California Assemblymember Robert Garcia introduced legislation to expand the state’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. AB 1777 would empower the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to adopt regulations targeting emissions linked to “indirect sources,” which are facilities and land uses that attract significant mobile emissions but have historically fallen outside direct regulatory control by state authorities.
The regulation of indirect sources could become a key policy tool to regulate GHG emissions after President Donald Trump last year signed resolutions that revoke California’s vehicle emissions waiver.
Existing laws allow regional air districts to regulate indirect sources, but CARB’s authority to act directly on those emissions at a statewide scale is unclear. Regional regulators have periodically adopted indirect source rules at the local level, but a patchwork of local rules leaves gaps in statewide air quality measures.
AB 1777 would fill that regulatory void by ensuring CARB can step in where necessary. It would amend Health and Safety Code Section 39602.5 to make clear that CARB may adopt and enforce emissions mitigation rules for indirect sources where necessary to reach federally mandated air quality goals.
Specifically, the bill would authorize CARB to adopt regulations intended to “reduce or mitigate emissions from indirect sources of pollution” if doing so is necessary to comply with ambient air quality standards under the Federal Clean Air Act. The definition of “indirect source” would mirror the federal definition in 42 U.S.C. § 7410(a)(5)(C) — which generally encompasses land uses and facilities that attract mobile sources of emissions such as heavy-duty trucks, trains and other vehicles.
Advocates say that granting CARB this explicit authority is essential to addressing the outsized impacts of freight-intensive land uses on frontline communities, particularly in the Los Angeles–Long Beach port complex and other logistics corridors where vehicle emissions burden local air quality.
AB 1777’s text states that any rules adopted by CARB under its expanded authority would need to be consistent with the board’s existing mandate to ensure measures are necessary, technologically feasible and cost-effective.
Garcia introduced a similar bill last year.