Today's Law As Amended


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AB-1524 State Air Resources Board: zero-emission drayage trucks: Project 800 initiative.(2021-2022)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) In 2020, the State Air Resources Board adopted regulations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from heavy-duty trucks and drayage trucks. These regulations include a first-in-the-world rule requiring truck manufacturers to transition from diesel trucks and vans to electric zero-emission trucks beginning in 2024 and requiring every new truck sold in California to be zero emission by 2045. The State Air Resources Board approved the “Heavy-Duty Low NOx Omnibus Regulation,” which requires manufacturers of heavy-duty diesel trucks to comply with tougher emission standards, overhaul engine testing procedures, and further extend engine warranties to ensure that emissions of oxides of nitrogen are reduced to help California meet federal air quality standards and critical public health goals.
(b) Also in 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order No. N-79-20, which, among other things, requires all drayage trucks in the state to be zero emission by 2035 and sets a number of vehicle emissions goals for the state, including having 100 percent of heavy-duty vehicles in the state be zero emission by 2045.
(c) There are an estimated 30,000 drayage trucks that service California ports each year. Most of these are used trucks. Used drayage trucks cost around $50,000. New zero-emission drayage trucks currently cost over $350,000. Unless funding is provided to offset the initial cost of new zero-emission drayage trucks, higher early-market costs will continue to pose a barrier to the adoption of zero-emission trucks.

SEC. 2.

 Section 44274.3 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

44274.3.
 (a) To meet the state’s 2035 zero-emission drayage truck goal set forth in Executive Order No. N-79-20, the state board shall extend the Project 800 initiative to provide continued financial incentives to support the ordering of an additional 1,000 to 1,600 zero-emission drayage trucks in 2022 to serve California ports.
(b) With regard to the extended Project 800 initiative, it is the intent of the Legislature that both of the following occur:
(1) Funding for the initiative come from, but shall not be limited to, the Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project.
(2) An additional 1,000 to 1,600 zero-emission drayage trucks will be ordered by December 31, 2022, by individuals and companies operating drayage trucks that serve California ports and by December 31, 2024, those trucks will begin operating at California ports.
(c) (1) For purposes of this subdivision, the following terms have the following definitions:
(A) “Applicable law violation” means a violation that has a final determination, order, judgment, or award issued against a fleet purchaser of vehicles for engaging in illegal conduct related to the misclassification of employees as independent contractors, including the failure to pay wages, imposing unlawful expenses on employees, failure to remit payroll taxes, and failure to provide workers’ compensation insurance, and that remains unabated or unsatisfied following the period during which an appeal may be made.
(B) “Participating fleet” means a purchaser or entity operating a zero-emission drayage truck that has applied for and received financial incentives pursuant to the Project 800 initiative.
(2) (A) Project 800 initiative financial incentives shall only be available to an applicant that attests to the state board, in writing, to both of the following:
(i) The applicant does not have an applicable law violation at the time the applicant applied for Project 800 initiative financial incentives.
(ii) The applicant will not have an applicable law violation for at least three years from the date of its application for Project 800 initiative financial incentives or for the duration of the incentive agreement, whichever is longer.
(B) The state board shall retain the attestation made by an applicant pursuant to subparagraph (A) for the full ownership period required by the Project 800 initiative.
(C) (i) Any person may submit a report that a participating fleet has failed to provide a truthful attestation pursuant to subparagraph (A) or has an applicable law violation within the applicable period identified in clause (ii) of subparagraph (A) to the Department of Industrial Relations for investigation. The Department of Industrial Relations shall investigate the report and notify the state board of its determination.
(ii) If the Department of Industrial Relations determines that a participating fleet has failed to provide a truthful attestation pursuant to subparagraph (A) or has an applicable law violation within the applicable period identified in clause (ii) of subparagraph (A), the participating fleet shall repay all Project 800 initiative financial incentives received, including interest, as directed by the state board.
(3) A participating fleet that is on the list maintained by the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of Section 2810.4 of the Labor Code is not eligible to receive financial incentives pursuant to the Project 800 initiative.