Summary of bills that did not pass out of house of origin in 2011 but which remain “active” until February 2012.
CLIMATE CHANGE/GREENHOUSE GASES ( GHG)
SB 237
Author: Wolk
Topic: Funds for GHG Reduction Strategies in Agriculture.
Committee Location: Appropriations
Last action date: 5/26/11; Amended: 3/29/2011
This bill would establish eligible uses of funds allocated to the agricultural sector from revenue generated from market-based compliance mechanisms for the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. The bill would require an unspecified agency to administer these funds for a specified grant program. The bill would provide for the creation of the California Agricultural Climate Benefits Advisory Committee to assist in the implementation of these requirements, as provided.
SB 246
Author: De Leon
Topic: GHG Offset Compliance and Verification.
Committee Location: Senate Appropriations
Last action date: 5/26/11
This bill would require the State Air Resources board to meet specified requirements relating to verification and oversight of compliance offsets if the state board allows the use of compliance offsets as part of a regulation adopted pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006.
SB 669
Author: Rubio
Topic: Carbon Sequestration
Committee Location: Senate Energy Utilities and Communications
Last action date:4/21/11 ; Amended: 3/23/11
This bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to coordinate the development of performance standards and other operational measures for carbon capture and storage sites that are consistent with the goals of protecting groundwater and preventing the emission of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere. The bill would require the State Air Resources Board to establish an accounting protocol for sequestered carbon dioxide.
SB 800
Author: Hancock
Topic: Voluntary GHG Emission Offset Program Fund.
Committee Location: Senate Environmental Quality
Last action date: 3/10/11
This bill would create the Voluntary GHG 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 for expenditure by the Natural Resources Agency for specified projects through a competitive grant process. The bill would require that moneys from the fund be directed to the California Conservation Corps and local conservation corps for specified projects. The Natural Resources Agency would be required, by January 1, 2013, 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 GHG Offset Program Fund.
AB 1285
Author: Fuentes
Topic: Regional GHG Emission Reduction Program.
Committee Location: Assembly Appropriations
Last action date: 5/12/11; Amended: 5/11/11
This bill would require the state board to establish a program to maximize regional greenhouse gas emission reduction and sequestration projects. The state board would be required to create a system by which emission reductions achieved by projects under the program result in the creation of qualified units of exchange that may be transferred to entities subject to an emissions cap adopted pursuant to the act for compliance towards that cap, as determined by the state board. The state board would be required to establish a Regional Emission Reduction Exchange to provide oversight and facilitate the transfer of qualified units of exchange. The bill would create within the Air Pollution Control Fund the Regional Emission Reduction System Account, and would provide that moneys from federal, state, regional, and private sources may be deposited in the Regional Emission Reduction System Account, and moneys within the account may be used for the purposes of the program that would be created by the bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature. The provisions of the bill would be implemented only if the state board adopts a market-based compliance mechanism that includes authorization to use compliance offsets created from greenhouse gas emission reduction or sequestration projects in a sector that is not subject to an emissions cap as part of the market-based compliance mechanism regulation.
AB 1332
Author: Donnelly
Topic: Abolish State Air Resources Board.
Committee Location: Assembly Natural Resources
Last action date: 4/25/11
This bill would abolish the State Air Resources Board and transfer its authority, duties, powers, purposes, responsibilities, and jurisdiction to the California Environmental Protection Agency. (did not pass first committee vote, reconsideration granted)
ENERGY/WATER EFFICIENCY
SB 564
Author: Evans
Topic: Energy Efficiency Program Portfolio Considerations.
Committee Location:
Last action date: 3/16/11
This bill would require the CPUC, in evaluating energy efficiency investments, to ensure that local and regional interests, multifamily dwellings, and energy service industry capabilities are incorporated into an electrical corporation's energy efficiency program portfolio design, and to encourage participation from local governments, community-based organizations, and energy efficiency service providers in program design, revision, and implementation, where appropriate. The bill would require an electrical corporation, when developing or revising its energy efficiency program portfolio design, to collaborate with, and seek comments from, county climate protection authorities or other public agencies that are directly authorized to implement regional or countywide climate protection and energy efficiency programs.
AB 904
Author: Skinner
Topic: Energy Efficiency.
Committee Location:
Last action date: 5/18/11; Amended: 5/10/11
CPUC must take prescribed actions in its energy efficiency proceedings regarding the ability of electric corporations and gas corporations to provide various energy efficiency financing options to their customers for the purposes of implementing comprehensive Energy Commission program to achieve greater energy savings in the state’s existing residential and nonresidential building stock. This bill would require the PUC, as part of Rulemaking 09-11-014, to ensure that energy efficiency programs (1) result in real, absolute reductions in energy consumption, (2) examine alternatives to traditional administration, delivery, and evaluation mechanisms for energy efficiency services, and (3) evaluate all reasonable alternatives for financing residential energy efficiency retrofits, including efficiency improvement of heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. The bill would require the PUC to consult and coordinate with the Energy Commission in achieving these results.
GREEN JOBS
AB 15
Author: V. Manuel Perez
Topic: Workforce development: California Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness Initiative: local workforce investment boards.
Committee Location: Assembly Labor and Employment
Last action date: 1/24/11
Existing law establishes the Green Collar Jobs Council (GCJC) as a special committee in the CWIB, comprised of specified members, to assist in providing workforce development and job training relating to green collar jobs. This bill would require the CWIB, by July 1, 2012, in consultation with the Green Collar Jobs Council (GCJC), to establish the California Renewable Energy Workforce Readiness Initiative to ensure green collar career placement and advancement opportunities within California's renewable energy generation, manufacturing, construction, installation, maintenance, and operation sectors that is targeted toward specified populations. The bill would require that the initiative provide guidance to local workforce investment boards on how to establish comprehensive green collar job assessment, training, and placement programs that reflect the local and regional economies, as prescribed.
RATES/UTILITIES/REGULATORS
AB 37
Author: Huffman
Topic: Smart grid deployment: smart meters.
Committee Location: Assembly Utilities and Commerce
Last action date: 5/9/11
This bill would require the CPUC, by January 1, 2012, to identify alternative options for customers of electrical corporations that decline the installation of wireless advanced metering infrastructure devices, commonly referred to as smart meters, as part of an approved smart grid deployment plan. The bill would also require the CPUC, when it has identified those alternative options, to require each electrical corporation to permit a customer to decline the installation of an advanced metering infrastructure device and make the alternative options available to that customer.
SB 142
Author: Rubio
Topic: Electrical rates.
Committee Location: Assembly Utilities and Commerce
Last action date: 5/3/11; Amended: 3/19/11
The CPUC is responsible for establishing a program of assistance to low-income electric and gas customers, referred to as the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program. This bill would repeal the existing authority of the commission to increase the rates charged to 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. The bill would require that the commission, by June 1, 2012, adjust the rates currently charged customers for electricity usage in order to, over an appropriate transition period, eliminate by no later than January 1, 2015, the current tiered residential electricity rates and adopt new rates pursuant certain ratepayer fairness and equity principles. The bill would authorize the commission to increase the rates in effect for CARE program participants subject to the limitation that the CARE rates not exceed 80% of the corresponding rates charged to residential customers not participating in the CARE program, to be phased in as determined by the commission, in order to moderate the impact on CARE program participants.
SB 343
Author: De Leon
Topic: Energy: efficiency.
Committee Location: Senate Appropriations
Last action date: 6/2/11; Amended: 5/31/11
This bill would require that an unspecified amount of the moneys collected through the renewable energy public goods charge and deposited into the Emerging Renewable Resources Account be used by the Energy Commission for a program for energy efficiency retrofits for commercial buildings. This bill would require electrical corporations to dedicate a portion of the moneys collected pursuant to the public goods charge for energy efficiency programs for low-income electricity customers to a program of grants to be made available on a competitive basis to community-based organizations for purposes of energy efficiency retrofits. This bill would require each local publicly owned electric utility to dedicate a portion of the moneys collected to a program for energy efficiency retrofits of commercial buildings.
SB 410
Author: Wright
Topic: Energy: Public Interest Research, Development, and Demonstration Program.
Committee Location: Senate Appropriations
Last action date: 5/26/11; Amended: 5/16/11
Under the Public Utilities Act, the CPUChas regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The act requires the CPUC to require, until January 1, 2012, an electrical corporation to identify a separate electrical rate component to fund energy efficiency, renewable energy, and research, development and demonstration programs that enhance system reliability and provide in-state benefits. This bill would extend this requirement to January 1, 2022.
RENEWABLES/DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
SB 47
Author: Alquist
Topic: Sales and Use Tax Exemption for Research And Development.
Committee Location: Senate Governance and Finance
Last action date: 3/17/11; Amended: 3/7/11
This bill would exempt from a specified portion of those taxes, the gross receipts from the sale of, and the storage, use, or other consumption of, specified tangible personal property including property purchased for use by a qualified person in manufacturing, processing, or fabricating of property, or use in research and development activities for electric generation among others on and after January 1, 2012.
AB 204
Author: Halderman
Topic: Sales and use taxes: exemption: biomass energy production.
Location: Assembly Appropriations
Last action date: 5/27/11; Amended: 5/24/11
This bill establishes a partial sales and use tax (SUT) exemption for equipment purchased by a "biomass energy facility" for use in its biomass energy production in California. This exemption does not apply to local sales and use taxes from which revenues are deposited into the Local Public Safety Fund, the Local Revenue Fund, or the Fiscal Recovery Fund.
SB 370
Author: Blakeslee
Topic: Energy: net energy metering.
Committee Location: Senate Appropriations
Last action date: 5/26/11
This bill would authorize an agricultural customer-generator with multiple meters to elect to aggregate the electrical load of the meters located on the property where the generation facility is located and on all property adjacent or contiguous to the property on which the generation facility is located, if those properties are solely owned by the agricultural customer-generator, as provided.
SB 372
Author: Blakeslee
Topic: Distributed generation.
Committee Location: Senate Energy Utilities and Communication
Last action date: 4/14/11
This bill would require each large electrical corporation, as defined, and large local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, to identify and designate zones within their service territory that are optimal for deployment of distributed generation, and to provide this information to the CEC by December 31, 2012. The bill would require the CEC, in consultation with the CPUC to develop guidelines for those electrical utilities to utilize in identifying and designating those zones. The bill would require the CEC to review each electrical utility's designation of zones that are optimal for deployment of distributed generation and approve or disapprove the designation of zones made by each electrical utility. The bill would require that, upon approval by the CEC, that each electrical utility make this information available on its Internet Web site.
SB 383
Author: Wolk
Topic: Renewable energy.
Committee Location: Senate Rules
Last action date: 5/27/11; Amended: 5/27/11
This bill would express the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to stimulate the development of eligible renewable energy resources, as defined for purposes of the California RPS Program, by allowing local governments, businesses, residents, and schools to invest in cost-effective, clean, and renewable energy and to create local jobs.
SB 440
Author: Vargas
Topic: Public resources: power facility and site certification: geothermal powerplants.
Committee Location: Senate Energy Utilities and Communication
Last action date: 3/22/11
The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act provides that the CEC has the exclusive power to certify all powerplant sites and related facilities in the state. This bill would authorize a county that has in effect an equivalent certification program approved by theCEC to site a geothermal powerplant of up to 100 megawatts under its program.
Author: V. Manuel Perez
Topic: Endangered Species Act and Renewable Energy Development.
Committee Location: Assembly Natural Resources
Last action date: 3/14/11
This bill would, among other related things: expand the authority of the Department of Fish and Game to include designing and implementing mitigation actions under the California Endangered Species Act for proposed wind and geothermal power plants in the planning area subject to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan; require the department to collect, and an owner or developer of an eligible project to pay, a one-time permit application fee of $75,000 for all or a portion of the department's cost of processing incidental take permit applications; define "eligible project" broadly to mean an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the RPS program; authorize the collection of an additional fee, not to exceed $75,000, from the owner or developer to pay for the cost of any work in excess of the original $75,000 caused by complexity or project delays; expand the definition of eligible projects for the Renewable Energy Resources Development Fee Trust Fund to include wind and geothermal power plants proposed in the planning area subject to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan; and require the Department of Fish and game to enter into planning agreements with appropriate plan participants under specified conditions for the purpose of preparing natural community conservation plans.
AB 721
Author: Bradford
Topic: Solar Energy Systems Definition.
Committee Location: Assembly Utilities and Commerce
Last action date: 4/12/11
This bill would expand the CPUC's definition of an eligible renewable energy resource under the RPS to include a facility that generates, or a renewable energy credit associated with that generation, electricity from an eligible solar energy system that receives monetary incentives.
AB 865
Author: Nestande
Topic: Solar Tax Exemption Extension.
Committee Location: Assembly Appropriations
Last action date: 5/27/11
This bill would extend the active solar energy system exclusion from the definition of "newly constructed" for real property tax assessments through the 2032-33 fiscal year.
AB 915
Author: Fletcher
Topic: California Solar Initiative Modifications.
Committee Location: N/A
Last action date: 2/20/11
This bill would declare the intent of the legislature to modify the California Solar Initiative.
AB 932
Author: Blumenfield
Topic: Renewable energy resources: Renewable Transition Financing Act.
Committee Location: Assembly Utilities and Commerce
Last action date: 5/4/11
This bill would enact the Renewable Transition Financing Act. The act would authorize a financing entity, as defined, to issue green rate reduction bonds, as defined, for the recovery of transition costs, as defined, by an electrical corporation.
AB 1054
Author: Skinner
Topic: Clean Energy Financing.
Committee Location: Assembly Natural Resources
Last action date: 3/14/11
This bill would: add the requirement to the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Authority to administer a Clean Energy Reserve Program that would be developed by the Energy Commission; grant the authority to reduce the costs to property owners of a loan provided by a financial institution that has a loan program that satisfies specified requirements; and, require the authority to report annually specified information regarding the reserve program.
AB 1376
Author: Nestande
Topic: Exemptions from Sales And Use Taxes For production of electrical energy.
Committee Location: Assembly Revenue and Taxation
Last action date: 5/16/11; Amended: 5/2/11
This bill would exempt from taxes for the sale of, or the storage, use, or other consumption of, tangible personal property purchased by a qualified person for use primarily for the production of electrical energy from renewable sources, as specified, and qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a contractor for specified purposes, as provided.
AB 306
Author: Gatto
Topic: Energy: piezoelectric transducers: study
Committee Location: None; Enrolled and presented to Governor
Last action date: 9/20/11; Amended: 8/15/11
This bill would require the CEC to conduct research on generating electricity using piezoelectric transducers under roadways or railways. The bill would require the CEC to collaborate with the Department of Transportation to establish pilot projects that would employ piezoelectric-based energy-harvesting technology, if the CEC determines that the technology has the potential to generate electricity with performance, reliability, and cost projections that are comparable to existing renewable or emerging renewable energy sources. The bill would authorize the CEC to expend the moneys in the Renewable Trust Fund upon appropriation by the Legislature, to implement this research. The CEC would be required to report its findings in the integrated energy policy report adopted in 2013. These provisions would be repealed on January 1, 2015
TRANSPORTATION/GREEN BUILDING
AB 205
Author: Hagman
Topic: Income taxes: New Car Buyer Incentive Act: credit: vehicle registration.
Committee Location: Assembly Revenue and Taxation
Last action date: 5/16/11; Amended: 4/13/11
The Personal Income Tax Law authorizes various credits against the taxes imposed by that law. This bill would, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2010, authorize a credit under the Personal Income Tax Law for qualified costs paid by a taxpayer for the fees charged by the Department of Motor Vehicles for a qualified vehicle (more energy efficient and economical vehicles to benefit the environment of all Californians and does not constitute a gift of public funds within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XVI of the California Constitution).
AB 482
Author: Williams
Topic: Green Buildings
Committee Location: N/A
Last action date: 2/16/11
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to encourage innovation in green building design and natural building that meets or exceeds all existing health and safety requirements.
SB 569
Author: Kehoe
Topic: Electrical and Renewable Vehicle Technology Program: Electrical Work.
Committee Location: Senate Transportation and Housing
Last action date: 3/24/11
This bill would: require the CEC to ensure that projects or programs involving electrical work are creating pathways into skilled, high-paying careers; require electrical work involved in a project or program to be performed by a licensed electrical contractor or a state-certified general electrician working under a licensed electrical contractor; and, require a project or program involving electrical work to include partnership with one or more existing electrical joint apprenticeship programs in the geographic area of the project or program.
AB 371
Author: Butler
Topic: State Motor Vehicle Fleet.
Committee Location: Assembly Business Professions and Consumer Protection
Last action date: 5/3/11
This bill would require the Department of General Services to ensure that all alternative fuel vehicles available for sale in California are listed on the Statewide Commodity Contracts (SCC) list and to enter into public-private partnerships with alternative fuel providers to develop infrastructure to meet the needs of state government and local agency fleets.
AB 523
Author: Valadao
Topic: Ethanol: Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program.
Committee Location: Assembly Transportation
Last action date: 5/2/11; Amended: 3/31/11
This bill would provide that alternative and renewable fuel projects to develop and improve alternative and renewable low-carbon fuels, including ethanol not derived from corn, are eligible for funding. The bill would repeal those provisions establishing requirements for biorefiners to receive loans from the California Ethanol Producer Incentive Program.
AB 638
Author: Skinner
Topic: Fuel resources: State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and State Air Resources Board.
Committee Location: Assembly Appropriations
Last action date: 5/27/11; Amended: 4/13/11
This bill would require the commission and the board to, among other things, adopt policies and regulations to attain the fuel consumption targets set forth in the state plan to increase the use of alternative transportation fuels, coordinate the attainment of the targets with provisions regulating alternative fuels, and assess how future guidelines, regulations and investments affect the attainment of the fuel consumption targets. The bill would require the commission and the board, on or before January 1, 2013, in consultation with other state and local agencies the commission and the board deem necessary, to update a specified economic analysis, develop a strategy for petroleum fuel use reduction and alternative fuel use in specified vehicles, and identify regulatory and statutory barriers to attaining the petroleum fuel consumption targets. The bill would require the commission and the board, commencing January 1, 2014, and triennially thereafter until January 1, 2024, to report to the Legislature on progress in reaching the fuel consumption targets.
AB 650
Author: Blumenfeld
Topic: Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation for the 21st Century
Committee Location: Vetoed by the Governor 9/26/11
Last action date: 9/14/11; Amended: 8/15/11
This bill would establish, until March 30, 2013, the Blue Ribbon Task Force on Public Transportation for the 21st Century. The bill would require the task force to be comprised of 12 members and would require the Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the Assembly each appoint six specified members by January 31, 2012. The bill would require the task force to issue a written report that contains specified findings and recommendations relating to, among other things, the current state of California’s transit system, the estimated cost of creating the needed system over various terms, and potential sources of funding to sustain the transit system’s needs, and to submit the report by September 30, 2012, to the Governor, the Legislature, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, the Senate Committee on Rules, the Speaker of the Assembly, and the transportation committees of the Legislature. The bill would require the task force, for purposes of collecting information for the written report, to consult with appropriate state agencies and departments and would require the task force to contract with consultants for preparation of the report. The bill would require the Department of Transportation to provide administrative staffing to the task force. The bill would appropriate $750,000 from the Public Transportation Account to the department, as specified, to accomplish the purposes of these provisions.
AB 767
Author: John A. Pérez
Topic: State Capital Sustainability Task Force
Committee Location: None; Enrolled and presented to the Governor
Last action date: 9/20/11; Amended: 8/30/11
This bill would establish the State Capitol Sustainability Task Force to coordinate activities with state agencies and the private sector to develop and implement a State Capitol Sustainability Initiative for the State Capitol Building, the Legislative Office Building and the State Capitol Park grounds.
NATURAL GAS
SB 37
Author: Simitian
Topic: Energy: State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission: natural gas.
Committee Location: Senate Appropriations
Las action date: 5/26/11; Amended: 3/14/11
This bill would enact the Liquefied Natural Gas ( LNG) Market Assessment Act and would require the CEC, as a component of the integrated energy policy report ( IEPR), to conduct a study of the need for LNG imports to meet the state's energy demand. The bill would also require the CEC, prior to a lease or permit being issued by the State Lands Commission or the California Coastal Commission to license an LNG facility on the California coast, to update its study of the need for LNG imports at least 60 days prior to a hearing by the State Lands Commission or the California Coastal Commission if the CEC has not issued an integrated energy policy report within 180 days of the hearing.
SB 854
Author: Blakeslee
Topic: Renewable Energy Credits.
Committee Location: Senate Energy Utilities and Communication
Last action date: 4/20/11
This bill would, among other things: require an obligated party to procure an amount of renewable energy credits (RECs) sufficient to demonstrate compliance with the party's renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements; define Obligated parties to include an electrical corporation, electric service provider, community choice aggregator, and local publicly owned electric utility; establish renewables portfolio standards for 6 different compliance intervals, to be calculated by multiplying the obligated party's total electricity sales to California retail end-use customers during the compliance interval by a specified percentage that increases by interval from 20% of sales in January 1, 2012, to 40% of sales by January 1, 2027; require that not less than 50% of the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements be met with bundled RECs; authorize firmed and shaped RECs to be used to meet not more than 50% of the procurement requirements; and, authorize tradable RECs to be used to meet not more than 25% of the procurement requirements.
TRANSMISSION
AB 725
Author: Bradford
Topic: Undergrounding Of Electrical and Communication Infrastructure.
Committee Location: Assembly Utilities and Commerce
Last action date: 4/25/11
This bill would require the CPUC, in consultation with electrical corporations, telephone corporations, and representatives of local government, to open an appropriate proceeding to evaluate whether to amend, revise, or improve its rules for replacing overhead electrical and communications facilities with underground facilities. The bill would require the commission to submit a report relative to its evaluation to the Legislature by June 30, 2012.
