letter to SB 84 that we signed onto with other organizations HERE. STATUS: ON AGENDA in the Sen Natural Resources and Water Committee: March 16, 9am.
Bills that The Climate Center is monitoring but for which we have not taken a public position
AB 5 (Fong) This bill would temporarily un-fund the California High Speed Rail project. It would suspend the appropriation to the High-Speed Rail Authority (Authority) for the 2021–22 and 2022–23 fiscal years and would require the transfer of those amounts from moneys collected by the Air Resources Board to the General Fund. The bill would specify that the transferred amounts shall be available to support K–12 education. This bill would require the transfer of a sum of $2.4 billion as a loan, from the unencumbered moneys appropriated to the Authority before the 2020-21 fiscal year from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the General Fund. Proposition 1A, approved by the voters at the November 2008 statewide general election, created the High Speed Rail Authority and provides for the issuance of general obligation bonds in the amount of $9 billion for high-speed rail purposes and $950 million for other related rail purposes. Prop 1A requires bonds issued and sold pursuant to the act to be deposited in the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund. This bill would appropriate $2.4 billion from the High-Speed Passenger Train Bond Fund to the Authority for the sole purpose of completing the minimum scope of work necessary to meet federal grant requirements and satisfy existing regional commitments, as described in the 2020 High-Speed Rail Authority Draft Business Plan, thereby making an appropriation. STATUS: Referred to Asm Transportation Committee.
AB 11 (Ward) Existing law requires the Strategic Growth Council to establish up to twelve regional climate change coordinating groups to develop and work on climate adaptation for their communities. This bill would require the Council to establish and administer a regional climate collaborative program to assist under-resourced communities to access statewide public and other grant moneys for climate change mitigation and adaptation projects. STATUS Referred to Natural Resources Committee.
AB 21 (Bauer-Kahan) Existing law requires a person that owns, controls, operates, or maintains any electrical transmission or distribution line upon any mountainous land or forest-covered land, brush-covered land, or grass-covered land to maintain around and adjacent to any pole or tower that supports a switch, fuse, transformer, lightning arrester, line junction, or dead-end or corner pole a firebreak and to maintain a clearance between all vegetation and all conductors that are carrying electric current. This bill would impose a civil penalty of up to $100,000 for each violation of the above-described provisions and would impose an additional civil penalty of up to $1,000 for each acre burned by a fire resulting from a violation of the above-described provisions. The bill would also require 50% of the penalties collected to be deposited into a Utility Accountability and Wildfire Prevention Fund (Fund), which the bill would establish in the State Treasury, and would distribute the remaining 50%, as provided. The bill would provide that the moneys in the Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, are available for purposes of enhancing forest management, fire planning, wildfire prevention and suppression, and fire-related enforcement activities. STATUS: Referred to Asm Natural Resources Committee.
AB 30 (Kalra) The State Urban Parks and Healthy Communities Act requires the Director of Parks and Recreation to develop a competitive grant program to assist state parks, specified state conservancies, urbanized and heavily urbanized local agencies, and community-based organizations within those jurisdictions to provide outdoor educational opportunities. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to subsequently enact legislation that would improve access to nature for all people in the state and provide for recreational and educational opportunities, with a specific emphasis on increasing access for economically disadvantaged communities. STATUS: Introduced.
AB 52 (Frazier) Pursuant to the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Act), this bill would require the Air Resources Board, in each scoping plan update prepared by the Board after January 1, 2022, to include, consistent with the Act, recommendations for achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective reductions of emissions of greenhouse gases and black carbon from wildfires. The bill would also express the intent of the Legislature to appropriate an amount from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund for wildfire mitigation and prevention. STATUS: Referred to Asm Natural Resources Committee.
AB 64 (Quirk) This bill is about developing a strategy to achieve GHG-free electricity in accord with state climate goals. It directs the CPUC, Energy Commission, and Air Resources Board to develop a strategy on how to achieve state clean energy and climate goals in a cost-effective and environmentally beneficial manner. The bill would require the strategy to include a plan to promote the development of technologies that can help achieve state policy goals. STATUS: Referred to Asm Utilities and Energy Committee.
AB 113 (Boerner Horvath) Spot bill related to transportation electrification, electric vehicles, and EV-grid integration. May have some bearing on Community Choice Aggregators. STATUS: Introduced.
AB 117 (Boerner-Horvath) The bill would create the Electric Bicycle Rebate Pilot Project and appropriate $10 million from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) to the Air Resources Board for purposes of providing incentives for purchasing electric bicycles. STATUS: Referred to the Assembly Transportation Committee.
AB 125 (R. Rivas) States the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to issue a bond to support solutions to the climate crisis and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic that would create a more equitable and resilient food and farming system. STATUS: Introduced.
AB 284 (R. Rivas) This bill would require the Air Resources Board, when updating the scoping plan and in collaboration with other relevant state agencies, to take specified actions by January 1, 2023, including, among others, identifying a 2045 climate goal, with interim milestones, for the state’s natural and working lands and identifying practices, policy incentives, market needs, and potential reductions in barriers that would help achieve the 2045 climate goal. The bill would require the ARB, no later than January 1, 2024, to develop standard methods for state agencies to consistently track GHG emissions reductions, carbon sequestration, and additional benefits from natural and working lands over time. STATUS: Referred to Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
AB 322 (Salas) This bill would require the California Energy Commission to allocate not less than 20% of the funds appropriated for the energy Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program to bioenergy projects for biomass conversion. STATUS: Double-referred to Asm. Energy and Natural Resources committees. May be heard on Feb. 26.
AB 353 (O’Donnell). This bill removes a $300M cap on deposits into an existing Oil Trust Fund. Existing law established the Oil Trust Fund in the State Treasury to help finance the costs of well abandonment, pipeline removal, facility removal, remediation, and other costs associated with removal of oil and gas facilities from the Long Beach tidelands. Existing law prohibits the total amount deposited in the fund from exceeding $300M. This bill would delete the provisions relating to the limit on the total amount deposited in the fund. By increasing the amount of money that may be deposited into a continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation. STATUS: Referred to Asm Natural Resources Committee. May be heard in Committee Feb. 28.
AB 416 (Kalra) The Deforestation-Free Procurement Act aims to eliminate contracts for goods and services procured by California that result in deforestation. See author’s factsheet. STATUS: referred to Asm Accountability and Administrative Review Committee. May be heard on March 7.
AB 427 (Bauer-Kahan) This bill “virtual power plant” bill. It allows load serving entities (LSEs) including CCAs, to count “negawatts” dispatchable via demand response (DR) programs as part of their resource adequacy (RA) obligation. It would require the CPUC to 1) Establish rules that allow DR programs and resources procured by an LSE to meet the LSE’s RA requirements regardless of whether the program is integrated into the wholesale market overseen by CAISO, 2) Adopt a baseline methodology that treats the charging of energy storage as load in baseline calculations for demand response programs, 3) Allow customer-sited distributed eligible renewable energy resources and energy storage systems participating in a demand response program, or product developed pursuant to #1 above, to deliver electricity to the grid for purposes of providing RA, and 4) establish a capacity valuation methodology for customer-sited energy storage resources and customer-sited hybrid resources, as defined, in consultation with CAISO and the CA Energy Commission, and ensure that the capacity valuation applies to DR resources coupled with customer-sited hybrid or customer-sited storage resources for the 2023 RA year. STATUS: Referred to Assembly Energy Committee. May be heard in committee March 7
AB 525 (Chiu) Introduced by Assembly Members Chiu, Cunningham, and Friedman (Assembly Coauthors: Bennett, Calderon, Quirk, and Ting) (Senate Co-authors: Eggman, Wiener) A bill to promote offshore wind-power development. See author’s factsheet. STATUS: Double referred to Asm Energy and Natural Resources Committees.
AB 564 (Gonzalez, Kalra) This bill would establish the Biodiversity Protection and Restoration Act and would provide that it is the policy of the state that all state agencies, boards, and commissions shall utilize their authorities in furtherance of the biodiversity conservation purposes and goals of certain executive orders. The bill would require all state agencies, boards, and commissions to consider and prioritize the protection of biodiversity in carrying out their statutory mandates. The bill would require strategies related to the goal of the state to conserve at least 30% of California’s land and coastal waters by 2030 to be made available to the public and provided to certain legislative committees by no later than June 30, 2022. STATUS: Introduced.
AB 585 (L.Rivas, et al) This bill would establish the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Program to coordinate the state’s efforts to address extreme heat and to facilitate the implementation of regional and state climate change planning into effective projects through the awarding of competitive grants to eligible entities for implementation of those projects. The bill would require the Office of Planning and Research to administer the program. The bill would establish the Extreme Heat and Community Resilience Fund in the State Treasury and would require the office, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to expend moneys in the fund for the implementation of the program. STATUS: Referred to Asm Natural Resources Committee.
AB 680 (Friedman) This bill would enact the California Just Transition Act, which would require the Labor and Workforce Development Agency to work with the Air Resources Board to update the funding guidelines for administering agencies to ensure that all applicants to grant programs funded by the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund meet specified standards, including fair and responsible employer standards and inclusive procurement policies, and give preference to applicants that demonstrate a partnership with an educational institution or training program targeting residents of disadvantaged, tribal, and low-income communities.
AB 1087 (Chiu) This bill would create an Environmental Justice Community Resilience Hubs Program, which would require each investor-owned utility (IOU) to award competitive grants to owners of critical community institutions and qualified housing for holistic community-driven building upgrade projects that demonstrate community engagement in all phases, demonstrate multi-stakeholder partnerships, reflect the geographic diversity of the state, and are installed on those properties. STATUS: Introduced.
AB 1139 (L. Gonzalez) This bill would abolish solar net energy metering in California. STATUS: Introduced.
AB 1500 (Eduardo Garcia) This bill would place a $6.7 billion “Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparation, Flood Protection, Extreme Heat Mitigation, and Workforce Development Bond Act of 2022” ballot measure on the November 8, 2022 general election ballot. That’s all. If approved by the voters, would authorize the issuance of bonds in the amount of $6,7 billion to finance projects for, well, safe drinking water, wildfire prevention, drought preparation, flood protection, extreme heat mitigation, and workforce development programs. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 1 (Atkins) Addresses sea level rise. This bill would create within state government the California Sea Level Rise State and Regional Support Collaborative. STATUS: ON AGENDA in the Sen Natural Resources and Water Committee: March 16.
SB 25 (Hurtado) This purpose of this bill is to impose a requirement that costs to the oil & gas industry for complying with the law are compensated. Existing law authorizes CalGEM to regulate the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state and requires an operator proposing to perform a well stimulation treatment (fracking) to apply for a permit to perform the well stimulation treatment. Anyone who fails to comply with this and other requirements relating to the regulation of oil or gas operations is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation to (1) strengthen the regulatory review process for well stimulation treatment projects to protect public health and safety, and the environment, while protecting the livelihoods of essential workers in the San Joaquin Valley, and (2) ensure that any jobs or economic activity affected by the strengthening of the regulatory review process for well stimulation treatment projects are fully compensated for, and retained, in order to ensure the employees and communities affected by these actions are not adversely affected. STATUS: Referred to Senate Rules Committee.
SB 36 (Skinner) Energy-related spot bill. STATUS: Referred to Senate Rules Committee.
SB 44 (Allen) Would provide expedited judicial review of CEQA challenges for Environmental Leadership Transit Projects, which are defined as major public transit rail line infrastructure projects that meet certain sustainability standards and labor requirements. STATUS: Double-referred to Senate Env. Quality and Judiciary committees.
SB 45 (Portantino, et al) Would establish the Wildfire Prevention, Safe Drinking Water, Drought Preparation, and Flood Protection Bond Act of 2022 with a $5.5 billion general obligation bond. STATUS: Triple-referred to Senate Natural Resources, Govt. & Finance, and Env. Quality committees. Set for hearing on March 16 @ 9am.
SB 47 (Limón) Existing law prohibits CalGEM from spending more than $3 million in any one fiscal year for purposes related to hazardous wells, idle-deserted wells, hazardous facilities, and deserted facilities. This bill would indefinitely raise the cap on spending for these purposes to $10 million in any one fiscal year. STATUS: ON AGENDA in the Sen Natural Resources and Water Committee: March 16, 9am.
SB 63 (Stern) This is a complex bill that would address many issues regarding wildfire prevention including vegetation management, enhancing public education, providing grants, ensuring defensible space, establishing fire hazard severity zones, and instituting other measures related to forest management. STATUS: Double-referred to Natural Resources and Housing committees. ON AGENDA in the Sen Natural Resources and Water Committee: March 16, 9am.
SB 68 (Becker) Building decarbonization: This bill is aimed at helping the state achieve its climate and air pollution reduction goals in the building sector through actions such as reducing barriers to upgrading electrical service panels or accommodating additional electrical appliances within existing service panels. STATUS: Referred to Senate Rules Committee.
SB 83 (Allen) This bill would create the Sea Level Rise Revolving Loan Program within the I-Bank to provide low-interest loans to local jurisdictions for the purchase of coastal properties in their jurisdictions identified as vulnerable coastal property. STATUS: ON AGENDA in the Sen Natural Resources and Water Committee: March 16, 9am.
SB 204 (Dodd) This bill has impacts on Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs). It would require that the base interruptible program (BIP; see PG&E’s version) be available to qualifying industrial customers regardless of the load-serving entity (LSE) that is that customer’s supplier of electricity. The bill would require that the minimum incentive levels for program participation be those applicable within the service territory of each electrical corporation (aka Investor Owned Utility) as they were during 2018, adjusted for inflation using a price index determined by the CPUC (Commission) to be appropriate. The bill would authorize the Commission to approve increased incentive levels for program participation if the Commission determines that those increased incentives are reasonably warranted to ensure continued participation by eligible industrial customers, within the upper limits established by the Commission, and to ensure continued delivery of resource adequacy and expected ratepayer benefits. Because the bill would require actions by those LSEs that are CCAs, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require the Commission to implement a pilot economic demand response program, to be administered by the large electrical corporations, in which BIP participants may elect to participate by April 2022. STATUS: Referred to Sen Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.
SB 261 (Allen) This bill would: 1) Require that the sustainable communities strategy required by existing law under SB 375 be developed to additionally achieve GHG emission reduction targets for the automobile and light truck sector for 2045 and 2050 and vehicle miles traveled reduction targets for 2035, 2045, and 2050 established by the Air Resources Board and would make various conforming changes to integrate those additional targets into regional transportation plans; 2) Require the metropolitan planning organization to, at least 90 days before adopting a sustainable communities strategy, submit to the ARB for review a draft sustainable communities strategy, and to respond to any comments on the draft it receives from the state board; 3) Require that the sustainable communities strategy be submitted within 60 days of adoption. The bill would require the state board to reject the metropolitan planning organization’s determination that the strategy submitted would achieve the greenhouse gas emission vehicle miles traveled reduction targets if it determines that certain criteria are met; 4) Require each city, county, or city and county to biennially report to its metropolitan planning organization the number of housing and jobs, and transit supportive infrastructure, existing and planned, that demonstrates implementation of strategies included in the applicable sustainable communities strategy. STATUS: Referred to Sen. Env Quality Committee.
SB 267 (Hertzberg). Analysis pending. The bill addresses tax benefits and ownership of existing solar energy systems in “partnership flips.” STATUS: Referred to Sen. Governance and Finance committee.
SB 500 (Min) Requires autonomous vehicle fleets to be electric. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 529 (Hertzberg) Similar to bills introduced last year that failed, this bill aims to establish a centralized resource adequacy procurement mechanism. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 533 (Stern) This bill has bearing on CCAs. It also relates to wildfire mitigation plans, deenergization events, and microgrids. Among other things, it calls for the establishment of a methodology to account for the resource adequacy value of distributed storage, and for the creation of a critical facility and infrastructure database. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 551 (Stern) This bill would establish the California Electric Vehicle Authority within the Governor’s office and would require the authority to coordinate activities among state agencies to advance electric vehicle and zero-emission charging infrastructure deployment as well as ensure related equity, workforce development, economic development, and other needs are addressed. STATUS: Introduced. May be acted upon on or after March 21.
SB 612 (Portantino) Relates to Community Choice agencies (CCAs). This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact subsequent legislation related to public utilities that would ensure fair and equal access to the benefits of legacy resources held in investor-owned utility (IOU) portfolios and address the management of these resources to maximize value for all customers. STATUS: Introduced.
SB 617 (Wiener) This bill would require every city and county to implement an online, automated permitting platform that verifies code compliance and instantaneously issues permits for a residential solar-photovoltaic electricity system and an energy storage system paired with a residential solar-photovoltaic energy system. The bill also authorizes the California Energy Commission to provide technical assistance and grant funding to cities and counties in order to support the new requirements.
SB 730 (Bradford) This bill has bearing on Community Choice agencies (CCAs). Requires that demand response products and tariffs required within the resource adequacy program be cost effective. STATUS: Introduced.
2021 bills that have died:
[coming soon]
