Summary of SB 1161 (2025-2026, California)
Bill: SB-1161
Jurisdiction: California
Committee/Oversight: State Air Resources Board (CARB)
Sponsor: Senator Valladares (coauthors/sponsors listed)
Status context: Amended and moving through the 2025-2026 Regular Session. As of April 14, 2026, set for a hearing on April 20.
Purpose and intent
- To require the State Air Resources Board (CARB) to incorporate explicit economic impact analyses focused on households, particularly low- and middle-income Californians and disadvantaged communities, when proposing administrative regulations.
- To enhance transparency for legislators and the public by providing distributional analyses of costs and benefits across income groups and the digest explaining impacts.
Key provisions and changes
1) Economic impact assessment requirement for CARB regulations
- CARB must prepare an economic impact assessment when proposing to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation.
- The assessment must evaluate:
- Whether and to what extent the regulation will affect low- and middle-income households and disadvantaged communities, including direct and indirect impacts on family budgets.
- A distributional analysis of costs, benefits, and net impacts on personal income across income levels.
- An informative digest summarizing the distributional analysis and potential effects on energy, gas, and utility prices.
2) Transmission to Legislature and public hearing
- CARB must transmit the economic impact assessment to the Legislature at least six months before the regulation takes effect.
- If the assessment shows costs to low- and middle-income households or disadvantaged communities rising faster than the consumer price index, the relevant policy committees must hold a joint public hearing.
- The regulation cannot go into effect until after the joint public hearing is held.
3) Standardized regulatory impact analysis (SRIA) option
- For major regulations, CARB may prepare a standardized regulatory impact analysis (SRIA) in the manner prescribed by the Department of Finance.
- SRIA must cover:
- Creation/elimination of jobs, new/eliminated businesses, and expansion of existing businesses within the state.
- Competitive advantages or disadvantages for California businesses.
- Investment impacts, incentives for innovation, and health, safety, environmental, and quality-of-life benefits.
- Information for SRIA may come from existing state, federal, or academic sources.
4) Additional requirements in all analyses
- If CARB uses the SRIA or the economic impact assessment, both must include:
- A distributional analysis by income group (below 138% of the federal poverty level; below inflation-adjusted California median income; below $100,000; above $100,000; and disadvantaged communities).
- An informative digest at the front of the assessment, summarizing distributional results and considerations about energy, gas, and utility prices.
- Analyses are intended to inform decisions on efficiency and effectiveness and are not intended to reassess statutory policy. The baseline is the most cost-effective set of regulatory measures that achieve the regulation’s purpose.
5) exemptions and scope
- The bill maintains existing statutory exemptions for UC, certain Education Code colleges, and the Fair Political Practices Commission with respect to specific regulatory analysis requirements.
- The act does not expand CARB’s authority beyond requiring these analyses and public transparency.
6) Administrative procedure act and general framework
- The bill sits within the Government Code’s framework for administrative regulations and aligns CARB’s regulatory impact analysis with existing PRA procedures, with added emphasis on distributional impacts.
Potential impact
- Enhanced transparency on how CARB regulations affect different income groups and disadvantaged communities.
- Possible delays in regulation implementation due to required six-month lead time and mandatory joint public hearings if costs exceed inflation-adjusted thresholds.
- A greater focus on energy, fuel, and utility price implications for households.
- Improved policy accountability by documenting job creation/elimination, business impacts, and investment/incentive effects in the regulatory process.
Audience
- California policymakers and legislators evaluating regulatory proposals.
- CARB staff and regulated industries, which will need to prepare the required economic impact assessments and SRIA where applicable.
- The general public, especially communities with lower incomes or that are economically affected by environmental regulations.
Note: This summary reflects the bill text and action history through April 2026 and does not reflect final enactment status.
