The Senate Transportation & Energy Committee unanimously advanced SB 21 as amended to the Committee of the Whole, a bill creating an enterprise fund program to replace high-emitting older diesel trucks and vans with cleaner diesel or zero-emission vehicles, despite reservations from two committee members about subsidizing already-planned upgrades and opening state funding to diesel vehicles.
Matt Ball argued the program risked giving 'a great gift from the state of money to be able to do something that maybe was going to happen anyway,' expressing concern that state funds might not drive real additional emissions reductions. Cleave Simpson countered that trucks more than 20 years old are not in a pattern of regular replacement, noting that in rural Colorado trucks 30 to 40 years old remain in use as high emitters. Senator [Malika/UNCLEAR SPELLING] pointed to the 'operable' requirement added by L006 and the engine-block drilling provision as safeguards, while acknowledging 'there's probably still some conversation to be had.' Ball maintained the concern was unresolved from his perspective.
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“I just wonder how that would play out. It just seems like if I had an old diesel vehicle and I was going to upgrade it, then I would be getting great gift from the state of money to be able to do something that maybe I was going to happen anyway. So when I think about is the money making a difference on climate, I think my worry is well, maybe some of this difference was going to happen regardless of if we spent money or not.”
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Sign in to subscribeOkay. Good afternoon. The Senate Transportation and Energy Committee will now come to order. Ms. Forbes, can you please call the roll? Senators Basley. President Atlen. Here. Exum. Good afternoon. Linstadt. Present. Malika. Here. Helton. Present. Sullivan. Excused. Ball. Here. And Madam Chair. Present. Okay, so we have before US Senate Bill 21, and it's for action only, so I believe there's amendments to discuss. Who would like to. Senator Malcolm. Thank you, Madam Chair. If it's all right with you, I'll move the amendment and then talk about it a little bit. I move amendment L5 members, any objection to that amendment? You want me to talk about it? Oh, yeah, talk about it. Go ahead. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. Members, this is in response to some of the feedback that we heard both from CDPH and some of the stakeholding. This allows for that zero emission technology when it comes to refrigeration transport. Also, you'll see you had gotten an amendment, amendment 04, the last hearing. This changes that. There was a little miscommunication. We had the year 2007 in that amendment. This prioritizes 2006 and earlier, which is something that you heard in testimony from…
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