October 19, 2023

Throughout the year, CSAC has kept you apprised of the status of significant legislation. Now that Governor Newsom has determined final actions on the remaining measures, CSAC will publish a series of articles to spotlight new laws of interest and impact in each policy area. This week, the Agriculture, Environment, and Natural Resources (AENR) policy area provides information on new laws impacting agriculture, water, energy, emergency management, wildfires, cannabis and coastal issues.

Agriculture

AB 606 (Mathis) California Endangered Species Act: accidental take: farms or ranches
This bills extends the sunset to authorize accidental take of listed species in the course of otherwise lawful and routine agricultural activities until January 1, 2029, and requires the Department of Fish and Wildlife to conduct outreach to raise awareness within the agricultural community.

SB 371 (Ochoa Bogh) Undomesticated burros.
This bill authorizes local animal control agencies to extend their authority relating to undomesticated burros and the nonprofits they contract with for purposes such as relocation of an undomesticated burro.

SB 701 (Hurtado) Fruit and vegetable wholesalers: registration fees
This bill makes changes to the board of supervisors’ authority to impose a registration requirement and annual fee schedule on fruit and vegetable wholesalers by deleting the limitation of the authority of a county board of supervisors to impose the fee only to counties of more than six million people and increases the maximum amount of the fee from $250 to $500. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Cannabis

AB 1171 (Rubio) Cannabis: private right of action
This bill serves as an additional enforcement tool by allowing a private person or persons with a cannabis license under the Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act to bring an action in superior court against a person engaging in unlicensed commercial cannabis activity. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 1448 (Wallis) Cannabis: enforcement by local jurisdictions
This bill enhances local enforcement mechanisms against unlicensed cannabis activities and allows a 50/50 state-local split of the statutory penalties recovered in actions brought by local jurisdictions, as originally enacted by the Legislature in the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act. CSAC supported AB 1448. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 13, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 1684 (Maienschein) Local ordinances: fines and penalties: cannabis
Serving as another enforcement tool, this bill permits a local agency to adopt an ordinance to declare commercial cannabis activity without a license to be a public nuisance with the ability to impose administrative fines and penalties. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 622 (Allen) Cannabis regulation: plant identification program: unique identifier
This bill allows the Department of Cannabis Control to determine through regulations how a unique identifier on cannabis products is recorded as opposed to state law. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 753 (Caballero) Cannabis: water resources
This bill makes it a felony to intentionally or with gross negligence cause substantial environmental harm to surface or groundwater during the process of growing six or more cannabis plants. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB-756 (Laird) Water: inspection: administrative procedure: notice: service
This bill gives new authority to the State Water Board and Regional Water Boards to inspect unlicensed cannabis cultivation site for illegal activities such as violations of water right laws. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 1, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 833 (McGuire) Cannabis licensing: cultivation licenses: changing license type: inactive status.
This bill requires the Department of Cannabis Control to begin allowing cultivators to select a smaller license type or place their license in inactive status. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 13, 2023, and will take effect no later than March 1, 2024.

Coastal

AB-882 (Davies) Coastal resources: State Coastal Conservancy: advance payments
This bill authorizes, until July 1, 2025, the State Coastal Conservancy to authorize advance payments under its contract or grant programs. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 13, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 272 (Laird) Sea level rise: planning and adaptation
This bill requires a local government in the coastal zone or within the San Francisco Bay to develop a sea level rise plan including sea level rise adaptation strategies and recommended projects. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and requires local governments to comply by January 1, 2034.

Disaster Preparedness

AB 781 (Maienschein) Accessibility to emergency information and services: emergency shelters: persons with pets
This bill requires county and city plans to update their emergency plan and designate emergency shelters able to accommodate persons with household pets on their next schedule update. This bill additionally requires counties and cities, to the extent practicable, to designate a cooling center or warming center open to pets when centers are opened. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 1, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 1638 (Fong) Local government: emergency response services: use of languages other than English
This bill requires in the event of an emergency a local agency to provide information related to the emergency in all languages spoken by five percent or more of the population whenever those same people also speak English less than very well, and will have to reassess the data every five years. Starting January 1, 2027, the state will survey a sample of local agencies every three years to determine compliance rate. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2025.

SB 38 (Laird)  Battery energy storage facilities: emergency response and emergency action plans
This bill requires each battery energy storage facility located in the state to have an emergency response plan and emergency action plan. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Energy

AB 50 (Wood) Public utilities: timely service: customer energization
This bill expedites the timely delivery of service by electrical utilities regulated by the California Public Utilities Commission and establishes expectations for how quickly utilities are expected to deliver service to new customers and fulfill requests for increased load from existing customers. CSAC supported AB 50. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 1132 (Friedman) Solar energy systems: permit fees
This bill extends the existing fee cap on what county or city may charge for a permit to install a residential and commercial solar energy system from January 1, 2025, to January 1, 2034. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 286 (McGuire) Offshore wind energy projects
This bill forms the California Offshore Wind Energy Fisheries Working Group to develop a statewide strategy to minimize impacts to ocean fisheries. The Coastal Commission will need to forward an application for a consolidated coastal development permit to local governmental agencies having land use and jurisdiction in the area in which a project would occur. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, with the working group convening January 1, 2025.

SB 410 (Becker) Powering Up Californians Act
This bill requires the state to set reasonable average and maximum target energization time periods to connect new customers and upgrade the service of existing customers. CSAC supported SB 410. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and will take effect on or before September 30, 2024.

Water

AB 345 (Wilson) Habitat restoration: flood control: advance payments
This bill provides the Department of Water Resources with discretionary authority to utilize an advanced payment option when funding local projects that restore vital habitat and/or improve flood protection. CSAC supported AB 345. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 10, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 755 (Papan) Water: public entity: water usage demand analysis
This bill requires a public entity, including a county, to conduct a water usage demand analysis which includes identifying the annual volume of water delivered to high water users before or during completing a cost-of-service analysis used to set fees and charges for water service. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 779 (Wilson) Groundwater: adjudication.
This bill makes procedural changes to when parties ask a court to resolve conflicts over groundwater rights such as requiring a Groundwater Sustainability Agency to host a public meeting to explain the adjudication process and the status of the adjudication to water users within the basin and the public, among other requirements. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 10, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 1572 (Friedman) Potable water: nonfunctional turf
This bill bans the use of water suitable for human consumption to be used to irrigate nonfunctional turf on commercial, municipal, institutional (except for cemeteries), homeowners’ association, common interest development, and community service organization properties. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 13, 2023, with a phase-in beginning January 1, 2027.

SB 389 (Allen) State Water Resources Control Board: investigation of water right
This bill gives the State Water Resources Control Board the authority to investigate if a water right is valid with the ability to enforce any unauthorized diversion of water as a trespass. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Waste

AB 592 (Wilson) Vehicles: commercial nonfranchise solid waste haulers: pilot program
This bill allows the counties of Solano, Contra Costa, and Alameda to create a three-year pilot program to regulate the transport of solid waste by commercial nonfranchise solid waste haulers on public roads in unincorporated areas. CSAC supported AB 592. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 22, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 1548 (Hart)  Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund: grant program: recycling infrastructure projects
This bill expands CalRecycle’s existing solid and organic waste recycling grant program to help local governments get recycled material into the marketplace, find new homes for useful consumer goods, and expand local edible food recovery programs. CSAC supported AB 1548. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 10, 2023 and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 568 (Newman) Electronic waste: export
This bill requires that when a person exports electronic waste or a covered electronic device for recycling or disposal to a foreign country to demonstrate that the person attempted to locate an instate recycler and/or could not be managed by an instate e-waste recycler. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 4, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 613 (Seyarto) Organic waste: reduction goals: local jurisdictions: low-population waiver
This bill provides an exemption until December 31, 2028 to local jurisdictions, including a county, from their organic diversion and methane emission reduction targets under SB 1383 if they have fewer than 7,500 people and dispose of fewer than 5,000 tons of solid waste per year. Beginning January 1, 2027, the bill would authorize the department to renew the waiver. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 13, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 642 (Cortese) Hazardous materials: enforcement: county counsel
This bill will close a loophole to provide County Counsels with complete civil enforcement authority over hazardous waste violations, as originally intended by the Legislature. SB 642 will complete the Legislature’s intent by granting county counsels complete civil enforcement authority over hazardous waste violations. CSAC sponsored SB 642. Governor Newsom signed this bill on September 1, 2023 and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

SB 806 (Archuleta) Trash receptacles and storage containers: reflective markings: enforcement
This bill makes changes to the type of reflective markings required to be placed on trash receptacles. CSAC supported SB 806. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 10, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

Wildfires & Forestry

AB 297 (Fong) Wildfires: local assistance grant program: prescribed grazing: advance payments
This bill extends the sunset deadline on the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection’s (CalFIRE) ability to offer advance payments of up to 25 percent of the total grant reward from its Wildfire Prevention Grants program to January 1, 2034. CSAC supported AB 297. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.

AB 338 (Aguiar Curry) Fuel reduction work
This bill requires workers conducting contracted fuel reduction work over $500,000 to be paid at least the general prevailing wage. CSAC opposed AB 338. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 8, 2023, and will take effect starting July 1, 2026.

AB 570 (Gallagher) Fire protection: Special District Fire Response Fund: county service areas
This bill makes county service areas that are formed exclusively for fire protection services eligible to receive grants that are funded by the Special District Fire Response Fund. Governor Newsom signed this bill on October 7, 2023, and will take effect on January 1, 2024.