44274.8.
(a) (1) The state board shall develop a plan to provide for the funding of the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project established as part of the Air Quality Improvement Program. The funding plan may include, but need not be limited to, taxpayer-neutral financing options to derive immediate value for point-of-sale rebates from a cashflow stream of current and future funding sources.(2) The funding plan shall not include moneys recovered from ratepayers by electrical or gas corporations.
(3) The funding plan shall not include a new fee structure on vehicles that varies based on the greenhouse gas emissions of the operation of that vehicle.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that, pursuant to a later enacted statute granting the Treasurer this authority, the Treasurer, upon request by the state board and following approval from the Director of Finance, may securitize revenues for which the state board has existing authority to establish a funding source for the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project established as part of the Air Quality Improvement Program.
(c) (1) Prior to a later enacted statute that grants the Treasurer the authority described in subdivision (b), the state board shall provide the Director of Finance all of the following:
(A) A rebate structure, which shall include a plan that gradually reduces the rebate dollar level per vehicle to zero over a set of steps of increasing vehicle volume, designed to support the deployment of 5,000,000 zero-emission vehicles in the state by December 2030.
(B) A starting rebate level for all battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles, designated as the benchmark rebate level, in an amount that does not exceed seven thousand five hundred dollars ($7,500) per vehicle.
(C) Rebate levels, if any, for plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that reflect, relative to the benchmark rebate level, those vehicles’ contribution to achieving the state’s greenhouse gas and air pollution emissions reduction goals.
(D) An estimate of the total amount of money to be paid as rebates between July 1, 2020, and the date at which 5,000,000 zero-emission vehicles are expected to be deployed.
(2) The Department of Finance shall specify a funding plan to maintain funding levels for any program impacted by this subdivision.
(d) This section does not provide the state board new authority to establish new revenue sources.
(e) This section does not provide the state board with new authority to assess a penalty, surcharge, or similar cost on a vehicle or a vehicle manufacturer.
(f) (1) The state board shall report to the Legislature the proposed funding plan required pursuant to subdivision (a) and rebate structure and levels required pursuant to subdivision (c).
(2) A report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.