General plans: Local Electrification Planning Act.

Assembly Member Zbur—with Senators Allen and Stern as coauthors—advances a policy that would require each qualifying California city, county, or city and county to prepare and adopt an electrification and decarbonization plan, either as a standalone document or integrated into the next revision of the general plan, to guide local efforts in expanding zero-emission vehicle fueling infrastructure, decarbonizing buildings, and strengthening local energy resources. The measure targets jurisdictions with populations greater than 75,000 and sets a window for adoption from 2027 to 2030.

The plan must include locally based goals, policies, and feasible implementation measures, covering several components: expansion of electric vehicle charging and other zero-emission fueling infrastructure; expansion of charging in residential, retail, and commercial settings and consideration of public charging corridors; building electrification and decarbonization strategies with incentives or subsidies for property owners and low-income households, while noting that certain building code requirements cannot be mandated where prohibited by higher law; expansion of zero-emission and renewable energy resources such as rooftop or community solar, microgrids, and battery storage; and strategies to meet the needs of public and private medium- and heavy-duty fleets. It also requires coordination with local publicly owned electric utilities, electrical corporations, and load-serving entities to identify necessary grid upgrades.

Alongside these elements, the plan must address equity by incorporating policies or implementation measures that prioritize equitable investments in zero-emission technologies for disadvantaged communities, low-income households, and small businesses. Jurisdictions may designate an existing plan or provisions within the general plan to comply, and completed plans or integrations are deemed regional plans for purposes of state regulatory frameworks. The decarbonization scope clarifies that building code requirements and building material requirements are excluded, except as permitted by the bill, and definitions cover terms such as disadvantaged communities, low-income households, electrical corporations, load-serving entities, and local publicly owned electric utilities.

Funding and fiscal implications are framed around local authority to levy fees or assessments to support the mandated planning program, with explicit no-reimbursement language at the state level. The bill contemplates a statewide concern rationale that extends applicability to charter cities and emphasizes coordination with energy providers and regional planning considerations, potentially affecting environmental review and planning analyses under state regulations. In practice, jurisdictions would need to map data, engage utilities and community stakeholders, and design financing approaches to support both the planning effort and subsequent implementation, all within the broader context of integrating electrification and decarbonization planning into local land-use policy and regional energy planning.