Environmental justice: Department of Justice: Bureau of Environmental Justice: community air monitoring.

Senator Reyes and Assembly Member Bryan advance a measure that would establish a Bureau of Environmental Justice within the Department of Justice and embed a formal, state-led framework for community air monitoring and reporting tied to environmental equity concerns. The core aim is to locate monitoring activities in or near disadvantaged communities and other sensitive receptor locations, while creating a recurring, legislatively visible mechanism to track progress and coordinate oversight through public reporting.

The bill codifies a expanded set of monitoring concepts and duties. It defines Community Air Monitoring Systems as advanced sensing equipment measuring ambient pollutant concentrations near sensitive receptors and disadvantaged communities, with potential use for estimating exposures and supporting enforcement. It adds Fence-line Monitoring Systems as on-site monitoring near stationary sources, including fugitive emissions, and specifies Sensitive Receptors to include hospitals, schools, and day care centers. The measure requires a monitoring plan to be prepared in consultation with a broad set of stakeholders and public workshops, and directs the State Board to identify highest-priority locations based on exposure burdens and community demographics, with districts obligated to deploy monitoring in those locations by mid-2019. Monitoring would be active for at least five years at priority sites, subject to extension by agreement, and the State Board would, starting in 2020 and annually thereafter, select additional locations for monitoring, with districts deploying within a year of selection and holding an annual public hearing on network progress. Updates to the monitoring plan would occur by mid-2026 and every five years thereafter, and Districts would transmit the resulting air-quality data to the State Board for public publication on the Board’s website.

The measure also specifies governance, reporting, and funding terms. It requires ongoing reporting to legislative budget subcommittees beginning in 2027 and annually thereafter, detailing status, best practices, lessons learned, enforcement activities, any available outcome data, and expenditures, with leadership from the Board and district executives appearing before relevant committees upon request. All major actions are expressly conditioned on available funding, and the bill notes the possibility that requirements placed on air districts could constitute a state-mandated local program, with reimbursement to local agencies if mandated costs are determined. Data governance is structured so districts provide data to the State Board, which is responsible for public dissemination, while the administrative provision addresses reimbursement pathways if mandated costs are found.

Viewed together, the provisions create a multi-year, data-driven monitoring network anchored in environmental-justice considerations, assign new organizational emphasis within the Department of Justice, and formalize cross-agency coordination among the State Board, air districts, and the Legislature. The framework emphasizes transparency through public data publication and regular progress reporting, while explicitly tying implementation to funding availability and potential local-cost reimbursements, pending future budget decisions and mandate determinations.