Existing law prohibits requiring a person desiring to use an electric vehicle charging station, as defined, that requires payment of a fee from paying a subscription fee in order to use the station, or requiring the person to obtain membership in any club, association, or organization as a condition of using the station.
This bill would instead expressly apply that prohibition to direct current fast charging stations and level 1 and 2 charging stations, as provided.
Existing law authorizes an electric vehicle charging station to offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis if the station allows nonsubscribers or nonmembers to use the station through a contactless payment method that accepts major credit and debit cards, as specified, and either an automated toll-free telephone number or a short message system (SMS) that provides the customer with the option to initiate a charging session and submit payment. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , by regulation that is effective no earlier than January 1, 2028, to add to or subtract from these payment methods, as specified.
This bill would instead authorize direct current fast charging stations to offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis if the direct current fast charging station allows nonsubscribers or nonmembers to use the direct current fast charging station through options that include, at minimum, Plug and Charge payment capabilities and payment options adopted by the Energy Commission, as provided. The bill would delete the requirement that an electric vehicle charging station allow nonsubscribers or nonmembers to use the station through a contactless payment method that accepts major credit and debit cards in order to offer services on a subscription- or membership-only basis.
The bill would instead authorize the Energy Commission to adopt regulations to add, remove, or modify payment methods for any electric vehicle service equipment installed at a publicly available parking space, as appropriate in light of cost impacts or changing technologies, except as provided. For level 1 and level 2 charging stations, the bill would authorize the commission, by regulation that is effective no earlier than January 1, 2028, to add to or subtract from those above-described payment methods, as appropriate in light of changing technologies.
Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , to develop uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards for electric vehicle chargers and charging stations. Existing law requires that the uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards only apply to electric vehicle chargers and charging stations that received an incentive from a state agency or through a charge on ratepayers, apply for a minimum of 6 years, and apply to electric vehicle chargers and charging stations installed on or after January 1, 2024.
This bill would delete the latter requirement. The bill would instead require the above uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards, for electric vehicle chargers and charging stations installed on or after January 1, 2024, to also apply to electric vehicle chargers and charging stations that were installed with moneys from specified consent decrees among the State Air Resources Board, Volkswagen AG, and the United States Department of Justice, as specified. The bill would additionally require the Energy Commission, in consultation with PUC, to develop, by January 1, 2027, uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards that apply to electric vehicle chargers and charging stations installed after January 1, 2021, but before January 1, 2024, that either received an incentive from a state agency or through a charge on ratepayers or were installed with moneys from specified consent decrees among the State Air Resources Board, Volkswagen AG, and the United States Department of Justice, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission to consider specified factors when developing these uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards. The bill would prohibit the uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards from requiring any data from electric vehicle chargers and charging stations for any time period before the uptime recordkeeping and reporting standards take effect to be provided to the Energy Commission, the PUC, or any other entity.
Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in consultation with PUC, to adopt tools to increase charging station uptime, as provided, and, by January 1, 2025, set standards for how specified charging stations are required to notify customers about the availability and accessibility of publicly available charging infrastructure.
This bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with PUC, to set standards for how the above-described charging stations are required to notify customers about the availability and accessibility of publicly available charging infrastructure. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to adopt regulations establishing an administrative enforcement process for a violation of a regulation adopted pursuant to that requirement and for the assessment of an administrative civil penalty not to exceed $2,500 for each violation, except as provided, and would require that process to include a reasonable amount of time for the violation to be remedied before administrative penalties may be assessed. The bill would also authorize the Energy Commission, if it finds that a violation of specified regulations has occurred or is threatening to occur, to refer the matter to the Attorney General to petition a court to enjoin the violation. The bill would authorize the court to grant prohibitory or mandatory injunctive relief and assess a civil penalty, as provided. The bill would require that those penalties and other costs be deposited into the General Fund.

Statutes affected:
AB 1423: 25231.5 PRC
02/21/25 - Introduced: 25231.5 PRC
04/10/25 - Amended Assembly: 25231.5 PRC
06/26/25 - Amended Senate: 44268 HSC, 44268 HSC, 44268.2 HSC, 44268.2 HSC, 25231.5 PRC