Greenhouse Gas Pollution Impact In Fiscal Notes

Greenhouse gas emissions reports on bills - process for requesting - content of reports - appropriation. Beginning with the 2020 legislative session, the staff of the legislative council are required to prepare greenhouse gas emissions reports (reports) on legislative bills in each regular session of the general assembly. The speaker of the house of representatives, the minority leader of the house of representatives, the president of the senate, and the minority leader of the senate are authorized to request 5 reports each, or more at the discretion of the director of research of the legislative council.

When a member of leadership requests a report, the staff of the legislative council must meet with the requesting member and the sponsor of the bill to discuss whether a report can practically be completed for that bill. If not, the member of leadership may request a report on a different bill, within the limits specified in the act.

A greenhouse gas emissions report is defined as a report that uses available data to assess whether a legislative measure is likely to directly cause a net increase or decrease in greenhouse gas pollution in the 10-year period following its enactment. The report must identify new sources of emissions, any increase or decrease in emissions from existing sources, and any impact on sequestration, but is not required to quantify the magnitude of the impact. Greenhouse gas is defined to mean to carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, or sulfur hexafluoride.

The director of research of the legislative council must develop the procedures for requesting, completing, and updating the reports and memorialize the procedures in a letter to the executive committee of the legislative council. The director must provide a report to the legislative council on the implementation of the act on or before December 1, 2024. The act is repealed effective September 1, 2025.

$81,911 is appropriated to the legislative department for use by the legislative council staff for the implementation of the act.

(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)