Motor vehicle fuel tax: greenhouse gas reduction programs: suspension.

Plain English Breakdown

The bill failed in committee and did not advance further, so it has no effective date or further legislative status.

Suspension of Fuel Tax and Greenhouse Gas Reduction Programs

This bill suspends the motor vehicle fuel tax, Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations, and market-based compliance mechanisms for one year in California.

What This Bill Does

• Suspends the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations that control greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels for one year.
• Exempts suppliers of transportation fuels from using market-based compliance mechanisms to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for one year.
• Suspends the motor vehicle fuel tax for one year and requires sellers to provide receipts showing what the tax would have been if it were still in place.
• Transfers money from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund and Motor Vehicle Fuel Account to replace lost revenue.

Who It Names or Affects

• People who buy motor vehicle fuel in California
• Businesses that sell motor vehicle fuel in California
• Suppliers of transportation fuels in California

Terms To Know

Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations

Rules set by the State Air Resources Board to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from transportation fuels.

Market-based compliance mechanisms

Systems that allow businesses to buy and sell credits for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, helping them meet environmental goals more flexibly.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill did not pass in committee and failed to advance further.
• It is unclear how the suspension of these programs will affect California's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Official Summary Text

SB 1035, as introduced, Strickland.
Motor vehicle fuel tax: greenhouse gas reduction programs: suspension.
(1) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to adopt rules and regulations to achieve the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective greenhouse gas emissions reductions to ensure that the statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030. Pursuant to the act, the state board has adopted the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations.
The act authorizes the state board to include in its regulation of those emissions the use of market-based compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for
fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
This bill would suspend the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations for one year. The bill would also exempt suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for the use of market-based compliance mechanisms for one year.
This bill would direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a partially continuously appropriated fund, this bill would make an appropriation.
(2) Existing law, the Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law, imposes a tax upon each gallon of motor vehicle fuel removed from a refinery or terminal rack in this state, entered into this state, or sold in this state, at
a specified rate per gallon.
This bill would suspend the imposition of the tax on motor vehicle fuels for one year. The bill would require a seller of motor vehicle fuels to provide a receipt to a purchaser that indicates the amount of tax that would have otherwise applied to the transaction.
This bill would also direct the Controller to transfer a specified amount from the General Fund to the Motor Vehicle Fuel Account in the Transportation Tax Fund. By transferring General Fund moneys to a continuously appropriated account, this bill would make an appropriation.
(3) Existing unfair competition laws establish a statutory cause of action for unfair competition, including any unlawful, unfair, or fraudulent business act or practice and unfair, deceptive, untrue, or misleading advertising and acts prohibited by false advertisement laws.
This bill would require that all savings realized based on the suspension of the motor vehicle fuels tax, the suspension of the Low Carbon Fuel Standard regulations, and the exemption of suppliers of transportation fuels from regulations for use of market-based compliance mechanisms by a person other than an end consumer, as defined, be passed on to the end consumer, and would make the violation of this requirement an unfair business practice, in violation of unfair competition laws, as provided.
(4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF