Existing law, until January 1, 2028, authorizes the establishment of a Green Empowerment Zone for the Northern Waterfront area of the County of Contra Costa for the purpose of building upon the comparative advantage provided by the regional concentration of highly skilled energy industry workers by prioritizing access to tax incentives, grants, and loan programs, among other incentives. Existing law authorizes the Green Empowerment Zone to be composed of 9 specified cities and the County of Contra Costa, upon adoption of a resolution by the city or county, and provides for the Green Empowerment Zone to be governed by a board of directors comprised of representatives from 7 stakeholder groups, as specified. Existing law requires the board to appoint a steering committee, and required the steering committee, on or before January 1, 2023, to develop metrics to be reported to the Legislature and state departments and agencies to gauge the progress of the Green Empowerment Zone, as specified. Existing law requires the Green Empowerment Zone to annually post information on those metrics on its internet website, as specified.
This bill would extend the authorization for the Green Empowerment Zone to January 1, 2040, and would authorize the expansion of the Green Empowerment Zone to include 4 additional cities, including the Cities of El Cerrito, Pinole, Richmond, and San Pablo, upon adoption of a resolution by each city. The bill would make changes to the stakeholder groups who serve on the board of directors, including increasing the number of stakeholder groups to 8 by adding a category for 7 directors who live or work in the Green Empowerment Zone and who represent environmental or environmental justice organizations or interests. The bill would extend the deadline to January 1, 2026, for the steering committee to develop and report the metrics described above, and would require the Green Empowerment Zone, commencing January 1, 2026, and annually thereafter, to post information on those metrics on its internet website, as specified.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the County of Contra Costa.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Statutes affected:
SB 227: 7599.100 GOV, 7599.101 GOV, 7599.103 GOV, 7599.104 GOV
01/28/25 - Introduced: 7599.100 GOV, 7599.101 GOV, 7599.103 GOV, 7599.104 GOV
03/17/25 - Amended Senate: 7599.100 GOV, 7599.101 GOV, 7599.103 GOV, 7599.104 GOV
04/09/25 - Amended Senate: 7599.100 GOV, 7599.101 GOV, 7599.103 GOV, 7599.103 GOV, 7599.103 GOV, 7599.104 GOV