Today's Law As Amended


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AB-585 Climate change: infrastructure and clean energy projects: assessments.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) President Joseph R. Biden and the 117th Congress enacted historic laws supporting infrastructure modernization, including by providing roughly $1.2 trillion through 2026 in the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public Law 117-58), and $391 billion over 10 years for climate-related investments in the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (Public Law 117-169).
(b) California has augmented these federal investments with over $52 billion in state funding for infrastructure and will invest more than $180 billion over the next 10 years, creating over 400,000 jobs.
(c) California has launched an all-of-government approach, working across agencies to deliver projects at the scale and pace necessary to maximize federal investment and deliver the benefits from these investments to all California communities.
(d) Identifying and addressing the barriers that are impeding the development and delivery of clean energy projects needed to achieve the state’s climate goals is a critical endeavor that will enable and accelerate California’s ability to capture the benefits from those clean energy projects that are supported by available federal funding and the state’s recent funding commitments.

SEC. 2.

 Section 12096.3.7 is added to the Government Code, to read:

12096.3.7.
 (a) (1) The office, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, and the Public Utilities Commission, shall prepare an assessment of the barriers, challenges, and impediments limiting the deployment and development of clean energy projects that support the strategies identified in the scoping plan prepared pursuant to Section 38561 of the Health and Safety Code and that advance the goals established pursuant to Sections 38562.2, 39730.5, and 39730.6 of the Health and Safety Code. The office shall submit the assessment prepared pursuant to this section to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2026, in compliance with Section 9795.
(2) In preparing the assessment, the office shall include, but is not limited to including, the following information:
(A) At least three clean energy project types.
(B) Specific challenges impacting the different stages of clean energy project development.
(C) Different methods for developing and deploying clean energy projects.
(D) Recommended approaches, models, or strategies for addressing the identified barriers, challenges, and impediments to clean energy project delivery.
(3) The office shall consider the most current versions of all of the applicable reports and plans listed in subdivision (a) of Section 38592.1 of the Health and Safety Code in the preparation of the assessment.
(b) The assessment prepared pursuant to subdivision (a) shall be considered and incorporated into the work carried out by the Infrastructure Strike Team established by Executive Order No. N-8-23.

SEC. 3.

 Section 38592.1 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

38592.1.
 (a) Every three years, the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST), in its mission to increase collaboration among agencies and scientists and convene stakeholders across institutions, is requested, at its discretion, to assess the infrastructure project types, scale, and pace necessary to achieve the state’s energy, climate change, and air quality goals, including, but not limited to, the goals established pursuant to Sections 38561.5, 38562.2, 38566, 39730.5, and 39730.6 of this code, and the goals established pursuant to Section 454.53 of the Public Utilities Code. In preparing the assessment, the materials CCST reviews shall include, but not be limited to, the most current versions of all of the following reports and plans:
(1) The integrated energy policy report prepared pursuant to Section 25302 of the Public Resources Code.
(2) The integrated resource plans filed pursuant to Section 454.52 of the Public Utilities Code.
(3) The joint reliability progress report issued pursuant to Section 454.53 of the Public Utilities Code.
(4) The report produced by the Independent System Operator on the 20-year transmission outlook.
(5) The reports prepared by the state board pursuant to Section 38561.8 and paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of Section 44274.
(6) The scoping plan prepared pursuant to Section 38561.
(7) The report prepared by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission pursuant to Section 25307 of the Public Resources Code.
(b) The list of infrastructure projects the CCST shall assess pursuant to subdivision (a) may include, but are not limited to, all of the following project types:
(1) Deployment of, or upgrades to, utility-scale and distributed renewable and carbon-free energy capacity, substations, transformers, transmission and distribution lines, and biomethane and renewable hydrogen production and distribution.
(2) Deployment of, or upgrades to, electric vehicle charging stations, hydrogen refueling stations, petroleum refinery conversions, sustainable aviation fuels, and other low-carbon and carbon-free transportation fuels projects.
(3) Deployment and retrofitting of buildings to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(4) Deployment of, or upgrades to, industrial processes to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(5) Projects for the reduction and mitigation of short-lived climate pollutants, including, but not limited to, methane, hydrofluorocarbon gases, and anthropogenic black carbon.
(6) Natural carbon sequestration and nature-based climate solutions.
(7) Carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration projects.
(8) Projects for the reduction and mitigation of criteria air pollutants.
(9) Any other project types necessary to achieve the state’s energy, climate change, and air quality goals, including, but not limited to, the goals established pursuant to Sections 38561.5, 38562.2, 38566, 39730.5, and 39730.6 of this code, and the goals established pursuant to Section 454.53 of the Public Utilities Code.
(c) CCST is requested, at its discretion, to commit to regular updates of the assessment and to rapidly incorporate new research into the assessment.
SEC. 4.
 This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide policymakers and the people of California with crucial information regarding progress toward meeting the state’s ambitious climate goals as soon as possible, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.