BOARD MEETING DATE: July 9, 2004
AGENDA NO. 28

Legislative Committee

SYNOPSIS:

The Legislative Committee met on June 18, 2004 and considered the following legislation for which the Board will consider approving a position:
 

AB 392 (Montanez)	Environmental Justice & Community-Based Transportation Planning Grants	Support
AB 653 (Nunez)	Energy Efficiency: Public Buildings	Support
AB 1971 (Lowenthal)	Air Pollution: Marine Terminals	Support
AB 2024 (Bermudez)	Ports: Transportation Network	Support With Amendments
*AB 2041 (Lowenthal)	Ports: Congestion	Support With Amendments
* AB 2043 (Lowenthal)	Maritime Port Strategic Master Plan Task Force	Support With Amendments
AB 2657 (Nunez)	Metal Plating Facilities	Support With Amendments
*AB 3104 (Firebaugh)	Air Pollution - Environmental Health and Air Quality Funding Act of 2004	Support in Concept. Staff to Work With Author on Appropriate Funding Mechanism(s)
SB 429 (Torlakson)	Energy Resources: Petroleum Infrastructure Project: Permits: Process	Oppose
SB 1446 (Escutia)	Environmental Health Data Tracking	Support
SB 1652 (Murray)	Residential Solar Energy Systems	Support
H.R. 4517 (Barton)	The United States Refinery Revitalization Act of 2004	Oppose
*Continued from the June 4, 2004 Board Meeting.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file this report and adopt positions on the bills as specified in this letter.

Beatrice J.S. LaPisto-Kirtley, Chair
Legislative Committee

Attendance [Attachment 1] Present were Jane Carney, Committee Vice-Chair, and by videoconference, Bea LaPisto-Kirtley, Committee Chair and Committee Members Michael Antonovich, Bill Postmus and Dr. Roy Wilson.

*Recommended Position on Three Bills Carried Forward from the June 4, 2004 Governing Board agenda [Attachment 2]

AB 2041 (Lowenthal) Ports – Congestion
Establishes a Port Management District to alleviate congestion in the Port of Los Angeles and the Port of Long Beach by, among other things, charging a fee for commercial traffic moving in and out of the ports during business hours.

Staff recommends a support position with amendments, including provisions, which requires the Port Congestion Management District to (1) include a representative of CARB or AQMD, (2) require that congestion relief projects are to achieve a net air quality benefit, (3) develop congestion relief projects in collaboration with CARB and AQMD, and (4) prioritize projects within Environmental Justice areas. The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff's recommendation to SUPPORT WITH AMENDMENTS AB 2041.

AB 2043 (Lowenthal) Maritime Port Strategic Master Plan Task Force
This bill creates the Maritime Port Strategic Master Plan Task Force under the supervision of the Business, Transportation and Housing (BT&H) Secretary.

The bill’s author notes there is no comprehensive, statewide planning effort with regard to the growth of California's 11 maritime ports. The author argues that a strategic master plan needs to be developed and adopted to effectively plan for the substantial growth in port activity projected in the coming decades and to continue to allow ports and related facilities to support growth in the California economy.

Staff recommends a support position with an amendment that the Task Force should include a representative from CARB or AQMD. The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff's recommendation to SUPPORT WITH AMENDMENTS AB 2043.

AB 3104 (Firebaugh) Air Pollution – Environmental Health and Air Quality Funding Act of 2004
This bill would establish a long-term, stable source of funding for the Carl Moyer Memorial Air Quality Standards Attainment Program, the Lower-Emission School Bus Program, and Voluntary Accelerated Light-Duty Vehicle Retirement Enterprise programs, by imposing an as yet unspecified at-the-rack fee per gallon on gasoline or diesel fuel.

The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff's recommendation to SUPPORT IN CONCEPT AND DIRECTED STAFF TO WORK WITH AUTHOR ON APPROPRIATE FUNDING MECHANISM(S).

Recommended Positions on Nine Bills (Including Two Urgency Items) [Attachment 3]
Staff provided analyses and position recommendations on nine bills, which include two bills that were brought before the Legislative Committee as urgency items (AB 2657 and SB 429). A brief description of each bill is provided below:

AB 392 (Montanez) Environmental Justice & Community-Based Transportation Planning Grants
This bill authorizes regional and local agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofit entities and Native American tribal governments to apply for and receive grants of up to $300,000, to undertake environmental justice and community-based transportation projects that are directly or indirectly related to the transportation planning process.

The intent is to establish permanent funding for environmental justice and community-based transportation projects. These programs are currently authorized by internal policy from the Director of Caltrans.

Staff recommends a support position. The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff's recommendation to SUPPORT AB 392.

AB 653 (Nunez) Energy Efficiency – Public Buildings
This bill deletes the repeal date of January 1, 2005 for current law authorizing the State Public Works Board to issue revenue bonds, notes, and bond anticipation notes to finance the cost of projects that combine cogeneration equipment and alternative energy equipment for conservation measures in public buildings.

AB 653 also expands the program’s availability to projects that combine conservation measures and alternative energy equipment, and requires each project to be evaluated based on its cost and energy savings over the life of the project.

Staff recommends a support position. The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff's recommendation to SUPPORT AB 653.

AB 1971 (Lowenthal) Air Pollution – Marine Terminals
This bill is a follow-up to the author’s AB 2650 which requires each marine terminal in the state to operate in a manner that does not cause truck engines to idle for more than 30 minutes while waiting to load or unload at the terminal.

AB 1971 clarifies provisions enacted by AB 2650 that restricts diesel engine idling at marine terminals. It allows citations issued for violating idling restrictions to include a unique identifier, such as the cargo container number, instead of the license plate number of the idling truck.

Staff recommends a support position. The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff's recommendation to SUPPORT AB 1971.

AB 2024 (Bermudez) Ports – Transportation Network
This bill would require the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach to evaluate changes to the goods movement network to gauge adherence to certain state goals relative to utilization of and congestion at ports and to collect statistics regarding compliance with federal, state, and local efforts to achieve certain related objectives.

Staff recommends a support position with the amendment to include language requiring BT&H to consult with state and regional air quality regulators when developing recommendations for Legislature. The Legislative Committee voted to SUPPORT WITH AMENDMENTS AB 2024. Board Member Bill Postmus dissented.

SB 1446 (Escutia) Environmental Health Data Tracking
This bill requires the State Department of Health Services and California Environmental Protection Agency to create an Interagency Office of Environmental Health Tracking for the purpose of disease prevention through interagency collaboration and data tracking.

Staff recommends a support position. The Legislative Committee adopted staff’s recommendation to SUPPORT SB 1446. Board Member Bill Postmus dissented.

SB 1652 (Murray) Residential Solar Energy Systems
This bill states legislative intent to create an incentive to both promote the use of solar energy systems in new housing and reduce overall energy consumption from the grid by directing the California Energy Commission to partially count energy generation from solar energy systems towards the energy conservation compliance budget for a new home.

Staff recommends a support position. The Legislative Committee unanimously adopted staff’s recommendation to SUPPORT SB 1652.

H.R. 4517 (Barton) The United States Refinery Revitalization Act
This bill is the federal counterpart to state Assembly Bills 1991 (Lowenthal) and 2305 (Richman), which the Governing Board had previously opposed. Staff is concerned that AQMD could potentially lose permitting authority over refineries to the Department of Energy.

Staff recommends an oppose position. The Legislative Committee directed staff to set up a Governing Board Study Session with refiners to determine their needs. The Legislative Committee adopted staff’s recommendation to OPPOSE H.R. 4517.

Upon a motion finding that there was a need to take immediate action regarding Assembly Bill 2657 and Senate Bill 429 and that the need for action came to the attention of the Legislative Committee subsequent to the posting of the agenda, those bills were considered by the Legislative Committee. Supervisor Postmus expressed concern regarding these items being added to the agenda because he felt that committee members need more time to review the bills.

He also suggested that the Democratic and Republican analyses to each one of these bills from Sacramento be included for additional consideration.

AB 2657 (Nunez) Metal Plating Facilities
This bill seeks funds for environmental improvements and investments in the metal plating industry.

Staff recommends a support position with the amendment to ensure that the bill is consistent with AQMD Rule 1469 regarding metal plating. The Legislative Committee adopted staff’s recommendation to SUPPORT WITH AMENDMENTS AB 2657. Board Member Bill Postmus dissented.

SB 429 (Torlakson) Petroleum Infrastructure Reliability Act of 2004
This bill seeks to increase the availability of transportation fuel to the California market by easing existing permitting requirements and thereby promoting incremental investments in new and improved petroleum infrastructure such as ports, marine terminals, refineries, pipelines, and inland terminals.

Staff recommends an oppose position. The Legislative Committee adopted staff’s recommendation to OPPOSE SB 429.

Federal Report [Attachment 4]
Lynn Jacquez, AQMD federal legislative consultant, reported that only the defense appropriations bill had any activity during the past month. That committee is preparing another one-month extension to the Transportation Bill, with a possibility of a three-month extension since it expires on June 30, 2004. The Transportation Conferees met, held their first meeting, gave staff directives, and set the next Transportation Conference date for June 23, 2004. Of three bills, only the oil refinery capacity issue moved forward last week.

AQMD was successful in obtaining follow-on funding for its Department of Defense Notice project.

On June 15, 2004, Ms. Jacquez attended Congressman Doolittle’s hydrogen infrastructure roundtable meeting and provided input for AQMD noting that, at a local level, the AQMD has undertaken significant investment and partnership, and federal activities and grant procedures should take that into consideration. She pointed out that AQMD was not able to be a direct recipient of any of the programs that the Department of Defense has put into place, but that AQMD is an indirect beneficiary in that several of them were located within the South Coast jurisdiction. Ms. Jacquez also stated that she will be attending next week’s Fuel Cell Caucus meeting.

Sacramento Report/Update [Attachment 5]
Allan Lind, AQMD State legislative consultant, reported the state budget is coming to closure and that subvention funds have remained intact. He stated that unless the Governor’s proposal for Carl Moyer funding is passed in the budget, there will be no other sources of funding.

Other Business: None

Public Comments: None

Attachments (16,739 KB)

1. Attendance Roster
2. Recommended Position on Legislation as Carried Forward (June 4, 2004 Governing Board Meeting)
3. Recommended Positions on Legislation
4. Federal Legislative Status Report
5. Sacramento Update

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