The Senate Budget Subcommittee No. 2 considered California Air Resources Board testimony on implementation of SB905 (2022), which directs CARB to develop a carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) program. CARB requested permanent staffing and funding to carry out SB905 requirements.

Matthew Ochoa of CARB described the agency’s request for 18 permanent positions and funding drawn from the cost‑of‑implementation fee (about $2.2 million in 2025‑26 and $4.3 million ongoing thereafter) to support rulemaking, monitoring and reporting, financial responsibility requirements, a permit application portal, and other transparency measures the statute requires. Ochoa said limited‑term positions and some contracts were authorized in 2023 but that hiring and retention were harder than anticipated; several limited‑term hires left and contract work is still in progress. CARB staff said they have launched technology assessments with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and held a February public workshop, but they have not yet initiated formal rulemaking and acknowledged they are past statutory deadlines in SB905.

Community advocates who testified urged the Legislature to make CARB issue the required rules quickly and to pause permitting of CCUS projects until the rules with community protections are in place. A public commenter said CARB has received $7.2 million to date but “has failed to accomplish anything meaningful” and asked the Legislature to require the agency to adopt community protections “ASAP” and to halt permitting until rulemaking is complete. Business and industry witnesses urged timely implementation so projects and jobs can proceed.

CARB described the scope and technical complexity of CCUS and CDR technologies—ranging from capture on concentrated industrial streams to direct air capture and productization of CO2— and said that expertise and staff are required to draft appropriate monitoring, financial‑responsibility and pollution safeguards. The agency said contracts are under way and that adopting regulations within the next one to two years is an objective if permanent staff can be hired and the public rule‑making process proceeds.

The subcommittee did not take votes. Members asked CARB to provide a clearer timeline, to describe community‑protection elements, and to return with additional detail on staffing, contracting, and public engagement plans.