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State regulations require that this notice be mailed to all persons who submitted comments during the

urban bus regulation public comment periods.

**No action by the public is necessary unless persons wish to comment

on the additional modifications.**

State of California

AIR RESOURCES BOARD

Second Notice of Public Availability of Modified Text

PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER THE ADOPTION OF A REGULATION FOR A

PUBLIC TRANSIT BUS FLEET RULE AND EMISSION STANDARDS FOR NEW

URBAN BUSES

First Public Hearing Date: January 27, 2000

Continued To: February 24, 2000

First Public Availability Date: August 16, 2000

First Deadline for Public Comment: August 31, 2000

Second Public Availability Date: April 4, 2001

Second Deadline for Public Comment: April 19, 2001

This notice announces a second supplemental period in which the public may comment

on additional modifications being proposed for the “Regulation for a Public Transit Bus

Fleet Rule and Emission Standards for New Urban Buses.” No action by the public is

necessary unless persons wish to comment on the additional proposed modifications.

At a public hearing held on January 27, 2000, the Air Resources Board (Board or ARB)

considered the adoption of a regulation for a public transit bus fleet rule and emission

standards for new urban buses. The purpose of the regulation is to reduce emissions of

particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from California’s transit fleets that

operate urban buses and from new urban bus engines produced for sale in California.

The originally proposed regulatory action is described in detail in the Initial Statement of

Reasons (Staff Report) released to the public on December 10, 1999, and available on

the ARB’s Internet site at www.arb.ca.gov/regact/bus/bus.htm.

The Board’s Action. After extensive public testimony at the January 27, 2000,

hearing, the Chairman closed the public record for the proposed regulation and

continued the hearing until February 24, 2000. At the conclusion of the February

hearing, the Board adopted Resolution 00-2, in which it approved the originally

proposed regulation with several modifications. The resolution directed the Executive

Officer to incorporate the modifications into the proposed regulatory text, with such

other conforming modifications as may be appropriate, and to make the modified text

available for a supplemental 15-day comment period. The proposed modifications were

made available to the public through a notice of modified text released on August 16,
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2000, with a 15-day supplemental comment deadline of August 31, 2000. Several

written comments were received specifically addressing the proposed modifications.

The ARB responded to these comments through the Final Statement of Reasons (also

available from the Internet site identified previously), proposed further clarifying,

nonsubstantive changes as appropriate, and then adopted the final regulation by

Executive Order G-00-060 on November 22, 2000, and submitted it to California’s Office

of Administrative Law (OAL) on December 8, 2000.

Office of Administrative Law. On January 23, 2001, the OAL approved the proposed

regulatory action, with the exception of paragraph (c)(8) in section 1956.2, title 13,

California Code of Regulations (CCR), and language referencing this section in

paragraph (a)(11), section 1956.1, in paragraph (c)(5), section 1956.2, and in

subsection (3)(a)(ix) in the document entitled “California Motor Vehicle Emission Control

and Smog Index Label Specifications” incorporated by reference in section 1965.

Paragraph (c)(8), section 1956.2, describes the criteria that transit agencies on the

alternative-fuel path must meet in order to receive an Executive Officer-issued

exemption from purchasing urban buses with diesel-fueled engines certified to the

emission standards for 2004 through 2006 model year diesel-fueled urban bus engines

as specified in paragraph (a)(11), section 1956.1. On the alternative-fuel path, up to 15

percent of a transit fleet’s annual urban bus purchases or leases are allowed to be

diesel-fueled.

Additional Modifications. By including paragraph (c)(8) in section 1956.2, it was the

ARB’s intent to provide transit fleets on the alternative-fuel path the same compliance

flexibility as transit fleets on the diesel path by allowing such fleets to conduct an

alternative NOx emission reduction strategy in lieu of purchasing diesel-fueled urban

buses with engines certified to the emission standards for 2004 through 2006 model

year diesel-fueled urban bus engines. While the staff believes paragraph (c)(8)

effectuated the Board’s direction at the February 24, 2000, hearing, and clarified that

alternative-fuel path fleets, as well as diesel path fleets, could conduct an alternative

NOx emission reduction strategy, the OAL considered this a substantive change that

was not included in the first 15-day notice issued on August 16, 2000, and thus was not

made available for public comment. To address OAL’s concerns, the staff is now

proposing additional modifications to the regulatory text in title 13, CCR, by means of

adding back in the language disallowed by OAL and making it available for a second

15-day public comment period. In addition, the staff is also proposing additional

clarifying modifications to paragraph (g), section 1956.4, to conform the reporting

requirements for alternative-fuel path transit fleets conducting an alternative NOx

emission reduction strategy with the reporting requirements for diesel path fleets

conducting such a strategy. The additional modifications described here are contained

in sections 1956.1, 1956.2, 1956.4, and in the document entitled “California Motor

Vehicle Emission Control and Smog Index Label Specifications” incorporated by

reference in section 1965, title 13, CCR, as set forth in Attachment 1. This attachment

and all other regulatory documents pertaining to this rulemaking are available online at

the ARB’s Internet site at www.arb.ca.gov/regact/bus/bus.htm. Printed copies of this

notice and attachment are also available and may be obtained from the ARB’s Public
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Information Office by calling (916) 322-2990, or by contacting Alvaro Gutierrez at (626)

350-6549.

Comments and Subsequent Action. The additional proposed modifications are being

made available for a second 15-day supplemental comment period in accordance with

section 11346.8 of the Government Code. In Resolution 00-2, the Board directed the

Executive Officer to adopt the regulatory text of the urban bus regulation, as approved,

after making the modified regulatory language available to the public for comment for a

period of at least 15 days, provided that the Executive Officer shall consider such

written comments that may be submitted during this period, shall make further

modifications as may be appropriate in light of the comments received, and shall

present the regulation to the Board for further consideration if the Executive Officer

determines that this is warranted.

Written comments on the proposed modifications may be submitted by postal mail or

facsimile as follows.

Postal mail is to be sent to:

Clerk of the Board

Air Resources Board

P.O. Box 2815

Sacramento, California 95812

Facsimile submissions are to be transmitted to: (916) 322-3928

In order to be considered by the Executive Officer, comments must be directed to the

ARB in one of the forms described above and received by the ARB no later than the

deadline for public comment identified on page one of this notice. Only comments

relating to the additional modifications made available with this notice will be considered

by the Executive Officer. Comments regarding the urban bus regulation that are not

related to the specific modifications included with this notice will not be considered by

the Executive Officer.

Attachment

The energy challenge facing California is real. Every Californian needs to take immediate action to

reduce energy consumption. For a list of simple ways you can reduce demand and cut your energy costs,

see our web-site at http://www.arb.ca.gov