Existing law establishes the Clean Transportation Program, administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation Development Commission to provide financial assistance to develop and deploy innovative technologies that transform California’s fuel and vehicle types to help attain the state’s climate change policies. Existing law specifies projects that are eligible for financial assistance, including alternative and renewable fuel projects to develop and improve alternative and renewable low-carbon fuels, including, among other fuels, hydrogen. Existing law specifies that the moneys in the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, are to be used by the commission to implement the program. Existing law, until January 1, 2024, requires the commission to annually allocate $20,000,000, not to exceed 20% of the moneys appropriated by the Legislature from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund, to fund the deployment of publicly available hydrogen-fueling stations, as provided.

This bill would, except for the Clean Transportation Program and moneys allocated from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund, require the commission to give a preference to projects for the construction and operation of publicly available hydrogen-fueling stations that provide fuel for all types of vehicles, including light-, medium-, and heavy-duty vehicles, in programs it administers providing financial assistance to those projects. commission, when considering providing funding for projects for the construction and operation of hydrogen-fueling medium- and heavy-duty stations, to evaluate whether the project needs to also include access for light-duty vehicles. In this evaluation, the bill would require the commission to consider safety, regional light-duty vehicle hydrogen fueling needs, and the station fueling capacity.