Clean Fleet Enterprise Replace Aging Diesel Trucks

Transportation Legislation Review Committee. Currently, the clean fleet enterprise (enterprise) may provide money to help public and private owners and operators of motor vehicle fleets finance acquisitions of compressed natural gas motor vehicles that are trucks if at least 90% of the fuel for the trucks will be recovered methane. Pursuant to current law, starting on January 1, 2027, the enterprise may only provide money for this purpose so long as the enterprise determines that electric motor vehicles are not yet practically available or do not meet the operational requirements such as cargo carrying capacity and driving range for specific categories of trucks (funding limitation). The bill repeals the funding limitation.

The bill authorizes the enterprise to incentivize, support, and accelerate the replacement of a motor vehicle that uses compression ignition to start the engine, has a gross vehicle weight rating of greater than 26,000 pounds, is based in the state, and is part of a fleet with in-state annual miles driven of at least 75% of the fleet's total annual miles driven (heavy-duty truck), that is powered by a diesel-fueled internal combustion engine and is a model year of 2009 or earlier (aging heavy-duty diesel truck) with a heavy-duty truck that is a model year of 2018 or later (new heavy-duty truck) until December 31, 2031. The bill also allows the enterprise to provide funding or financing through grant programs, rebate programs, revolving loan funds, or other strategies to help owners and operators of aging heavy-duty diesel truck fleets finance the replacement of aging heavy-duty diesel trucks with new heavy-duty trucks to reduce the up-front costs of acquiring new heavy-duty trucks until December 31, 2031.

To qualify for any money provided by the enterprise for the replacement of aging heavy-duty diesel trucks with new heavy-duty trucks:

• The purchaser of the new heavy-duty truck must surrender an aging heavy-duty diesel truck to the seller of the new heavy-duty truck at the time of the transaction;
• The seller of the new heavy-duty truck must decommission the aging heavy-duty diesel truck by drilling a hole in the engine's block and cutting the chassis rails in half; and
• The seller must be an authorized dealer of new heavy-duty trucks who must certify that the new heavy-duty truck meets all state and federal emissions and safety standards for its model year.

The enterprise may use the clean fleet enterprise fund (fund) to provide money to support the replacement of aging heavy-duty diesel trucks with new heavy-duty trucks, but the enterprise is required to ensure that it does not expend more than 20% of the fund's income during a state fiscal year for the support.

The enterprise may encourage the department of public health and environment to explore whether decommissioning aging heavy-duty diesel trucks and replacing them with new heavy-duty trucks qualifies as a transportation control measure that offsets growth in emissions from growth in vehicle miles traveled or number of vehicle trips taken pursuant to the federal "Clean Air Act".

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