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The California Air Resources Board (ARB) invites interested
parties to participate in a public workshop on July 13, 2016, in
El Monte, California, to discuss the development of the Draft
Proposed Regulation to Provide Certification Flexibility for New
Heavy-Duty Engines and Certification and Installation Procedures
for Medium- and Heavy-Duty Vehicle Hybrid Conversion Systems
(Innovative Technology Regulation, or ITR). This third, and final
planned workshop, will provide interested stakeholders the
opportunity to provide feedback on draft proposed ITR
certification flexibility provisions for innovative new
heavy-duty engines and certification and installation procedures
for medium- and heavy duty vehicle hybrid conversion systems. 
The details of the public workshop are as follows:

Date:		Wednesday, July 13, 2016
Time:		10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
Location:	California Air Resources Board
		Auditorium (Annex 4)
		9530 Telstar Avenue
		El Monte, CA 91731

If unable to attend in person, you may participate via
teleconference and/or through the meeting webinar.  For
teleconference participation, please dial (800) 779-6153 and
enter participant passcode, 12697.  To participate via webinar,
you must register at
https://global.gotowebinar.com/join/622509773181936131/566696033.
 Upon registering, please reference the nine digit webinar ID
which is 150-508-699.

The workshop agenda and handouts will be available prior to the
workshop at www.arb.ca.gov/msprog/itr/itr.htm.  Handouts are only
intended to encourage stakeholder feedback and should not be
construed as a formal regulatory proposal.  Any stakeholder
feedback submitted prior to the “45-day” formal comment period
will 
not be considered part of the official rulemaking record.  If you
would like any feedback submitted to be considered part of the
record, you must re-submit it during the formal public comment
period.
Background

Certification requirements for on-road heavy-duty engines and
vehicles provide a critical and effective mechanism to ensure
that expected emission benefits are achieved and maintained
in-use.  However, traditional certification requirements,
particularly on-board diagnostic (OBD) system requirements, may
discourage some manufacturers from developing promising new
heavy-duty engine and vehicle technologies that are uncertain to
achieve market acceptance.  OBD compliance can also present a
resource and engineering challenge for aftermarket manufacturers
that convert existing trucks or buses to operate as hybrids,
since conversions typically alter the functionality of the
certified base engine’s or vehicle’s OBD system.  

The draft proposed ITR is intended to provide certification
flexibility to address some of the OBD compliance challenges that
may discourage some new truck and bus engine and hybrid
conversion system manufacturers from bringing innovative new
technologies to market, while still ensuring emissions are
appropriately controlled, both when new and in-use.  The
regulatory language staff is considering would provide near-term
certification flexibility to encourage development and market
launch of heavy-duty engines meeting California’s optional NOx
emission standards, heavy-duty hybrid engines, and potentially
transformative heavy-duty engine technologies that California
needs to meet its air quality and climate goals.  This draft
proposed regulatory language would also define certification
procedures for truck and bus hybrid conversion systems, commonly
referred to as hybrid aftermarket kits, to encourage near-term
hybridization of the in-use truck and bus fleet.  Certification
pathways for both new innovative truck and bus engines and hybrid
conversion systems under consideration would provide near-term
flexibility to encourage initial technology deployment; such
flexibility would remain in place until the market has an
opportunity to mature.  Staff anticipates bringing the proposed
ITR to the Board for its consideration this Fall.  If the
proposed ITR is adopted by the Board, ARB intends to request its
expedited review and approval by the Office of Administrative Law
to enable implementation beginning in early 2017.

ARB staff will use the ITR email list to notify stakeholders of
updates to the regulatory proposal, and of opportunities for
public input throughout the rulemaking process.  To sign up for
the Innovative Technology Regulation email list, please visit:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/listserv/listserv_ind.php?listname=itr.   

We welcome and encourage your participation in this effort.  If
you have questions regarding the workshop or the potential
Innovative Technology Regulation, please contact Mr. Joe
Calavita, Air Pollution Specialist, at (916) 445-4586, or by
email at jcalavit@arb.ca.gov, or Mr. David Chen, Manager of the
Advanced Emission Control Strategies Section, at (626) 350 6579,
or by email at david.chen@arb.ca.gov.  

Special Accommodation

If you require a special accommodation or need this document in
an alternate format (i.e., Braille, large print), please visit
http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/ada/ada.htm for assistance or contact
the Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator by telephone at
(916) 323-4916 no later than 10 business days before the
scheduled meeting.  If you are a person who needs assistance in a
language other than English, please visit
www.arb.ca.gov/eeo/bilingual-services.htm or contact the
Bilingual Coordinator by telephone at (916) 322-0473 no later
than 10 business days before the scheduled meeting. 
TTY/TDD/Speech to Speech users may dial 711 for the California
Relay Service. 

Consecuente con la sección 7296.2 del Código de Gobierno de
California, una acomodación especial o necesidades lingüísticas
pueden ser suministradas para cualquiera de los siguientes: 
•	Un intérprete que esté disponible en la audiencia.
•	Documentos disponibles en un formato alterno u otro idioma.
•	Una acomodación razonable relacionados con una incapacidad. 

Para solicitar estas comodidades especiales o necesidades de otro
idioma, por favor llame a la oficina del Consejo al (916)
324-0342 o envié un fax a (916) 327-8524 lo más pronto posible,
pero no menos de 10 días de trabajo antes del día programado para
la audiencia del Consejo. TTY/TDD/Personas que necesiten este
servicio pueden marcar el 711 para el Servicio de Retransmisión
de Mensajes de California



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