It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that during the early stages of California’s 2025 legislative session, the AEM State Affairs team is closely following two concerning pieces of legislation surrounding equipment emissions. While the new administration in Washington, D.C. has many asking if the federal regulatory emissions environment will become more positive for the equipment manufacturing industry, some in the California legislature during this year’s session have stepped in to attempt to expand the state’s influence in equipment emissions.
California Air Resources Board Trailer Bill
The Air Resources Board has proposed a trailer bill requesting open ended fee authority in regulations on airborne toxic control measures, emission reduction measures, or fee authority for “identifying, quantifying, inventorying, monitoring, evaluating, and reducing toxic emissions.” The language does not include a sunset date and would effectively transfer taxation power from the Legislature to the Air Resources Board.
The Legislative Analyst Office published a critical review of it and suggests the California Legislature reject it. The review mentions:
"The California Constitution entrusts the Legislature with the fundamental 'power of the purse' which includes the responsibility to determine the fees and charges assessed on Californians. In general, we believe the Legislature should be cautious in delegating this core responsibility, particularly without specific parameters and a compelling justification."
A trailer bill in California is a legislative instrument to attach amendments or policy changing language to the state’s budget bill. Even though the outlook is not positive for the trailer bill to advance, the AEM State Affairs team will keep a close watch on the trailer bill and will ensure that equipment manufacturers’ concerns are heard by the California Legislature.
Indirect Emission Legislative Language
The AEM State Affairs Team has learned of and seen language of a soon to be introduced legislative proposal which would grant the Air Resources Board new authority to regulate indirect sources of emissions. The current proposed language does not have a bill number yet this session, but it is expected that “spot bill” will be amended in the next few weeks to officially have the language introduced. A “spot bill” is an introduced empty bill that is a place holder for legislative language to be amended into at a later stage.
The details are still developing on this indirect source rule legislation. Your AEM State Affairs team is aware that the official legislation is coming and expects a large coalition of many different industries will be pushing back against the bill once it is introduced.
To learn more about emission issues on the state legislative level or to get involved in AEM’s advocacy efforts, please reach out to the AEM Advocacy Team.
