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The California Air Resources Board invites you to participate in a public workshop to discuss the Proposed 2024 Community Air Protection Incentives Guidelines (CAP Incentives Guidelines), updated from the 2019 Community Air Protection Incentives Guidelines.
Revisions to the CAP Incentives Guidelines include updates to existing chapters, including expanding eligibility, consistent with statutory requirements, through creation of new subcategories, clarifying existing language, and adding new language to align the CAP Incentives Guidelines with the updated Community Air Protection Blueprint 2.0 (Blueprint 2.0). Staff also expanded available project category options by adding chapters for new eligible project types.
The public comment period for the CAP Incentives Guidelines begins on February 16, 2024 and ends on March 19, 2024. The public draft of the Proposed 2024 Community Air Protection Incentives Guidelines can be found at the Community Air Protection Incentives webpage, and comments can be emailed to AB617incentives@arb.ca.gov.
The workshop will be held via Zoom webinar on the following date and time:
Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Time: 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. (PT)
Location: Webinar/Teleconference
Please register for the 2024 Community Air Protection Incentives Guidelines Public Workshop. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email with information about how to join the webinar by computer or by telephone.
This meeting will be recorded. Approximately two weeks after the meeting date, a link to the recording will be made available and posted on the Community Air Protection Incentives Meetings and Workshops webpage.
Once finalized, staff will publish the Final 2024 Community Air Protection Incentives Guidelines on the CAP Incentives website.
Purpose of the Workshop
As the Community Air Protection Program continues to evolve, and community members express their strong desire to bring the benefits of AB 617 to all communities in need, we propose to revise to the CAP Incentives Guidelines to better reflect community feedback, ensure clarity and accessibility, and broaden the scope of eligible project categories.
Topics of discussion will include an overview of the updated, and new chapters, draft language, and feedback obtained during the public comment period.
All community members and interested parties are invited to attend.
Background
California’s air quality programs continue to significantly improve public health statewide through various measures such as regional air quality planning, advancements in technology-based solutions, and risk reduction efforts near industrial facilities. However, despite these efforts, certain communities, particularly low-income and communities of color, still experience environmental and health inequities from air and other forms of pollution. AB 617 (C. Garcia, Stats. 2017, Ch. 136) was signed into law in July 2017. AB 617 requires new community-focused action to reduce health-harming emissions of toxic air contaminants and criteria air pollutants in communities affected by a high cumulative exposure burden. CARB established the Community Air Protection Program (Program) to implement AB 617. Specifically, AB 617 directed CARB and the air districts to actively engage with members of heavily impacted communities, follow their guidance, and address local criteria air pollutant, greenhouse gas, and toxic air contaminant sources of concern through a variety of strategies including incentives.
The Board approved the first iteration of the CAP Incentives Guidelines in May 2019, which included guidance for air districts to implement incentives projects to support the Community Air Protection Program. In October 2020, the Executive Officer – using authority delegated by the Board in May 2019 – approved a revision to the Guidelines to add a new Stationary Source and Community Identified Projects chapter, which provided a pathway for air districts to create new kinds of incentive projects in partnership with their AB 617 selected communities to address strategies outlined in the Community Emissions Reduction Program (CERP).
In October 2023, the Board approved Blueprint 2.0. The focus of Blueprint 2.0 is to outline new pathways to bring more resources to a larger number of communities, specifically those that have been consistently nominated but not selected. One of the key pathways to achieve that overarching goal is to increase the flexibility for use of CAP Incentives to allow projects developed in selected communities to be replicated in other similar impacted communities statewide. These new types of projects, developed in partnership with members of selected communities, directly bridge the gap between the foundational work done in selected communities and the work yet to be done in communities statewide with similar air pollution burdens. Staff shared with the Board plans to revise the CAP Incentives Guidelines, again using delegated Executive Officer authority, in Spring 2024.
To accompany the CAP Incentives Guidelines, the Orientation to Community Air Protection Incentives (CAP Incentives Orientation) was published. The CAP Incentives Orientation was developed in response to requests from communities for information to better understand how incentives can be used. This educational resource will help communities better understand the type of projects that can be funded, who is eligible for this funding, and how communities can access these funds.
Contact
If you have questions about the work group meeting, please contact Adriana Smith, Air Pollution Specialist.
If you require a special accommodation or need this document in an alternate format (i.e., Braille, large print) or another language, please email AB 617 Incentives, as soon as possible. TTY/TDD/Speech to Speech users may dial 711 for the California Relay Service.
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