Information related to the current status of legislation and regulations impacting California’s rural counties.
Assembly Bill 995 (Garcia): Hazardous Waste. Assembly Bill 995 creates a new governance structure for the Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC) and increases a wide variety of fees to partially offset DTSC’s fiscal imbalance. Specifically, AB 995 establishes a new board to oversee and establish goals for DTSC’s operation and consider appeals from permit decisions. AB 995 requires the state to establish a task force to make recommendations on changes to the existing fees and taxes that fund DTSC’s operations and the cleanup of contaminated sites. Status: AB 995 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Concerns.
Assembly Bill 1080 (Gonzalez)/Senate Bill 54 (Allen): Circular Economy and Plastic Pollution Reduction. Assembly Bill 1080/SB 54 would have required the state to reduce the waste associated with single use packaging and products 75 percent by 2030, requires the state to set standards for what is considered recyclable and compostable, and promotes the development of in-state manufacturing that uses recycled materials. Status: AB 1080 and SB 54 failed passage when the Legislative clock ran out of time for their consideration. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2167 (Daly): Homeowners Insurance IMAP. Assembly Bill 2167 would have established the Insurance Market Action Plan program under which residential property insurance policies in a county may qualify for IMAP protection, if the requirements of the program are met. AB 2167 would have required a rate required as part of an IMAP filing to be subject to the prior approval of the Commissioner and in accordance with Proposition 103. Status: AB 2167 failed passage in the Senate. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2173 (Dahle): Fairgrounds: National or State Emergency: Assembly Bill 2173 would have declared the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation related to fairgrounds during a national emergency or state of emergency. Status: AB 2173 failed passage in the Assembly Agriculture Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2296 (Quirk): Local Primacy Agencies: Assembly Bill 2296 authorizes the State Water Resources Control Board to delegate partial responsibility for the Safe Drinking Water Act's administration and enforcement by means of a local primacy delegation agreement. Authorizes the state board, for counties that have not been delegated primary responsibility as of January 2021, to offer an opportunity for the county to apply for partial or primary responsibility if the state board determines that it needs assistance. Status: AB 2296 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2323 (Friedman): California Environmental Quality Act: Exemption. Assembly Bill 2323 would have made several changes to improve the utility of various CEQA exemptions while maintaining adequate environmental protections. Among other things, AB 2323 allows CEQA exemptions to be used on infill, low-income, and agricultural housing projects proposed within the boundaries of a state conservancy. Status: AB 2323 failed passage in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 2459 (Bigelow): Alcoholic Beverage Licenses: County of Mariposa. Assembly Bill 2459 would authorize the Alcoholic Beverage Control to issue up to 10 additional new original on‑sale alcoholic beverage licenses to bona fide public eating places in Mariposa County that have a seating capacity for 50 or more persons. Status: AB 2459 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support/Co-Sponsor
Assembly Bill 2642 (Salas): Multi-benefit Land Conversion Incentive Program: Assembly Bill 2642 would have required the Department of Conservation to establish and administer a program named the Multi-benefit Land Conversion Incentive Program for purposes of providing grants to groundwater sustainability agencies, or other specified entities designated by groundwater sustainability agencies, for the development or implementation of local programs supporting or facilitating multi-benefit land conversion at the basin scale. Status: AB 2642 failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3012 (Wood): Residential Property Insurance. Assembly Bill 3012 requires, for a total loss of a furnished residence related to a declared state of emergency, a residential property insurer to provide a payment for contents of no less than a certain percent of the policy limit without requiring an itemized claim. Requires a notice of nonrenewal for a policy to be accompanied by certain information, including information about the Home Insurance Finder and FAIR plan policies. Status: AB 3012 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3030 (Kalra): Resource Conservation: Land and Ocean Conservation: Assembly Bill 3030 would have declared it to be the goals of the state to protect thirty percent of land areas and waters, to help advance the protection thirty percent of the nation's oceans, and to support regional, national, and international efforts to protect at least thirty percent of the world's land areas and waters and thirty percent of the world's ocean. AB 3030 would have declared it a further goal of the state to improve access to nature for all people in the state. Status: AB 3030 failed passage in the Senate Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Oppose
Assembly Bill 3074 (Friedman): Fire Prevention: Wildfire Risk: Defensible Space. Assembly Bill 3074 relates to defensible space. Requires more intense fuel reductions between 5 and 30 feet around the structure, and to create an ember-resistant zone within 5 feet of the structure, as provided. Status: AB 3074 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Assembly Bill 3164 (Friedman): Fire Prevention: Wildland Urban Interface. Assembly Bill 3164 requires the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection to develop a wildland urban interface wildfire risk model to determine the risk for a community or parcel within a local responsibility area or state responsibility the department to establish, and consult with, an advisory workgroup, with specified members, to develop the model. Requires the department to update the model and guidelines when fire hazard severity zones are revised. Status: AB 3164 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 68 (Galgiani): Hazardous Waste: Treated Wood Waste. SB 68 repeals the sunset date for the existing regulatory framework for disposal of treated wood waste. Without this change, there will be very limited disposal options for treated wood wastes, thereby significantly increasing management and disposal costs associated with those wastes. Status: SB 68 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Position: Support
Senate Bill 292 (Rubio): Wildfire Risk Reporting: SB 292 would have created the algorithm to identify counties eligible under the Insurance Market Action Plan (IMAP) program as well as form a commission to convene stakeholders to develop regionally specific community hardening standards that have the propensity for reducing loss due to wildfires. Status: SB 292 failed passage in the Assembly. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 431 (McGuire): Mobile Telephony Service Base Transceiver Station Tower. Senate Bill 431 would have required the commission, in consultation with the Office of Emergency Services, to develop and implement performance reliability standards for all mobile telephony service base transceiver station towers, commonly known as "cell towers," located within a commission-designated Tier 2 or Tier 3 High Fire Threat District. These are actions the CPUC is currently undertaking pursuant to its own authority. Status: SB 431 failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Watch
Senate Bill 872 (Dodd): Residential Property Insurance: State of Emergency. Senate Bill 872 relates to actions taken during a state of emergency. Requires an insurer of residential property to provide extensions to collect the full replacement cost of an insured acting in good faith and with reasonable diligence encounters delays in approval for, or reconstruction of, the property that are beyond the insured's control. Requires coverage for loss of use relating to a state of emergency to be for a specified period, plus an extension, as specified. Status: SB 872 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 974 (Hurtado): California Environmental Quality Act: Water Systems: Senate Bill 974 exempts from CEQA certain projects that benefit a small community water system that primarily serves one or more disadvantaged communities or that benefit a non-transient noncommunity water system that serves a school that serves one or more disadvantaged communities, by improving the small community water system's or non-transient noncommunity water system's water quality, water supply, or water supply reliability, or by encouraging water conservation. Status: SB 974 awaits the consideration of the Governor. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 989 (Dahle): Sierra Nevada Conservancy: Sierra Nevada Region: Senate Bill 989 would have modified areas listed under the definitions of the Sierra Nevada Region and its subregions as specified for purposes of the Sierra Nevada Conservancy. Status: SB 989 failed passage in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. RCRC Status: Support
Senate Bill 1156 (Archuleta): Lithium Ion Batteries: Illegal Disposal: Fire Prevent. Senate Bill 1156 would have required the state to develop model protocols and training programs for responding to fires caused by lithium ion batteries in solid waste collection vehicles and at transfer stations, processing stations, and disposal facilities. Solid waste enterprises would be required to adopt such protocols and training programs in consultation with local fire marshals. Status: SB 1156 failed passage in the Senate. RCRC Status: Support