Legislative Center

EPIC monitors and conducts analysis on key energy-related legislation affecting the San Diego region and California. EPIC's Legislative Center provides a listing and summary of pending energy-related legislation.

2009 California Energy-Related Legislation (Updated 6-08-09)

• Active Bills - Currently being considered
• Other Bills - No longer considered this year

Active Bills

The following bills passed out of their house of origin and continue to be considered this legislative session.  Click on a category to see all the bills. Click on the bill numbers to go to the actual bill site.

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Building Standards

AB 210 (Hayashi) Local Government Green Building Standards

Existing law authorizes a city or county to make changes or modifications in the requirements contained in the provisions published in the California Building Standards Code and other specified regulations. This bill would specify that the requirements and regulations that a city or county is authorized to change or modify includes, but is not limited to, green building standards. Further, existing law provides that specified building standards do not limit the authority of a city, county, or city and county to establish more restrictive building standards. This bill would provide that the adopted and established standards include, but are not limited to, green building standards.

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CA Public Utilities Commission

AB 435 (De La Torre) CPUC Certificate for Public Convenience and Necessity

This bill would require the commission to study the efficacy of
conducting concurrent environmental review of proposed transmission
facilities by federal and state agencies.

AB 1315 (Ruskin) CPUC Procedures

Among other things, this bill would: require the CA Public Utilities Commission to appoint a president of the commission from among its members; repeal the requirement that the president direct commission staff; authorize the attorney for the commission, if directed to do so by the commission, to intervene, if possible, in any action or proceeding involving any question arising pursuant to the Public Utilities Act; require the attorney for the commission to commence, prosecute, and expedite the final determination of all actions and proceedings, and to generally perform all duties and services as attorney to the commission, as directed or authorized by the commission; require the executive director to keep a full and true record of all proceedings of the commission, issue all necessary process, writs, warrants, and notices, and perform the other duties the commission prescribes; provide that the commission may authorize the executive director to dismiss complaints or applications when all parties are in agreement thereto, in accordance with rules that the commission may prescribe.

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Clean Transportation

SB 400 (Corbett) Eligibility Changes to Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program

This bill would change the definition of "advanced transportation technologies" in the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act to include, among other things, "California green vehicles."

SB 626 (Kehoe) Electrical Infrastructure Plug-in Hybrid and Electric Vehicles

This bill would require the CA Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with the CA Energy Commission, the CA Air Resources Board, electrical corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate policies to develop infrastructure sufficient to overcome any barriers to the widespread deployment and use of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles and, by January 1, 2011, to adopt rules that address specified matter.

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Climate Change/Greenhouse Gases

AB 19 (Ruskin)  Voluntary Carbon Labeling for Consumer Products

This bill would enact the Carbon Labeling Act of 2009 and require the CA Air Resources Board to develop and implement a program for the voluntary assessment, verification, and standardized labeling of the carbon footprint of consumer products sold in this state.

AB 231 (Huffman) Climate Protection Trust Fund

This bill would require the CA Air Resources Board (CARB) to, no later than March 30, 2010, adopt a schedule of fees (as opposed to the market-based compliance mechanisms CARB is also authorized to include) to be paid by the sources of greenhouse gas emissions regulated pursuant to AB 32. The revenues collected would be deposited in the Climate Protection Trust Fund, which the bill would create. All other compliance revenues collected pursuant to the act, including fines and penalties, would be required to be deposited into the fund, and would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purposes of carrying out the act.

AB 478 (Chesbro) Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Solid Waste

This bill would require CARB board to consult with the California Integrated Waste Management Board in developing the regulations to include rules for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from solid waste reduction and recycling.

AB 1085 (Mendoza) CA Air Resources Board Regulatory Process

This bill would require CARB to make available to the public all technical information used in the development of a proposed regulation, or that is the rationale behind any proposed regulation, before the comment period for any regulation proposed for adoption by CARB.

AB 1404 (De Leon) Greenhouse Gas Offsets Verification and Compliance

This bill would require the state board, if the state board allows the use of market-based compliance mechanisms, to limit the use of compliance offsets that meet specific criteria to no more than 10% of the greenhouse gas emission reductions expected from
market mechanisms during the compliance period; require the state board to apply the limit as a percentage of each regulated party’s reported emissions in a compliance period; require the state board to impose a fee for deposit into the fund to pay for expenses related to state board administration of the compliance offset program, upon appropriation by the Legislature.

AB 1405 (De Leon) California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Community Benefits Fund

This bill would establish the Community Benefits Fund, and would require 30% of revenues generated pursuant to the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 to be deposited into that fund. The moneys in the fund would be used, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in the most impacted and disadvantaged communities in California to accelerate greenhouse gas emission reductions and mitigate direct health impacts of climate change.

SB 104 (Oropeza) California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Definition of Greenhouse Gases

The Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 defines greenhouse gases to include carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride. This bill would also include nitrogen trifluoride, and any other anthropogenic gas designated by the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. It also would also express the intent of the Legislature that the state board take all feasible actions to include in the regulations to be adopted pursuant to the act by January 1, 2011, emission limits and emission reduction measures for nitrogen trifluoride. The state board would not be required to adopt, by January 1, 2011, emission limits and emission reduction measures for any gas designated as a greenhouse gas by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. The state board would be required to adopt emission limits and emission reduction measures for a gas designated as a greenhouse gas by the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change or by the state board within 2 years of a designation as a greenhouse gas.

SB 144 (Pavley) Carbon Sequestration by Forests

This bill require the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, in order to further the goals of the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and to enhance the capability of forest lands to sequester carbon, to develop options and incentives for the management of private forests pursuant to the criteria established under the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, to establish, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, a scientific standardized baseline upon which to project future scenarios of carbon emissions and sequestration, and to develop, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board and the Department of Fish and Game, regulations that establish mitigation requirements for forest land conversions. The bill would require the department to impose a fee on an applicant for conversion that fully offsets the department's costs for implementing the above requirement as it relates to conversion.

SB 722 (Steinberg) Greenhouse Gas Credit Requirements

This bill would make it unlawful for a person, as defined, to represent in an advertisement or in any other sales or promotional materials made available to the public for the sale of a greenhouse gas credit or emission reduction, that the credit or reduction reduces greenhouse gas emissions unless certain requirements are met. The bill would also require a person that represents in an advertisement or in any sales or promotional materials made available to the public for the sale of a greenhouse gas credit or emission reduction, that the credit or emission reduction results in a reduction of greenhouse gases to maintain in written form and make available to any member of the public who requests it certain information and documentation supporting the validity of that representation. A violation of these provisions would be punishable by a specified civil penalty and would create a civil cause of action. Reasonable attorney fees and costs would be available for any such action brought. These requirements would become operative on January 1, 2011, and would become inoperative if the Federal Trade Commission adopts binding and enforceable trade rules or regulations for claims or representations for greenhouse gas emission reduction credits or reductions to protect consumers.

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Distributed Generation

AB 44 (Blakeslee) Energy Storage Facilities

This bill would authorize the CA Public Utilities Commission (PUC), after a hearing, to approve an increase in the rate of return for investment by a corporation in energy storage systems that meet the specified requirements; and, require investor-owned utilities to include in its procurement plan a showing of how it will procure renewable resources to fulfill its requirement under the Renewable Portfolio Standard and how it will incorporate cost-effective energy storage systems.

AB 920 (Huffman) Credit for Net Surplus Electricity From Solar and Wind Distributed Generation

Among other things, this bill would: require the ratemaking authority, as defined, for the electric utility to adopt, by January 1, 2011, a net surplus electricity compensation valuation to compensate a net surplus customer-generator, for the value of net surplus electricity, generated by an eligible customer-generator and delivered to the grid that is in excess of the amount of electricity that is delivered from the grid to the eligible customer-generator; require the electric utility to offer a standard contract or tariff to eligible customer-generators that includes compensation for the value of net surplus electricity; require the electric utility, upon an affirmative election by the eligible customer-generator to receive service pursuant to this contract or tariff, to either: (1) provide net surplus electricity compensation for any net surplus electricity generated in the 12-month period, or (2) allow the eligible customer-generator to apply the net surplus electricity as a credit for kilowatthours subsequently supplied by the electric utility to the surplus customer-generator; provide that upon adoption of the net surplus electricity compensation rate and the eligible customer-generator electing to receive net surplus electricity compensation, any renewable energy credit, for net surplus electricity belongs to the electric utility purchasing the electricity and that net surplus electricity counts toward the electric utility's renewables portfolio standard purchasing requirements.

AB 1110 (Fuentes)  Revised Definition of Cogeneration

This bill would revise the existing definition of cogeneration where the use of thermal energy follows the generation of electricity, to allow technologies that utilize thermal energy internally to increase overall electrical efficiency to not less than 40% high heat value, as established by the commission.

AB 1031 (Blumenfield) Eligibility for AB 2466 (2008) Net Surplus Electricity Credit

This bill would clarify the existing definition of a local government by including a community college district and would revise the definition of a local government to include an individual campus of the University of California or the California State University and a joint powers authority or agency. The bill would provide that a local government electing to take service pursuant to the rate tariff is eligible to receive ratepayer funded incentives pursuant to the California Solar Initiative facilities that are sized to meet the on-site load and the load of the designated benefiting account.

AB 1536 (Blakeslee) Self-generation Incentive Program

This bill would require the CPUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to administer the clean technology incentive program for distributed generation until January 1, 2012, for the purposes of deploying distributed generation technologies that the CPUC determines require ratepayer incentives to achieve commercialization and produce benefits for ratepayers commensurate with their contribution to the costs of the program; authorize incentives to be provided pursuant to the program for energy storage facilities and specify that hydroelectric facilities are not eligible for the program, and would delete certain combustion-operated distributed generation projects from eligibility; delete the commission’s existing authority to include other ultraclean and low-emission distributed generation technologies in the program; and, limit program costs to no more than $75,000,000 per year.

SB 412 (Kehoe) Self-generation Incentive Program: Inclusion of Non-Solar Technologies

This bill would require the CPUC to require the collection of funding for the self-generation incentive program for non-solar distributed generation resources through December 31, 2011; require that combined heat and power units meet certain efficiency and emissions requirements, including the greenhouse gases emission performance standard, to receive incentives; require the PUC to ensure that distributed generation resources are made available in the program for all ratepayers; prohibit recovery of the costs of the program from ratepayers that participate in the California Alternative Rates for Energy (CARE) program; delete the authorization for the PUC, in administering the program, to include other ultraclean and low-emission distributed generation technologies; and, delete the current requirement that the CA Energy Commission, by November 1, 2008, and in consultation with the PUC and CA Air Resources Board, to evaluate the costs and benefits of providing ratepayer subsidies for renewable and fossil fuel ultraclean and low-emission distributed generation.

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Electric Generation

AB 40 (Fuentes) CPUC Procedures for Plant Held for Future Use

Pursuant to existing law, the CA Public Utilities Commission has
adopted a uniform system of accounts for public utilities and licensees, including an account for plant held for future use, and established guidelines for the account. This bill would: make nonsubstantive changes to existing law relative to how gain accruing from the sale of property carried in the plant held for future use account is to be allocated between the gas or electrical corporation and ratepayers; require the CPUC to review its guidelines for the plant held for future use account and determine whether it needs to open a proceeding to adjust the time period allowed for a property to be held in the account; require the CPUC to consider whether it should amend the guidelines, or add a separate guideline to allow a distinct time period for real property located within a transmission corridor zone designated by the California Energy Commission; require that if the commission amends the existing guidelines, or adds a separate guideline, pursuant to the bill's requirements, that the commission ensure that any gains or losses from the sale or reassignment of any interest in real property acquired by the electrical corporation that is subject to the amended or new guideline, are allocated between customers and shareholders proportionately to the risks involved.

AB 162 (Ruskin) Electricity Disclosure Requirements for Retail Electricity Suppliers

This bill would define the term "unspecified sources of power" for purposes of the electrical utility disclosure requirements in existing law to mean electricity generated that is not traceable to specific generation sources by any auditable contract trail or equivalent that provides commercial verification that the electricity source claimed has been sold once, and only once, to a retail consumer. The bill would additionally define the term "retail supplier" and would change reporting requirements from quarterly to annually and amend other details regarding disclosures and eliminate certain reporting requirements.

SB 176 (Simitian) End Date of Donated Electricity Provision

This bill would extend the repeal date of a provision of existing law that authorizes a nonprofit charitable organization to acquire electric commodity service through a direct transaction with an electric service provider, until January 1, 2015, if electric commodity service is donated free of charge without compensation.

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Energy Efficiency

AB 46 (Blakeslee) Extension of CA Energy Commission Local Government Energy Loan Program

This bill would extend to January 1, 2020 the activities of the CA Energy Commission's State Energy Conservation Assistance Account, which provide grants and loans to local governments and public institutions to maximize energy use savings, and would thereby make an appropriation by extending the time during which the funds in a continuously appropriated account are made available.

AB 51 (Blakeslee) Integrated Demand Side Management Programs (CPUC)

This bill would, after January 1, 2012, require the commission to limit the administrative costs to not more than 10% of the funds expended for energy efficiency programs administered by investor-owned utilities.

AB 228 (Huffman) Standards for Outdoor Lighting Efficiency

This bill would require the CA Energy Commission, by January 1, 2018, to adopt minimum energy efficiency standards for outdoor lighting.

AB 234 (Huffman) Federal Stimulus Package Efficiency Implementation Plan

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to develop an implementation plan for distributing federal economic stimulus dollars for energy efficiency projects and programs to help facilitate the state's economic recovery while making investments in the state's environment and improving the quality of life of the people of the state.

AB 531 (Saldana) Exemption for Energy Consumption Data Disclosure

This bill would exempt an electric or gas utility from existing customer information disclosure prohibitions when the electric or gas utility is uploading the energy consumption data for the account specified for a building to the US EPA's ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager, which is authorized under existing law.

AB 758 (Skinner) Existing Building Efficiency Financing and Audits

This bill would: require the CA Energy Commission (CEC), by March 1, 2010, and subject to certain requirements, to establish a regulatory proceeding to develop a comprehensive program to achieve greater energy savings in the state's existing residential and commercial building stock; require the CA Public Utilities Commission (PUC), by March 1, 2010, to open a proceeding to investigate the ability of electrical corporations to provide energy efficiency financing options to their customers to implement the comprehensive program developed by the CEC pursuant to this act; require the PUC, by January 1, 2011, after consultation with the CEC, to authorize an electrical corporation to provide a targeted number of low- or no-cost energy efficiency audits each calendar year; and, require a local publicly owned utility to be responsible for implementing an energy efficiency program that recognizes the Legislature's intent to encourage energy savings and greenhouse gas emission reductions in existing residential and commercial buildings.

SB 488 (Pavley) Energy Consumption Comparison on Bills

This bill would: require the CPUC, on or before July 1, 2010, to require each electrical corporation and each gas corporation to adopt a pilot program to disclose, not less frequently than quarterly, either in a separate mailing or on the billing statement of a residential customer, information documenting the amount of energy used by the metered residence compared to similar residences in the customer's geographical area; require the commission to require each electrical corporation and each gas corporation to identify those residences that used significantly more energy during the period than
was used by similar residences with comparable household square footage in the subscriber’s geographical area and to ensure that information is provided most frequently to those customers on energy saving strategies or programs available to assist in financing energy efficiency improvements; require that the cost of any pilot program adopted pursuant to these requirements be recovered only from the residential ratepayers of the electrical corporation or gas corporation; require each electrical corporation and each gas corporation, on or before July 1, 2011, and each July 1 thereafter, to submit to the commission and the Legislature a report on the energy savings resulting from the pilot program adopted by the utility. The bill also would require similar disclosure for all local publicly owned electric and gas utilities.

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Green Jobs

AB 3 (V. Manuel Perez) Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness Program (CPUC)

This bill would require the CA Public Utilities Commission (PUC), by January 1, 2011, to establish a Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness Program to ensure green collar career placement and advancement opportunities within California's renewable energy manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, and operation sectors that is targeted towards specified populations. The program would award training grants, on a competitive basis, to implement and operate renewable energy worker training and education programs in the state.

AB 1394 (Bass) Green Collar Jobs Council

This bill would authorize the Green Collar Jobs Council (GCJC) to accept any revenues, moneys, grants, goods, or services from federal and state governmental entities, local philanthropic organizations, and other sources, to be used for purposes relating to the administration and implementation of the strategic initiative. It would require the GCJC to confer with appropriate state and local agencies to coordinate the award of specified federal grant funds and green workforce training funds received by the state, and to make a finding that a proposed program or expenditure is consistent with the purposes of the above-described initiative, prior to authorizing the expenditure of funds made available to the state pursuant to The Federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

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Metering

AB 1108 (Fuentes) Electric and Gas Submeter Repair

This bill would: authorize the CA Public Utilities Commission (PUC), if it finds that a master-meter customer has failed to maintain or repair its submeter facilities beyond the master-meter, to order the master-meter customer to maintain or repair those facilities; authorize the PUC, to order that certain moneys received as a result of the master-meter discount be held in trust to be expended for maintenance and repair of the submeter facilities; require a master-meter customer to separately bill for gas or electric service, or both, and rent; prohibit a master-meter customer from charging a user of electricity or gas any late charge for nonpayment or delayed payment of rent; require that any late charge imposed by a master-meter customer for nonpayment or delayed payment by a user for gas or electric service be an amount that does not exceed that which the electrical or gas corporation would charge; require the owner of a master-metered mobilehome park or manufactured housing community that provides gas or electric service to residents to transfer ownership and operational responsibility for its gas or electrical system to the local gas or electrical corporation providing service in the area; require the CA Public Utilities Commission to open a proceeding to adopt rules related to these transfers; make other provisions related to how investor-owned utilities could recover revenue associated with this issue.

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Municipal Energy Financing

AB 474 (Blumenfield) Modifications to AB 811 Financing Provisions

This bill would: expand the provisions for AB 811 financing to include installation of water efficiency improvements that are permanently fixed to real property; redefine the term "city" and "legislative body"; require a legislative body to provide written notice of a hearing to any entity that provided energy or water within the boundaries of the assessment district.

SB 279 (Hancock) Community Facilities Districts

This bill would also authorize a community facilities district to finance and refinance the acquisition, installation, and improvement of energy efficiency and renewable energy improvements to or on real property and in buildings, as specified. This bill would authorize a separate procedure for establishing a community facilities district where the district initially consists solely of territory proposed for annexation to the community facilities district in the future, as specified, and would provide an alternate procedure
for incurring bonded indebtedness for community facility districts established in this manner.

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Nuclear Energy

AB 42 (Blakeslee) 3-D Imaging Survey of Diablo Canyon Vicinity

This bill would require Pacific Gas and Electric Company to utilize the CA Energy Commission to conduct seismic fault studies near the Diablo Canyon Nuclear powerplant. The bill also would allow PG&E to recover all associated costs through its procurement rates.

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Rates and Tariffs

AB 413 (Fuentes) Time of Use and Tiered Residential Rates

This bill would: prohibit the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from requiring or permitting an electrical corporation to employ mandatory time-variant pricing for residential customers, but would authorize the CPUC to authorize an electrical corporation to offer residential customers the option of receiving service pursuant to time-variant pricing; commencing January 1, 2016, authorize the CPUC to authorize an electrical corporation to employ default time-variant pricing for residential customers, if the customer has the option to to receive service pursuant to the time-variant pricing incur no additional costs as a result of the exercise of that option; require investor-owned utilities to target energy efficiency, weatherization, and solar programs to upper tier and multifamily customers; require utilities to deploy enhanced Low-Income Energy Efficiency (LIEE) programs to reach as many customers as practicable by December 31, 2014; delete the prohibition that the CPUC not increase the electricity charges in effect on February 1, 2001, for residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by those customers of up to 130% of then existing baseline quantities; and, authorize the CPUC until January 1, 2019, to increase the rates charged residential customers for electricity usage up to 130% of the baseline quantities by the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index from the prior year plus 1%, but not less than 3% and not more than 5% per year.

AB 560 (Skinner) Statewide Net Metering Limit

This bill would require that the standard contract or tariff for net energy metering be offered on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that the total rated generating capacity used by eligible customer-generators exceeds 10% (currently 2.5%) of the electric distribution utility or cooperative's aggregate customer peak demand.

AB 1106 (Fuentes) Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff

This bill would: require every electrical corporation to file with the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) a standard feed-in tariff for the electricity generated by a renewable electric generation facility, that is an eligible renewable energy resource and meets other size, deliverability, and interconnection requirements; require the CPUC to consult with the CA Energy Commission (CEC) and the CA Independent System Operator (ISO) in approving feed-in tariffs and rules for interconnection to the electrical grid; require the electrical corporation to make the feed-in tariff available to any customer of the electrical corporation, upon request, on a first-come-first-served basis, until the electrical corporation meets its renewables portfolio standard; provide that electricity generated by the renewable electric generation facility, including electricity used to offset the customer's own usage, would count toward the utilities RPS and resource adequacy requirements; provides that customers electing to receive service under the feed-in tariff would not and no longer be eligible to receive service under an alternative net metering program.

SB 32 (Negrete McLeod) Renewable Electric Generation Feed-in Tariffs

Among other things, this bill would: require an electrical corporation to file with the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) a standard tariff for the electricity purchased from an electric generation facility that is owned, leased, or rented by a retail customer of the electrical corporation; require that the electric generation facility have an effective capacity of not more than 3 megawatts; require that the electric generation facility be strategically located and interconnected to the electric grid in a manner that is considered deliverable to load; require that the tariff provide for a base payment rate for every kilowatthour of electricity purchased from an electric generation facility at the market price referent established by the CPUC pursuant to the renewables portfolio standard program, for a period of 10, 15, or 20 years; require that the payment by the market price referant; authorize the PUC to adjust the payment rate to reflect the value of the electricity on a time-of-delivery basis and any other attributes of renewable generation; require the CPUC to to annually establish maximum cost limitations, as specified, for purchases of
electricity generated by each renewable generation technology, that would be applicable to an electric generation facility that utilizes that technology and that commences service pursuant to the tariff during the 12-month period following establishment of the cost limitation; require an electrical corporation to provide expedited interconnection procedures to certain electric generation facilities located on a distribution circuit that offsets peak demand on that circuit; require the electrical corporation to make the tariff available to any customer that owns, leases, or rents an electric generation facility within the service territory of the electrical corporation, upon request, on a first-come-first-served basis, until the combined statewide cumulative rated generating capacity of those electric generation facilities subject to tariffs with electrical corporations reaches 500 megawatts, or its proportionate share of that limit; relieve an electrical corporation of the obligation to make the tariff available, upon the electrical corporation reaching or exceeding its cost limitation for costs incurred above the market price referent; provide that the electricity purchased from an electric generation facility counts toward meeting the electrical corporation's renewables portfolio standard and that electricity generated by the electric generation facility counts toward meeting the electrical corporation's resource adequacy requirements; prohibit a customer that receives service pursuant to a tariff adopted by an electrical corporation pursuant to the above-described provisions from being eligible to participate in any net metering program; allow a customer that elects to receive electrical service pursuant to a tariff filed by an electrical corporation pursuant to the bill to be eligible to receive ratepayer-funded incentives in accordance with the self-generation incentive program or the California Solar Initiative for the capacity needed to offset part or all of the electrical demand of the customer; and, require a local publicly owned electric utility that sells electricity at retail to 75,000 or more customers to adopt and implement a similar tariff, as defined.

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Renewable Energy

AB 64 (Krekorian) Modifications to RPS

Among other things, this bill would: require retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure 33% of the electricity delivered to its retail customers from eligible renewable sources by 2020; revise the Renewable Energy Resource Program (administered by the California Energy Commission) to state legislature's intent to have 33% renewable energy sources by 2020; establish the Energy Planning and Infrastructure Coordinating (EPIC) Committee to coordinate the actions of the state, make policy recommendations, and develop a strategic plan to achieve the renewable energy targets included, including a ranking of renewable energy development zones and required transmissions corridors; require the California Energy Commission to adopt a strategic plan for the state's electrical transmission grid, which identifies and recommends actions required to ensure reliability, relieve congestion, and meeting future growth, while meeting the Renewable Portfolio Standard requirements; grant the Energy Commission, for facilities applying for buildings permits after December 31, 2009, the exclusive authority to certify an eligible renewable energy resource with a generating capacity of 5 megawatts or more; make changes to the process of energy infrastructure approvals, including making a certificate by the California Energy Commission for an eligible renewable energy resource conclusive to all matters when the the CA Public Utilities Commission is determining whether to issue a certificate of public convenience and necessity.

AB 222 (Adams) Biofuels and Green Power Production

In relation to the CA Energy Commission Public Interest Energy Research and Demonstration (PIER) program, define “in-state renewable electricity generation facility” to include a facility that uses conversion at a biorefinery. It also would define “biorefinery” to mean a facility that uses a noncombustion thermal, chemical, biological, or mechanical
conservation process, or a combination of those processes, to produce electricity or a renewable fuel from carbonaceous materials. The bill also would make changes to an existing law that requires local jurisdictions to divert 50% of waste after the year 2000, including allowing waste use in a biorefinery to be an eligible diversion method and redefining several terms such as "gasificaiton" and "transformation."

AB 915 (Logue) Changes to the Renewable Portfolio Standard

This bill would change provisions related to the Renewable Portfolio Standard to require that each retail seller increase its total procurement of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources by at least an additional 1% of net program retail sales per year so that 20% of its net program retail sales of electricity are procured from eligible renewable energy resources no later than December 31, 2010. The bill would define net program retail sales of electricity as being total retail sales of electricity by the retail seller within California, minus those retail sales where the load was met by noneligible hydroelectric generation. This bill would also revise the Renewable Energy Resources Program to state the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources per year so that amount equals at least 20% of net program retail sales of electricity in California per year by December 31, 2010.

AB 1030 (Blumenfield) Inventory of State Properties Available for Renewable Energy System Installation

This bill would require the Institute of the Environment at the University of California, Los Angeles, in consultation with the director and only upon receipt of funding, to undertake a project for mapping the renewable energy development potential of state-owned real property under the direction and control of the Department of Transportation in the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency. The bill would also require the director to respond within 30 days to any proposal to develop a renewable energy project on state-owned real property as to whether the property is Department of Transportation in the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency.

AB 1348 (Blakeslee) CEC Role in Renewable Portfolio Standard Compliance

This bill would: require than an electrical corporations include in their proposed procurement plan a showing that the electrical corporation will, in order to fulfill its unmet resource needs, procure resources from eligible renewable energy resources in an amount sufficient to meet its procurement requirements pursuant to the renewables portfolio standard and in a manner that complies with the requirements for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases adopted by the State Air Resources Board pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006; and, require each electrical corporation to file with the CA Public Utilities Commission a proposed fossil fuel procurement plan that complies with the the above mentioned requirements for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

AB 1350 (Blakeslee) Voluntary Certification for Biofuels

This bill would: authorize the CA Energy Commission (CEC) to communicate, coordinate, and work with specified entities to consider and implement mitigation requirements on a regional basis for projects proposing to develop eligible renewable energy resources for the purposes of the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program; authorize the
CEC to execute an agreement, memorandum of its understanding, or other similar instrument with other state agencies for the purposes of meeting mitigation requirements on a regional basis.

SB 7 (Wiggins) Compensation for Net Surplus Renewable Electricity

This bill would require the electric distribution utility or cooperative to allow eligible customer-generator s to apply net surplus electricity as a credit for kilowatt-hours consumed during one, or both, of the two following 12-month periods; require that a currently required report on the cost-benefits of net metering be submitted by June 30, 2010, and require that the report additionally evaluate the impact of the generation of excess kilowatthours and excess credits based on time-of-use rates on participating and nonparticipating customers.

SB 14 (Simitian) Modifications to RPS and Transmissions Siting Procedures

This bill, among other things, would: revise the Renewable Energy Resources Program to state the intent of the Legislature to increase the amount of electricity generated from eligible renewable energy resources to 33% by 2020; require, once the retail seller reaches the 20% renewables target, that the CPUC implement triennial procurement targets for each retail seller to increase the total amount of electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources by at least an additional 3% every three years so that 33% of its retail sales are procured from eligible renewable energy resources no later than December 31, 2020; make certain of the requirements of the RPS program applicable to local publicly owned electric utilities; require the Energy Commission to design and implement an accounting system to verify compliance with the RPS requirements by retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities; require the CPUC to prepare and submit to the policy
and fiscal committees of the Legislature, annually before February 1 of each year, a report on the status of the RPS (content contained in bill language); require the CPUC to approve an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity within one year of the filing of a completed application and authorize the PUC, if justified, to allow recovery of certain transmission costs incurred by an electrical corporation; require the ISO to undertake all feasible efforts, including those that need FERC approval, to increase amount of electricity to be generated by eligible renewable energy resources; require the CPUC to approve reasonable and cost-effective transmission and power line investments that are not under the ratemaking authority of the FERC that are necessary to enable electricity generated by eligible renewable energy resources to be delivered to retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities; and, make certain requirements of state agencies to streamline approval of renewable energy projects.

SB 542 (Wiggins) Solar and Efficiency in Rental Properties

This bill would require the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), by July 1, 2010, to develop and implement a strategy to expand the participation of multiunit residential and commercial rental properties in utility energy efficiency and solar energy programs and to prepare and submit a report on the program to the Legislature by that date.

SB 581 (Leno) Hetch Hetchy Renewable Energy Generation

This bill would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to designate specific renewable electricity generation facilities as HHWP at-site renewable generation and HHWP remote renewable generation. The bill would authorize the City and County of San Francisco to elect to designate specific renewable electricity generation facilities or a portion of specific renewable electricity generation facilities as HHWP remote renewable generation to supply electricity to qualifying remote load by designating those facilities to be served by HHWP remote renewable generation. The bill would require that PG&E accept any electricity exported to the grid by HHWP remote renewable generation, up to the amount of electricity being used during the corresponding time period by the qualifying remote load, and to treat the electricity accepted as behind the meter generation that offsets the electrical usage of qualifying remote load. The bill would delete the existing requirement that where the separate or remote sites are outside the City and County of San Francisco, they be located within 20 miles of the City and County of San Francisco or within 20 miles of a HHWP remote renewable generation facility.

SB 605 (Ashburn) CEQA Exemption for Biogas Pipelines

This bill would provide that until January 1, 2013, for purposes of a CEQA exemption, “pipeline” also means a pipeline located in Fresno, Kern, Kings, or Tulare County, that is used to transport biogas, as the bill would define that term, and that meets the existing requirements for the exemption and all local, state, and federal laws.

SB 655 (Padilla) ISO Support in RPS and Greenhouse Gas Reductions

This bill would specify that state consumer and environmental protection laws with which the California ISO is required to coordinate and consult include, but are not limited to, the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program and California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. It would also require the operator to appear annually before appropriate policy committees of the Legislature to report on the operator’s activities.

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Smart Grid

SB 17 (Padilla) Smart Grid Deployment Plan

This bill would: require the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), by July 1, 2010, and in consultation with the CA Energy Commission (CEC) and the CA Independent System Operator (ISO), to determine the requirements for a smart grid deployment plan consistent with the policies set forth in the bill and federal law; require that the smart grid improve overall efficiency, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of electrical system operations, planning, and maintenance; require each electrical corporation, by July 1, 2011, to develop and submit a smart grid deployment plan to the CPUC for approval; authorize a smart grid deployment plan that is adopted to provide for deployment of smart grid products, technologies, and services by entities other than electrical corporations; authorize smart grid technologies to be deployed in an incremental manner to maximize the benefit to ratepayers and to achieve the benefits of smart grid technology, would authorize the CPUC to modify or adjust the bill's requirements for an electrical corporation with fewer than 100,000 service connections as individual circumstances merit, and would require the CPUC in consultation with the CEC, the ISO, and electrical corporations, at each step of deployment, to evaluate the impact of deployment on major initiatives and policies; require the commission to report, by January 1, 2011, and by January 1 of each year thereafter, to the Governor and the Legislature on the commission’s recommendations for a smart grid, the plans and deployment of smart grid technologies by the state’s electrical corporations, and the costs and benefits to ratepayers; and, require a local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, to develop by July 1, 2011, a smart grid deployment plan consistent with the policies set forth in federal law.

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Transportation

AB 881 (Huffman) Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority

This bill would, among other things, create the Sonoma County Regional Climate Protection Authority and require that the Authority be governed by the same board as the Sonoma County Transportation Authority.

SB 391 (Liu) California Transportation Plan

This bill would require DOT to update the California Transportation Plan (CTP) by January 1, 2012, and every 5 years thereafter; require the CTP to address how the state will achieve maximum feasible emissions reductions in order to attain a statewide reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.

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OTHER BILLS

These bills were introduced in 2009 but did not pass out of their house of origin by June 5, 2009.

ACR 14 (Niello) California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Economic Impact Disclosure and Deadlines

This measure would call upon the CA Air Resources Board, prior to any regulatory action being taken consistent with the scoping plan for the implementation of the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, to perform an economic analysis that will give the State of California a more complete and accurate picture of the costs and benefits of the act's implementation. The measure would also call upon the Governor to use the authority granted by the act to adjust any applicable deadlines for regulations.

AB 28 (Jeffries) Natural Gas Engines to Pump Water

This bill would prohibit air pollution control districts and air quality management districts from restricting the use of engines powered by natural gas by a city, county, or special district, including a water district, to operate water pumps.

AB 118 (Logue) Repeal of California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006

This bill would repeal the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

AB 150 (Smyth) Sales and Use Taxes Exemption for Energy Efficient Products

This bill expand the existing Sales and Use Tax exemptions to include energy efficient products for specific periods beginning in 2010.

AB 177 (Price) Green Economy Inclusion Act of 2009

This bill would enact the Green Economy Inclusion Act of 2009 and would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to ensure greater equity and inclusion of all Californians in the future of developing and implementing climate change, transportation, land use, and economic stimulus policies to reduce GHG emissions in California.

AB 212 (Saldana) Residential Zero Net Energy Building Standards

This bill would require the CEC to adopt, in collaboration with specified parties, building design and construction standards and energy and water conservation standards to require new residential constructions commenced on or after January 1, 2020, or on a date by which the commission determines that the use of photovoltaic technology is cost effective, whichever is later, to be zero net energy buildings.

AB 238 (Adams) Transmission, Smart Grid for Renewable Energy Resources

This bill would revise the legislative findings and declarations under the Renewable Portfolio Standard to declare that new and modified electric transmission facilities, including the employment of smart grid technologies, may be necessary to facilitate the state achieving its energy efficiency goals and renewables portfolio standard targets.

AB 376 (Nava) Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Offsets

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to provide protections for consumers of voluntary greenhouse gas emission offsets, including both businesses and individuals, and help ensure that their participation in the market brings the expected environmental benefits.

AB 380 (De La Torre) California Clean Energy Curriculum and Training

This bill would require the Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development, in collaboration with the major stakeholders, including appropriate state agencies, building trades unions, education, and the clean energy industry, to create by July 1, 2010, the California Clean Energy Curriculum and Training Initiative of 2009 to establish standardized curriculum for use at schools and provide outreach, assistance, and guidance to schools on creating clean energy training programs.

This bill also would establish the California Clean Energy Curriculum and Training Initiative Subaccount within the Labor and Workforce Development Fund within the State Treasury. The bill would require that, upon the appropriation of moneys, not to exceed $1,000,000, by the Legislature to implement the initiative, the CA Public Utilities Commission (PUC) order electrical corporations that have collected moneys for research, development, and demonstration for allocation by the PUC pursuant to a specified provision, to transfer an amount of those moneys, equivalent to the amount of the appropriation, to the subaccount for purposes of the initiative.

AB 432 (Nestande) Municipal Utility Districts (Spot bill for Feed-in Tariffs)

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to reform the manner in which municipal utility districts are organized.

AB 546 (Knight) Tax Exemption for Solar Manufacturing Equipment

This bill would exempt from sales and use taxes the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, tangible personal property, as specified, purchased for use primarily in the manufacturing of solar photovoltaic panels.

AB 695 (Bill Berryhill) Renewable Energy Procurement Plans

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to the existing law relating to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program.

AB 739 (Fuller) Wind Energy

This bill would state the Legislature's intent to enact legislation to encourage the use and siting of wind energy facilities.

AB 782 (Jeffries) Modifications to Provisions Related to SB 375

This bill would: provide that acceptance by CARB of a sustainable communities strategy adopted as part of a metropolitan planning organization’s regional transportation plan (which is to be designed to achieve certain targets established by the CA Air Resources Board (CARB) for the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from automobiles and light trucks in the region) shall be final; provide that any local government entity participating in the sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy that subsequently determines that a project proposed for approval within its jurisdiction is consistent with the applicable strategy, that project shall be deemed compliant with the requirements of AB 32 of 2006 and SB 375 of 2008, and no person or entity may initiate or maintain any judicial proceeding to review the propriety of the local government entity's determination that the project is consistent with the strategy; add the following to the Regional Targets Advisory Committee: representatives of commercial builders, the business community, and entities involved in the funding of transportation projects to the entities to be appointed to the committee; require a metropolitan planning organization preparing a sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy to create a business advisory committee to provide input on the potential impacts of the proposed strategy on business activities and the economy; further exempt all projects funded by the Highway Safety, Traffic Reduction, Air Quality, and Port Security Bond Act of 2006 (Proposition 1B) and the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 regardless of the date of programming or construction; and, this bill would extend the applicability of an existing CEQA exemption to any development project, including, but not limited to, a residential or mixed-use residential project, health facility, educational facility, retail facility, commercial job center, or transportation project.

AB 1016 (Villines) California Department of Energy

Among other things, this bill would: abolish the CA Energy Commission (CEC), the California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority, and the Electricity Oversight board; create the Department of Energy (CA DOE), headed by a Secretary of Energy, and would create the (New) California Energy Commission (New CEC) and the Office of Energy Market Oversight within the department; authorize the Governor to appoint an Assistant Secretary of Energy who would serve at the pleasure of the secretary; prescribe the composition of the New CEC; transfer the jurisdiction over the certification for electric facilities from the PUC to the Secretary of Energy; transfer jurisdiction of certain energy-related matters from the Office of Planning and Research, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of General Services, and the Office of the State Architect to the CA DOE or the New CEC; repeal the requirement that a person proposing to construct a thermal powerplant or electric transmission line on a site to submit to the CEC a notice of intention to file an application for the certification of the site; prohibit land use for a nuclear fission powerplant unless the New CEC certifies that specified conditions exist.

AB 1023 (Ruskin) Feed-in Tariff System Size Limits

This bill would increase the eligible maximum effective capacity under existing standard renewable energy feed-in tariff provisions from 1.5 megawatts to not more than 20 megawatts.

AB 1027 (Blumenfield) Solar Schools and Nonprofits Program (CEC)

This bill would require the California Energy Commission (CEC) to administer a solar schools and nonprofits program to encourage schools, hospitals, and specified nonprofit public benefit corporations to install solar energy systems. The bill would require the program to seek to encourage the greatest number of installations while effectively generating electricity through renewable energy systems. As part of that program, the bill would require the CEC to administer a grant and revolving loan program for the installation of solar energy systems by those entities.

AB 1035 (DeVore) Nuclear Power Plant Certification Exemption

Existing law requires a person proposing to construct a thermal powerplant to obtain certain approvals from the CA Energy Commission and CA Public Utilities Commission. This bill would additionally exempt from these requirements an applicant for a nuclear fission thermal powerplant capable of producing up to 2,000 megawatts of energy that is the first California entity to obtain an early site permit from the United States Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

AB 1043 (Fong) Biofuels and Clean Fuel Technology

This bill would provide that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to advance biofuels and other clean fuel technologies by adopting policies that promote the production and purchase of biofuels and other clean fuel technologies in California as a means to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce California's reliance on petroleum fuels.

AB 1103 (Duvall) Regulation of Nonresidential Electricity Rates

This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to establish policies to reform the regulation of electricity rates for nonresidential customers.

AB 1105 (Blakeslee) Building Energy Retrofit Revolving Loan Program

This bill would require the CA Energy Commission to implement the Building Energy Retrofit Revolving Loan Program to provide loans for energy efficiency projects retrofitting nonresidential buildings built before July 1, 1978. It also would create the Building Energy Retrofit Revolving Loan Program Fund in the State Treasury that would be continuously appropriated to the commission for the implementation of the program, thereby making an appropriation. Further, the bill would require moneys from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 that are appropriated to the commission be transferred to the fund as authorized by federal law.

AB 1111 (Blakeslee) California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority

This bill would modify provisions related to the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority's mission by including as a project, machinery or equipment that is utilized for the design, technology transfer, manufacture, production, assembly, distribution, or service of an alternative source component.

AB 1225 (De La Torre) Green Team Guidance on Federal Stimulus Package Funding

This bill would designate the Green Action Team (chaired by the Secretary of the State and Consumer Services Agency, with additional members being the Director of the Department of Finance, the Secretaries of Business, Transportation and Housing, Environmental Protection, Resources, Education, and a commissioner of the CA Public Utilities Commission) as being responsible for evaluating opportunities for the state to participate in, and benefit from, the energy-related programs of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and to coordinate the state's participation in any federal energy-related economic stimulus programs and the distribution of moneys for energy efficiency and renewable energy programs to specified entities.

AB 1234 (Skinner) Energy Smart Buildings

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation relating to smart buildings and the promotion of energy savings and management.

AB 1305 (V. Manuel Perez) Border Region Electricity Generation Emissions Mitigation Fee

This bill would: require any person that imports electricity into the state, or causes electricity to be imported into the state, to pay up to a $0.001 per kilowatthour air contaminant emission electricity generation mitigation fee for that electricity; impose the fee only if the electricity is produced by an electrical generating facility that is located within an air basin shared by a district and Mexico and located in Mexico within 100 kilometers of the United States' border, if construction of the electrical generating facility was completed after January 1, 2010, and if the electrical generating facility was not constructed to meet all existing California air pollution regulations and standards, including, but not limited to, best available control technology (BACT) and any offsets that would be required under California law to mitigate any additional pollution; establish the Imported Electricity Air Pollution Mitigation Subaccount in the Air Pollution Control Fund, and would require the fees to be deposited in that subaccount; and, make the moneys deposited in the subaccount available to the state board, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for distribution to each district in the state that the state board determines is directly impacted by emissions of air contaminants from those electrical generating facilities.

AB 1318 (V. Manuel Perez) Emission Credits for Electrical Generation in South Coast Air Quality Management District

This bill would require the executive officer of the South Coast Air Quality Management District, upon making a specified finding, to transfer a specified quantity of emission reduction credits for certain pollutants from the district's internal emission credit accounts to eligible electrical generating facilities. The bill would grant the California Energy Commission the exclusive authority to review the environmental impact of the executive officer's actions. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2013.

AB 1333 (Hagman) Public Interest Energy Research Program

This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to existing provisions related to the Public Interest Research, Development, and Demonstration Fund in the State Treasury for purposes of public interest research, development, and demonstration.

AB 1453 (Buchanan) Changes to California Solar Initiative

The bill would make technical and nonsubstantive changes to existing statutes that require the CA Public Utilities Commission to undertake certain steps in implementing the California Solar Initiative.

AB 1502 (Eng) Clean-Vehicle HOV Lane Exemption

This bill would extend the time duration of a provision that exempts certain low-emission, hybrid, or alternative fuel vehicles from rules regarding the number of passengers required to travel in high-occupancy vehicles (HOVs) lanes until January 1, 2017, or until the Secretary of State receives a specified notice, except that with respect to a hybrid or alternative fuel vehicle the provision would be operative only until January 1, 2011, or until the Secretary of State receives the specified notice.

AB 1508 (Torrico) Solar Schools

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would encourage school districts to include solar energy in their projects for the modernization and new construction of school facilities.

SCA 13 (Strickland) Property Tax Exclusion for Small Wind Turbines and Geothermal Heat Pumps

The California Constitution generally limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property. For purposes of this limitation, "full cash value" is defined as the assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975-76 tax bill under "full cash value" or, thereafter, the appraised value of that real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred. This measure would authorize the Legislature to exclude from classification as "newly constructed" the construction or addition, on or after January 1, 2010, of a small wind turbine or geothermal heat pump system.

SB 31 (Pavley) California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Air Pollution Control Fund

This bill would require that revenues collected pursuant to AB 32 compliance mechanisms adopted by the CA Air Resources Board also be deposited in the Air Pollution Control Fund. This bill would specify certain uses of the revenues collected pursuant to the fee discussed above and the compliance mechanisms.

SB 42 (Corbett) Open Ocean Intake and Once-Through Cooling Prohibition and Fee

This bill would: prohibit a state agency from authorizing, approving, or certifying a new power plant or industrial facility that uses once-through cooling or the expansion of an existing open seawater intake at a powerplant that uses a once-through cooling system unless necessary to connect to an alternative system; on and after January 1, 2015, prohibit a power plant from using once-through cooling; require a power plant or industrial facility that uses once-through cooling to pay a specified fee; require the State Water Resources Control Board to collect the fee and to deposit the revenues from the fee in the Marine Life Restoration Account, which the bill would establish in the fund; require the State Coastal Conservancy to administer the account and expend the money in the account only upon appropriation by the Legislature to the conservancy and the board to reimburse their costs of administering the fee and to the State Coastal Conservancy for specified projects, activities that address the impacts of once-through cooling processes, and to the state board to provide grants to powerplants currently using once-through cooling.

SB 128 (Padilla) California Climate Change Institute

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to create the California Climate Change Institute to: (A) identify and support, through a merit-based peer-reviewed competitive grant process, research and education to be undertaken at academic and research institutions and laboratories throughout the state, (B) oversee, coordinate, and manage a nonduplicative, targeted research and development program for the purposes of achieving the state's targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases and mitigating the effects of those emissions, (C) develop effective model education pathways, training, model curriculum, and professional development necessary for emerging green technologies and industries, and (D) ensure that its climate change research is conducted in a manner that is targeted and nonduplicative of other research programs.

SB 225 (Florez) Emission Reduction Credits

This bill would authorize a air pollution control or air quality management district to create an emission reduction credit from the emission reductions resulting from a project that is funded from both public and private moneys if specified requirements are met.

SB 267 (Benoit) Definition of Green Jobs

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would define "green jobs."

SB 295 (Dutton) California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006: Implementation Timeline

This bill, notwithstanding this provision or any other provision of law, would prohibit CA Air Resources Board (CARB) or its staff from beginning to develop regulations pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 until June 1, 2009, and until the state board reevaluates the evaluation of costs (the total potential costs and total potential economic and noneconomic benefits of the plan). The bill would prohibit the state board from implementing those regulations until the unemployment rate in the state is below 5.8% for 3 consecutive months. The bill would also require CARB to evaluate, and make public, the costs of those regulations.

SB 322 (Benoit) CPUC Powers and Powers and Authority

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to the Public Utilities Code relating to the CA Public Utilities Commission powers and authority.

SB 333 (Hancock) Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Offset Program Fund

This bill would create the Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Offset Program Fund, and would provide that funds received by the state on a voluntary basis from the federal government, individuals, businesses, organizations, industry, or other sources for the mitigation of climate change impacts related to greenhouse gas emissions be deposited in this fund. The moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation, for expenditure by the "Resources Agency" for specified projects. The bill would require that moneys from the fund be directed to the California Conservation Corps and local conservation corps for specified projects. The Resources Agency would be required, by October 1, 2010, to adopt guidelines for the distribution of moneys from the fund and to develop strategies for the sale of voluntary greenhouse gas emission offsets by the state and other opportunities for contributions by the public to the Voluntary Greenhouse Gas Emission Offset Program Fund.

SB 338 (Alquist) The California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority

This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation related to the authority of the the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority and renewable energy companies.
SB 366 Aanestad Net Energy Metering - Biomas "This bill would modify existing provisions related to net energy metering by changing the definition of eligible customer-generators to include residential, small commercial, commercial, industrial, or agricultural customers of an electric service provider that use biomass electricity generating facilities.

SB 376 (Simitian) LNG Assessment Report (CEC)

This bill would:; enact the Liquefied Natural Gas Market Assessment Act and would require the CA Energy Commission (CEC), in consultation with affected state agencies, including but not limited to, the CA Public Utilities Commission (PUC), the CA Air Resources Board, to adopt and submit to the Legislature and the Governor, on or before July 1, 2011, the Liquefied Natural Gas Market Assessment Report of 2011 that would be incorporated into the integrated energy policy report of 2009; require the CEC to include a Liquefied Natural Gas Market Assessment Report in every integrated energy policy report adopted after January 1, 2011; require the CEC on or before March 31, 2010, to create a matrix on its Internet Web site containing information related to the construction and operation of a liquefied natural gas terminal project, and quarterly updates would be required; prohibit the Governor, or a state or local entity from approving the construction or operation of an onshore or offshore liquefied natural gas terminal in California until the Liquefied Natural Gas Market Assessment Report of 2011 has been issued and becomes final and all appeals have been exhausted, or November 1, 2011, whichever is earlier; and, require a liquefied natural gas terminal project applicant to include in the application evidence that it has consulted with the United States Department of Defense and its impacted service components.

SB 425 (Simitian) Vehicle Trip Reduction (CARB)

This bill would require the CA Air Resources Board, in coordination with the Department of Transportation, to develop a program for employers employing more than 100 individuals to reduce the number of single-occupant vehicle trips, as specified.

SB 523 (Pavley) Renewable Energy Feed-in Tariff

Among other things, this bill would: require every electrical corporation with more than 100,000 service connections to develop and, upon approval by the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), implement a standard-offer contract and feed-in tariff, that requires the electrical corporation to purchase every kilowatthour of electricity delivered to the grid that is generated by a tariff-eligible generation facility; require the CPUC to approve the standard-offer contract and feed-in tariff at a rate and upon those terms that the CPUC determines are reasonable on a market segment and technology specific basis in consideration of certain criteria; require each electrical corporation to obtain CPUC approval of a standard-offer contract and feed-in tariff by June 1, 2010, and to implement the standard-offer contract and feed-in tariff by July 1, 2010; require an electrical corporation to make the standard-offer contract or feed-in tariff available to the owner or operator of a tariff-eligible generation facility on a first-come-first-served basis until the time that 2% of total retail sales of electricity by the electrical corporation is generated by tariff-eligible generation facilities; require that after June 30, 2014, the CPUC review the effectiveness of the implementation of standard-offer contracts and feed-in tariffs in advancing specified purposes and would authorize the CPUC to revise the program as it sees fit for additional tariff-eligible generation facilities; authorize the CPUC to modify the above-described requirements for an electrical corporation with less than 100,000 service connections in the state based upon the individual circumstances of that electrical corporation; provide that every kilowatthour of electricity generated by a tariff-eligible generation facility receiving service pursuant to the standard-offer contract or feed-in tariff count toward meeting the electrical corporation's requirements pursuant to the renewable portfolio standard and the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006; and, require the governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility with more than 100,000 service connections to develop and implement a feed-in tariff that provides for payment for every kilowatthour of electricity generated by a tariff-eligible generation facility that is delivered to the grid and has a duration of not less than 20 years.

SB 534 (Strickland) Property Tax Exclusion for Small Wind Turbines and Geothermal Heat Pumps

The California Constitution generally limits ad valorem taxes on real property to 1% of the full cash value of that property. For purposes of this limitation, "full cash value" is defined as the assessor's valuation of real property as shown on the 1975-76 tax bill under "full cash value" or, thereafter, the appraised value of that real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred. This bill would provide that the classification as "newly constructed" for purposes of the following constitutional provisions does not include the construction or addition, on or after January 1, 2010, of a small wind turbine or geothermal heat pump system. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy, but would become operative only if Senate Constitutional Amendment ____ of the 2009-10 Regular Session is approved by the voters.

SB 551 (Strickland) CEC Transmission Certification Authority

This bill would expand the definition of "electric transmission line" to include an electric powerline that carries electricity from any powerplant located in the state to a point of junction with an interconnected transmission system, an electric powerline that is rated at 200 kilovolts or above, and an electric powerline that is rated between 50 kilovolts and 200 kilovolts that is needed to support the stability and reliability of the interconnected transmission line, thereby giving the CEC the exclusive power to certify these electric powerlines. The bill also would exempt from the certification requirement an electric transmission line for which an application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity has been submitted to the CPUC before January 1, 2010.

SB 560 (Ashburn) Regional Sustainable Community Plans

This bill would: provide that greenhouse gas emission credits for counties and cities that site and permit commercial wind, solar, and biomass projects may be used as credit in the formulation of the sustainable communities strategy or an alternative planning strategy; provide that transportation trips outside of federal lands that are directly related to activities of a federal or state military installation shall not be included in the emissions inventory otherwise required to be considered to achieve any reductions in greenhouse gas emissions; and, add provision of access for renewable energy projects to the transportation investments that should be considered for purposes of providing financial incentives for cities and counties that have resource lands or farmlands for the purposes of, for example, transportation investments for the preservation of the city street or county road system, and farm to market and interconnectivity transportation needs.

SB 663 (Benoit) Neighborhood Electric Vehicles

This bill would authorize the City of Palm Desert to establish a neighborhood electric vehicle plan and require a report to the Legislature by January 1, 2013.

SB 675 (Steinberg) Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training, Career Technical Education, and Dropout Prevention Act of 2010

This bill would enact the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training, Career Technical Education, and Dropout Prevention Act of 2010 and a similarly named fund in the State Treasury. It would provide that the moneys in the fund would be available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, in the form of competitive grants that would be administered by the State Allocation Board and awarded to qualifying entities for the purposes of the construction of new facilities or the reconfiguration of existing facilities to enhance the educational opportunities for program participants, as defined, to provide them with the skills and knowledge necessary for careers directly related to clean technology, renewable energy, or energy efficiency that may
also contribute to California's goal in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

The bill also would create the Clean Technology and Renewable Energy Job Training, Career Technical Education, and Dropout Prevention Council comprised of 9 members. The council would be required to issue guidelines to implement the purposes of this act. The bill would authorize the council to issue and renew negotiable bonds, notes, debentures, or other sources of security of up to $5,000,000,000 that would be secured by moneys appropriated by the Legislature in the annual Budget Act from the Public Interest Research, Development, and Demonstration Fund.

SB 695 (Wright) Residential Time-of-Use Electricity Rates

Among other things, this bill would: prohibit the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) from requiring or permitting an electrical corporation to employ dynamic pricing for residential customers, but would authorize the PUC to authorize an electrical corporation to offer residential customers the option of receiving service pursuant to dynamic pricing; authorize the CPUC beginning January 1, 2016 to authorize an electrical corporation to employ default dynamic pricing for residential customers, if the customer has the option of receiving service pursuant to a rate schedule that is not based upon dynamic pricing and if residential customers that exercise the option to not receive service pursuant to the dynamic pricing incur no additional costs as a result of the exercise of that option; require the CPUC to establish the CARE program to provide assistance to low-income electric and gas customers with annual household incomes at or below 200% of the federal poverty guideline levels, and require that the cost of the program, with respect to electrical corporations, be recovered on an equal cent-per-kilowatthour basis from all classes of customers that were subject to the surcharge that funded the CARE program on January 1, 2008; require that electrical corporations, in administering the specified energy efficiency and weatherization programs, to target energy efficiency and solar programs to upper-tier and multifamily customers in a manner that will result in long-term permanent reductions in electricity usage and develop programs that specifically target new construction by, and new and retrofit appliances for, nonprofit affordable housing providers; delete the prohibition that the PUC not increase the electricity charges in effect on February 1, 2001, for residential customers for existing baseline quantities or usage by those customers of up to 130% of then existing baseline quantities; and, authorize the PUC, until January 1, 2019, to increase the rates charged residential customers for electricity usage up to 130% of the baseline quantities by the annual percentage change in the Consumer Price Index from the prior year plus 1%, but not less than 3% and not more than 5% per year.

SB 696 (Wright) Emissions Credit Availability in South Coast Air Quality Management District

This bill would state that it is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to ensure that there are sufficient credits available for the South Coast Air Quality Management District to issue permits for essential public services and new clean efficient power plants.

SB 699 (Alquist) Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Efficient Manufacturing Equipment

This bill would declare the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would exempt from sales and use taxes, the sale and purchase of manufacturing equipment that reduces energy and water use, and increases energy efficiency and water recycling.

SB 721 (Steinberg) Climate Action Team

This bill would: create the Climate Action Team (CAT), consisting of representatives from specified state agencies, that would be responsible for coordinating the state's overall climate policy; require the CAT, on or before January 1, 2011, and annually thereafter, to prepare, adopt, and present to the Legislature, a strategic research, development, demonstration, and deployment plan that establishes priorities and identifies key expenditure categories for research, development, demonstration, and deployment funds to be expended by the state agencies represented on the CAT for the following fiscal year; require a state agency that is represented on the CAT to expend research, development, demonstration, and deployment funds, which would be administered by the Department of Transportation and allocated for clean technology, environmental protection, and public interest energy research, consistent with this plan. require the CAT, on or before January 1, 2011, and biennially thereafter, to prepare and adopt a climate change impact mitigation and adaptation plan that includes specified information; require the specified state agencies to prepare and submit to the CAT, the information in a standardized format as determined by the Secretary for Environmental Protection; require the specified state agencies to submit information on other technologically feasible and cost-effective measures related to operations and programs managed by the state agencies that require statutory or regulatory changes for their adoption, and an estimate of potential GHG emission reductions from those measures; provide that demonstration for purposes of this program, includes, but is not limited to, grants and loans to entities to commercialize new, cost-effective technologies in the California marketplace.

SB 720 (Strickland) Transmission Capacity

This bill would provide that it is the policy of the state and the intent of the Legislature to ensure timely investments are made in the state's electrical transmission system to integrate electricity generation from renewable energy resources, to increase capacity to import electricity, and to accommodate load growth consistent with the efficient use and reliable operation of the grid.

SB 729 (Walters) Changes to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006

This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to a legislative finding within the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.

SB 805 (Wright) Modifications to the Renewable Portfolio Standard

Among other things, this bill would: move the requirements for the CA Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to review and adopt a procurement plan for each electrical corporation from an article concerning rates to an article concerning long-term plans and procurement plans, and make conforming changes that reference existing law; add an additional requirement to the RPS by requiring that the process consider the cost impacts of procuring the eligible renewable energy resources on the electrical corporation's procurement plan, the effects upon electrical system reliability, and the environmental and economic benefits of procuring renewable energy; require the CPUC, by rulemaking to adopt flexible rules for compliance with the RPS that apply to all years before and after a retail seller procures at least 20% by December 31, 2010, and 33% by December 31, 2020, of total retail sales of electricity from eligible renewable energy resources; authorize a retail seller to meet up to 25% of its RPS procurement requirements with unbundled renewable energy credits from eligible renewable energy resources within the region of the WECC; require the CPUC to establish project development milestones to evaluate the potential for compliance with the adopted plan and a set of actions that will occur as a result of not meeting those milestones; require the CPUC, in consultation with the CEC, to adopt rules for the enforcement of the program with respect to retail sellers; provide that if the CPUC determines that despite good faith best efforts by a retail seller to procure eligible renewable energy resources, that there are insufficient eligible renewable energy resources at competitive prices to enable the retail seller to meet its RPS procurement requirements, the retail seller is not out of compliance with the RPS.

SB 806 (Wiggins) Energy Efficiency Program Administrative Fees (CPUC)

This bill would require the CA Public Utilities Commission to limit the administrative costs, as defined, of energy efficiency programs to not more than 5 percent of the funds expended.

SB 1504 (Skinner) Carbon Sequestration by Forests

This bill would: include sequestration of carbon in the list of specified public needs and values provided for in the Z'berg-Nejedly Forest Practice Act of 1973 (the Act); make other legislative findings and declarations relative to carbon dioxide sequestration as it relates to forests; require the State Board of Forestry and Fire Protection to ensure that its rules and regulations governing the harvesting of commercial forest tree species maximize, to the extent feasible, the capacity of forest resources to sequester carbon dioxide emissions; require that the sustainably yield, which is required under the Act, contain strategies or measures to mitigate or avoid, to the maximum extent feasible, carbon dioxide emissions from the harvest of commercial forest tree species; require that a timber harvesting plan, also required under the Act), include a description of strategies or measures to mitigate or avoid, to the maximum extent feasible, carbon dioxide emissions from timber operations.

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