The Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of 1981 requires the State Fire Marshal to administer provisions regulating the inspection of intrastate pipelines that transport hazardous liquids. A person who willfully and knowingly violates the act or a regulation issued pursuant to the act is, upon conviction, subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both a fine and imprisonment, as provided.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act requires the state board to ensure that statewide greenhouse gas emissions are reduced to at least 40% below the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit, as defined, no later than December 31, 2030.
This bill would revise the definition of "pipeline," for purposes of the act, to include intrastate pipelines used for the transportation of carbon dioxide. The bill would require the State Fire Marshal, by April 1, 2026, to adopt regulations governing the safe transportation of carbon dioxide in pipelines that are equivalent to certain draft regulations issued by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration on January 10, 2025. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal to amend those regulations, as provided. The bill would prohibit the approval of a pipeline for use in transporting carbon dioxide if the pipeline is originally constructed to transport any other liquid or gas. The bill would authorize the State Fire Marshal, for a pipeline transporting carbon dioxide, to order a pipeline shutdown for violations of state or federal laws, or if continued pipeline operations present an immediate danger to health, welfare, or the environment. Because the bill would expand the application of a crime to pipelines transporting carbon dioxide and because a violation of the regulations adopted by the State Fire Marshal related to pipelines transporting carbon dioxide would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require that to be recognized by the state board for meeting any requirement under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, carbon dioxide transported by pipeline be transported only by pipelines meeting or exceeding the standards adopted by the State Fire Marshal.
Existing law requires that pipelines only be used to transport carbon dioxide to or from a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project once the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has concluded its rulemaking regarding minimum federal safety standards for transportation of carbon dioxide by pipeline.
This bill would limit the language restricting the transportation of carbon dioxide by pipeline to apply only to federally regulated interstate pipelines, and would require that intrastate pipelines be used to transport carbon dioxide to or from a carbon dioxide capture, removal, or sequestration project only after the State Fire Marshal adopts its regulations pursuant to the bill and only once the project operator demonstrates that the pipelines meet the standards in those regulations.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Statutes affected:
AB 881: 39741.1 HSC
02/19/25 - Introduced: 39741.1 HSC
03/28/25 - Amended Assembly: 51010.5 GOV, 51010.5 GOV, 71465 PRC, 71465 PRC, 39741.1 HSC
04/24/25 - Amended Assembly: 51010.5 GOV, 71465 PRC, 71465 PRC, 71465 PRC
05/01/25 - Amended Assembly: 51010.5 GOV, 71465 PRC