Existing law establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The state board, in this capacity, administers the California Hybrid and Zero-Emission Truck and Bus Voucher Incentive Project under which the agency issues a limited number of vouchers to incentivize the purchase and use of zero-emission commercial vehicles. The Budget Act of 2023 appropriated funds from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the state board for zero-emission drayage trucks to be administered through the project and, in expending those funds, requires the state board, before January 1, 2025, to limit the number and award amount levels under the project based on fleet size.

This bill would require the state board to ensure that a voucher provided under the project for the purchase of a new, or the retrofit of a used, drayage truck is provided to an operator in an amount determined pursuant to a sliding scale established by the state board, based on the number of drayage trucks the operator owns. In administering the project, the bill would require the state board to prioritize the award of those vouchers to operators meeting certain criteria. The bill would also require the state board to ensure that these vouchers may be used to purchase a new drayage truck using, or to retrofit a used drayage truck to use, hydrogen fuel cell or battery electric technology as its source of propulsion.