Today's Law As Amended


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SB-682 Low-carbon cement and low-carbon concrete.(2023-2024)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is an international climate change leader, and has established a wide array of programs that serve as models for other jurisdictions and has created new, successful markets for a wide array of clean technologies, including renewable energy, zero-emission vehicles, and low-carbon and renewable fuels.
(b) California can, and should, display similar leadership to decarbonize other hard-to-abate sectors, including cement and concrete.
(c) Public agencies are the largest purchasers and users of cement and concrete in California. About 40 percent of all cement and concrete in California goes into roads and sidewalks, alone.
(d) To achieve deep greenhouse gas emissions reductions in cement and concrete, new advanced technologies are needed. Advance procurement agreements that seek to accelerate the development and deployment of low-carbon materials by demonstrating market demand well in advance are an important tool for scaling the production and use of next-generation, low-carbon cement and concrete.
(e) Pursuant to Section 38561.2 of the Health and Safety Code, the state board will develop a comprehensive strategy for the state’s cement sector to achieve 40 percent reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases below a 2019 baseline by 2035 and net-zero emissions of greenhouse gases as soon as possible, but no later than 2045. Among other items, the strategy will include an evaluation of measures to support market demand and financial incentives to encourage the production and use of cement with low greenhouse gas intensity, including measures taken by the Department of Transportation and other state agencies.
(f) Executive Order No. N-19-19 does both of the following:
(1) Directs the Transportation Agency to leverage more than five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000) in annual state transportation spending for construction, operations, and maintenance to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(2) Directs the Department of General Services to manage ownership and operation of state buildings to minimize state government’s carbon footprint and to develop and implement sustainable purchasing policies across state agencies that prioritize the purchase of environmentally preferable goods and materials, consistent with state climate policies.
(g) At the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Glasgow, Scotland, California announced an initiative with the Pacific Coast Collaborative regarding low-carbon construction, with the goals of accelerating innovation, investment, and market development for low-carbon materials.
(h) At the same conference, the United States Department of State, in conjunction with dozens of leading companies, launched the First Movers Coalition, through which member companies committed to use their purchasing power to create early markets for innovative clean technologies across hard-to-abate sectors, including via advance market commitments.
(i) At the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, coalition members committed to purchase or specify at least 10 percent by volume of cement and concrete per year that meets specific low-carbon benchmarks, inclusive of any supplementary cementitious materials (SCMs) by 2030 and excluding fossil-based SCMs by 2035.
SEC. 2.
 It is the intent of the Legislature that state agencies, including the Transportation Agency, support efforts to decarbonize hard-to-abate sectors, including cement and concrete, by supporting development of breakthrough emerging technologies, and that state agencies strive to meet or exceed commitments made by the First Movers Coalition wherever feasible, including for both cement and concrete.

SEC. 3.

 Section 38561.4 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:

38561.4.
 (a) For purposes of this section, “benchmark for low-carbon cement and low-carbon concrete” means the benchmarks for concrete and cement products set forth in the commitment made by the First Movers Coalition at the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
(b) It is the policy of the state to purchase or specify, on a statewide basis, at least 10 percent, by volume, of cement and concrete, including supplementary cementitious materials, that meet or exceed the benchmark for low-carbon cement and low-carbon concrete by 2030 and to exclude from that 10 percent the purchase of all fossil-based supplementary cementitious materials by 2035. For purposes of this subdivision, supplementary cementitious materials produced through the mineralization of emissions from fossil fuel combustion shall not be considered a fossil-based material.
(c) (1) To help the state attain the goals set forth in subdivision (b), by March 31, 2024, the Department of Transportation, in consultation with the Department of General Services, shall develop a model advance procurement agreement for the purchase or specification of low-carbon cement and low-carbon concrete products up to 10 years in advance that would facilitate the development of production of concrete, cement, and supplementary cementitious materials that meet or exceed the benchmark for low-carbon cement and low-carbon concrete.
(2) In meeting the goals set forth in subdivision (b), a state agency may use the model advance procurement agreement developed pursuant to paragraph (1) for the purchase or specification of low-carbon cement and low-carbon concrete products.
(3) If a supplier of low-carbon cement or low-carbon concrete fails to provide the full amount of materials purchased or specified using the model advance procurement agreement developed pursuant to paragraph (1), the volume of low-carbon cement or low-carbon concrete products agreed to be supplied under the advance procurement agreement, not the amount actually supplied by a contractor, shall be counted for purposes of meeting the state’s policy pursuant to subdivision (b) for up to five years or until the state agency is able to obtain the missing amount of low-carbon cement or low-carbon concrete from a different supplier.