Legislative Update Provided By Matt Roman
Print this Article | Send to Colleague
Climate Change Package Passes the Legislature
Last week, the Legislature, on a bipartisan vote, passed a package of climate legislation which included a renewal of the Cap and Trade program until 2030. The package of bills included:
AB 398 (Eduardo Garcia) – Extended the Cap and Trade program till 2030.
AB 617 (Christina Garcia) – Increased measures designed to detect and measure air quality in and around disadvantaged communities.
ACA 1 (Mayes) - Created a reserve fund in 2024 for the auction revenue and required a 2/3rds vote to create a spending plan for the allocation of Cap and Trade.
For the last several months CTA, along with a coalition of goods movement industries, met with numerous Legislators and Administration officials to ensure that any potential deal would not include mandates that are detrimental to our industry such as a Facility Cap or Indirect Source Rule. CTA staff is proud to announce that no such language was included in the final deal even though environmental justices groups advocated forcefully for their inclusion. For this reason, CTA remained neutral on the package of bills.
Republicans in the Assembly withheld their support until Friday when the Administration and Democratic leaders agreed to ACA 1, ensuring that any new spending of Cap and Trade auction revenues would require a 2/3rds vote of the Legislature.
The package of climate bills pulled an unusual coalition of support, ranging from the California Manufacturers and Technology Association and the California Farm Bureau to the League of Conservation Voters. Opposing the package were the Sierra Club and numerous other environmental justice groups.
Bills Update
In just the first year of the new Legislative session, Legislators introduced nearly 2700 bills. Below is a partial list of bills that CTA is actively tracking that we would like to share with you:
Sponsored:
AB 301 (Rodriguez) - Seeks to reduce the severe backlog in availability of commercial Driver’s License (CDL) skills test appointments at the DMV by requiring DMV to report on what steps are needed to reach a goal of 7 day wait time and then implement a 14 day wait time by January 1, 2019 and 7 days wait time by January 1, 2021. CTA has been actively engaging with the department and legislative leadership on moving this vital issue for the industry.
CTA Position: Sponsor
Location: Passed Senate Transportation 13-0. Now moves to Senate Appropriations
Hot Bills
AB 458 (Frazier) – Will expand the Permanent Fleet Registration program by allowing independent small fleets to and allow DMV and fleets to streamline annual renewal notices, stickers and payments.
CTA Position: Support
Location: Passed Senate Transportation 13-0. Now moves to Senate Appropriations
AB 669 (Berman) – Extends the sunset date for a pilot program allowing the California Department of Transportation to conduct vehicle platooning on testing on California’s roads from January 1, 2018 to January 1, 2020.
CTA Position: Support
Location: Passed Senate Transportation 13-0. Now moves to Senate Appropriations
SB 158 (Monning) – Mandates that in order to receive a Commercial Drivers License one would have to complete 30 hours of behind the wheel training regardless of ability to pass the skills test or not. The measure currently makes an exemption for programs like the Employer Testing Program that have been very successful at training new drivers to only mandate 15 hours of behind the wheel training.
CTA Position: Neutral
Location: Passed Assembly Transportation Committee 14-0.
