An act relating to the Budget Act of 2025. An act to add Section 4108.5 to the Food and Agricultural Code, to amend Section 66647 of the Government Code, to amend Sections 25299.100, 25299.104, and 25299.107 of the Health and Safety Code, to amend Section 782 of, and to add Section 4114.1 to, the Public Resources Code, to amend Section 2107.7 of the Streets and Highways Code, and to amend Section 12924 of, and to add Article 3.5 (commencing with Section 290) to Chapter 2.5 of Division 1 of, the Water Code, relating to public resources, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget.
AB 124 is a Budget Act trailer bill for 2025 that makes a series of changes across natural resources, water, fire, parks, and environmental programs, with most provisions taking effect immediately if funded in the budget. The bill authorizes the Natural Resources Agency to provide a noncompetitive grant to a qualified nonprofit to plan, construct, and maintain a Holocaust memorial at Exposition Park, subject to state review, permitting, environmental compliance, and a long-term maintenance and security agreement.
The bill also broadens the uses of the Bay Fill Clean-Up and Abatement Fund to include enforcement and the technology, services, programs, and personnel that support enforcement and cleanup activities. It revises the underground storage tank loan and grant program for small businesses by redefining eligible project tanks, removing older Enhanced Vapor Recovery Phase II reimbursement language, and creating new reimbursement windows tied to tanks that must be permanently closed by December 31, 2025. In addition, it raises the fee ranges under the Professional Foresters Law, directs CAL FIRE to begin employing more permanent firefighting personnel while preserving seasonal surge capacity, increases the annual state park highway funding cap from $3.4 million to $12 million, authorizes the Department of Water Resources to use outcome-based contracts for habitat restoration projects, and changes groundwater basin reporting from every year ending in 5 or 0 to only years ending in 5.
AB 124 would amend multiple code sections and create new authority in the Food and Agricultural, Government, Health and Safety, Public Resources, Streets and Highways, and Water Codes. Its practical effects include new grant authority for a Holocaust memorial at Exposition Park, expanded spending flexibility for Bay Fill Clean-Up and Abatement Fund dollars, updated financing rules for underground storage tank compliance, higher forestry registration-related fees, a statutory push toward permanent CAL FIRE hand crew staffing, a larger annual transfer for state park road maintenance, new contracting tools for habitat restoration work, and less frequent groundwater basin reporting. Because the bill is tied to the Budget Act and declares itself an appropriations bill, it is designed to operate as a budget trailer measure and take effect immediately upon enactment and appropriation.
The available voting history suggests the bill has generally moved with majority support. It passed Assembly Third Reading 53-17 and later received a unanimous 13-0 do pass vote in the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. No committee transcript was provided, so there is no recorded floor or committee debate to indicate broader public discussion, but the vote pattern suggests the package was viewed favorably by most members as a budget-related resources measure.
The bill’s most likely points of contention are the breadth of its budget trailer provisions and the policy tradeoffs embedded in them. Potential concerns include the use of a noncompetitive grant for the Holocaust memorial, the expansion of the Bay Fill Fund to enforcement-related spending, the reduction in groundwater reporting frequency, and the increase in Professional Foresters Law fees. The underground storage tank provisions may also draw scrutiny from small businesses affected by closure deadlines and the removal of older reimbursement authority, while the CAL FIRE staffing language and the larger park-highway transfer could raise questions about ongoing fiscal commitments. Supporters would likely emphasize the bill’s mix of infrastructure, environmental restoration, fire staffing, and commemorative funding priorities.