On May 1, 2020, the California Air Resources Board (“ARB”) published its amended Enforcement Policy to acknowledge annual maximum penalty adjustments based on the California Consumer Price Index (“California CPI”) in accordance with Parts 4 and 5 of the Health and Safety Code. The ARB Enforcement Policy explains the ARB’s authority for enforcement as well as the process for pursuing enforcement and determining penalties in individual enforcement actions, including enforcement of the Cap-and-Trade Program, the Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Regulation (“MRR”), Low Carbon Fuel Standard (“LCFS”) Program, and Renewables Portfolio Standard (“RPS”) Program for publicly-owned utilities (“POUs”), among others. The amended Enforcement Policy reflects statutory requirements to increase maximum penalties for vehicular violations and to annually adjust maximum penalties based on the California CPI. Additionally, an Enforcement Report will now be published annually by the ARB to provide details about updates to the Enforcement Policy’s Matrix of Regulations and Corresponding Penalties (which were previously included in the Enforcement Policy).
For additional information, please contact Brian Biering or Jed Gibson.
