An act to amend Section 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to transportation electrification.
Summary
AB 1423 updates California’s electric vehicle charging station payment rules in Health and Safety Code Section 44268.2. The bill keeps the existing requirement that drivers cannot be forced to buy a subscription or membership to use a paid charging station, and it preserves the requirement that stations disclose total charges, including roaming fees, at the point of sale. It also continues to require newer charging stations to offer at least a contactless card-based payment option and either an automated toll-free phone line or SMS payment option, while direct current fast charging stations must support Plug and Charge under ISO 15118.
The main policy change is that the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission is given broader authority to adjust the required payment methods. Instead of only being able to add to or subtract from the required methods, the commission may now modify them as well, based on changing technologies or cost impacts. The bill also preserves the commission’s authority over interoperability and roaming standards for major charging network providers, and it includes a special cross-reference to SB 533 so that overlapping amendments are coordinated if both bills become law.
Impact
AB 1423 amends Section 44268.2 of the Health and Safety Code, affecting the rules governing payment access, disclosure, and interoperability at electric vehicle charging stations in California. It gives the state energy commission more flexibility to update payment-method requirements by regulation, which could affect charging-station operators, network providers, automakers, and consumers using public charging infrastructure. The bill also maintains existing disclosure obligations to the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and existing labeling and roaming-standard provisions, while preserving a limited arena-specific exception already reflected in the statute text. Because the bill was chaptered, these changes become part of California’s transportation electrification framework.
Sentiment
The bill appears to have had broadly favorable support throughout the legislative process. Committee and floor votes were overwhelmingly positive, including several unanimous votes and only a small number of dissenting votes in early committee stages. The final concurrence vote was 79-0, indicating strong bipartisan or near-unanimous agreement on the measure’s general approach. The absence of recorded committee transcripts limits insight into detailed debate, but the voting record suggests the bill was viewed as a technical or pragmatic update rather than a controversial policy shift.
Contention
The main substantive point of possible contention is the scope of the commission’s regulatory flexibility. By allowing the commission to modify payment methods in response to changing technologies or cost impacts, the bill gives regulators more discretion over what charging-station payment options must be offered, which could concern charging-network operators if future rules increase compliance costs. Another potential issue is the broader interoperability and roaming framework for major network providers, since those standards can affect how networks accept payments from other networks and automakers. The bill’s cross-reference to SB 533 also indicates coordination issues between related measures, though the text resolves that by making the overlapping amendments operative only under specified conditions.
An Act to amend the Code of Virginia by adding sections numbered 56-581.2 and 56-581.3, relating to electric utilities; transportation electrification; electric vehicle fast-charging stations.