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The California Air Resources Board (CARB) enforcement program is designed to deter noncompliance and to bring into compliance those regulated entities that have not met CARB’s regulatory requirements.
Scope
CARB’s enforcement program identifies, assesses, and resolves violations and strives to ensure fair and consistent treatment of each responsible party when applying the laws and regulations to each case. To resolve violations, CARB uses three types of legal processes: civil litigation, administrative penalties, and criminal prosecution.
Regulatory citations
- California Code of Regulations (CCR):
- Title 13 Motor Vehicles, Division 3 Air Resources Board
- Title 17 Public Health, Division 3 Air Resources
- Max penalties for vehicular violations: HSC §§ 43016(a)(1), 43154(a), 43211(a) & (b), and 43212(a)(1)
- Max penalties for non-vehicular violations: HSC § 42402
- Penalties adjusted annually: HSC §§ 43016(a)(2), 43154(a)(3), 43211(c), 43212(a)(2), and 42411
Key definitions
- Civil litigation: In cases where a mutual settlement cannot be reached, CARB may refer the matter to the Attorney General for civil litigation. As part of the civil process, CARB can obtain a court order or injunction to stop ongoing violations.
- Administrative penalties: CARB has the authority to seek administrative penalties for some violations. In this process, administrative hearings are conducted by administrative law judges using CARB’s administrative hearing procedures.
- Criminal prosecution: In some cases, CARB may identify potential criminal violations. In those instances, the case may be referred to the Attorney General, a District Attorney, or other prosecutors for criminal prosecution.
Summary of requirements
To ensure fair and consistent treatment of each responsible party when applying the laws and regulations to each case, the CARB enforcement process includes several steps:
- Identify a potential violation,
- Evaluate relevant information,
- Notify the responsible party, and
- Discuss/negotiate the violation with the responsible party.
To resolve violations, CARB uses three types of legal processes:
- Civil litigation,
- Administrative penalties, and
- Criminal prosecution.
Penalties
A key component of the settlement process is the determination of an appropriate penalty. Penalties are designed to:
- Remove any economic benefit a responsible party obtained through noncompliance, and
- Deter future violations across the industry.
While maximum penalties are established by statute, CARB measures the severity of the violation by considering all relevant circumstances, including eight statutory factors, together with general considerations that apply to all penalty determinations.
Maximum penalties are adjusted annually based on the California Consumer Price Index (California CPI). Each year, the CARB Enforcement Division publishes a memo documenting the changes to the California CPI and the resultant adjusted maximum penalties.
Public enforcement reports
CARB’s Enforcement Data Portal highlights CARB's enforcement efforts across the state, summarizes recently closed cases, and reports detailed statistics about enforcement related program activities.