Senate Bill (SB) 219, adopted in September 27, 2024, would delay implementation of California’s landmark corporate disclosure acts, SB 261 (governing corporate climate risk disclosure) and SB 253 (corporate climate emissions disclosure). By and large, the changes will delay implementation of the acts slightly. The changes can be summarized as:
| Existing Law (SB 261) | Proposed Change |
| CARB must adopt regulations before January 1, 2025, requiring annual reporting for scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. | Under this law, CARB must adopt regulations before July 1, 2025, requiring annual reporting for scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. |
| Starting in 2027, corporations must disclose scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions, although disclosure of scope 3 emissions may trail other disclosures by 180 days. | This law would change the reporting requirement so that corporations must disclose scope 3 emissions on a schedule adopted by the state board in regulations rather than on a set statutory schedule. This law would also allow reporting to occur on a parent company level. |
| Existing law requires reporting entities to pay a fee upon reporting. | This law would eliminate the reporting fee requirement. |
| CARB must contract with an emission reporting organization to develop a reporting program to receive and make certain required disclosures publicly available. | The law would authorize, rather than require, the state board to contract with an emissions reporting organization. |
| Existing Law (SB 253) | Proposed Change |
| On or before January 1, 2026, a covered entity—defined as a corporation, partnership, limited liability company, or other business entity with total annual revenues in excess of $500,000,000—must prepare a climate-related financial risk report disclosing the entity’s climate-related financial risk and measures adopted to reduce and adapt to climate-related financial risk. This reporting is due every two years. Under existing law, CARB must contract with a climate reporting organization to prepare a report summarizing the disclosures. | The law would authorize, rather than require, the state board to contract with a climate reporting organization. |
| Existing law requires reporting entities to pay a fee upon reporting. | This law would eliminate the reporting fee requirement. |