BILL ANALYSIS
AB 262
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 262 (Bass)
As Amended April 14, 2009
Majority vote
UTILITIES AND COMMERCE 11-3 APPROPRIATIONS
13-4
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|Ayes:|Fuentes, Buchanan, |Ayes:|De Leon, Ammiano, Charles |
| |Carter, Fong, Furutani, | |Calderon, Davis, Fuentes, |
| |Huffman, Krekorian, | |Hall, John A. Perez, Price, |
| |Skinner, Smyth, Swanson, | |Skinner, Solorio, Audra |
| |Torrico | |Strickland, Torlakson, |
| | | |Krekorian |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+----------------------------|
|Nays:|Duvall, Tom Berryhill, |Nays:|Nielsen, Duvall, Harkey, |
| |Fuller | |Miller |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Provides direction and authorization to the California
Energy Commission (CEC) regarding the use of money received
pursuant to the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 (ARRA) for energy-related activities. Specifically, this
bill:
1)Authorizes the CEC to award grants from funds received pursuant
to the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA) and
ARRA, as well as enter into contracts to perform functions
required to promptly award energy efficiency and conservation
block grants.
2)Increases the percent of the funds received pursuant for the
federal Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant (EECBG)
that the CEC may use for administrative expenses to 10%.
3)Authorizes the CEC to adopt guidelines governing the award,
eligibility, and administration of funding pursuant to ARRA at a
publicly noticed meeting.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
potential significant reallocation of federal EECBG monies from
grants to administrative cost by increasing the percentage of funds
AB 262
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that may be used for this purpose. Based on the $49.6 million
received to date under the program through ARRA, allowable
administrative costs within this allocation would increase by about
$2.5 million.
COMMENTS : AB 262 has been developed in anticipation of the $1.4
billion that California should be receiving under the federal
American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan Act of 2009 directed for
energy-related activities.
Background : The EECBG program was created within the Department of
Energy (DOE) by the 2007 EISA. The goal of the EECBG program is to
reduce fossil fuel emissions. Eligible entities include states,
local governments and Indian tribes. In anticipation of federal
funding that may have been received pursuant to EISA, the
Legislature passed AB 2176 (Caballero), Chapter 229, Statutes of
2008, which required the state to administer the funds in a manner
consistent with federal law and also placed a 5% limit on the
amount of funding that could be used for administrative purposes.
Administrative expenses : EISA limited the amount of EECBG funds
that eligible entities may use for administrative expenses to not
more than 10%. AB 2176 created a more stringent limitation of 5%.
This bill increases the limit to the full 10%.
Implementation via guidelines : This bill authorizes the CEC to
govern the award, eligibility, and administration EECBG funding
through the use of guidelines rather than the regulations that
would otherwise need to be developed in order to appropriate this
funding. The Legislative Analyst's Office noted in their analysis
of ARRA that in order for the CEC to be able to spend the EECBG
funds within the schedule that the federal government has set, they
would need to be able to issue guidelines rather than regulation.
The funds have to be obligated by September 30, 2010.
Analysis Prepared by : Nina Kapoor / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083
FN: 0001222