Notwithstanding the Society’s and at least one other organization’s requests for reconsideration due to the current state of and implications on the rulemaking process, further to statements made at its August 21 virtual public workshop, CARB posted on its website today a preliminary list of companies that may be subject to SB 253 or SB 261, as amended by SB 219.
Listed companies purportedly are US-based, meet the ≥$500 million annual revenue threshold (the lower threshold applicable to SB 261), and are “doing business in California” based on the draft concepts CARB presented at the workshop (see slide 19 in particular); provided, however, that—among other concerns—the Secretary of State dataset CARB used to compile the list includes only active filings through March 2022 and does not reflect the potential exemptions proposed at the workshop (see page 18 of the presentation).
An accompanying voluntary survey seeks to have companies, among other things, affirm whether they should be included on the list because they meet the scoping (applicability) criteria proposed at the workshop, divulge whether they are currently reporting their emissions or making climate-related financial risk disclosures, identify whether a parent company will be reporting on their behalf (which is somewhat dependent on the forthcoming regulations), and volunteer other companies that should be on the list.
The Society reiterated our concerns about the premature publication of a proposed company list in our formal comment letter to CARB following the August 21 virtual public workshop.
Based on the timeline presented during the workshop, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the fee regulation is expected to be released for public comment within the next few weeks. The Society expects to engage in any further rulemaking.