BILL NUMBER: SB 542	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senators Wiggins and Strickland

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2009

   An act to add Section 2853 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to energy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 542, as introduced, Wiggins. Solar energy and energy efficiency
programs.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations, as defined. A decision of the PUC adopted the
California Solar Initiative. Existing law requires the PUC to
undertake certain steps in implementing the California Solar
Initiative. Existing law establishes a surcharge on all natural gas
consumed in the state and upon electricity distributed by the state's
three largest electrical corporations, to fund certain low-income
assistance programs, cost-effective energy efficiency and
conservation activities, and public interest research and
development.
   This bill would require the PUC, 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. The bill would
require the PUC to ensure that the strategy implemented does not
result in any additional ratepayer surcharges, is funded through
existing programs, and is cost effective for utility customers. The
bill would require the PUC to consider, in developing the strategy,
whether synergies exist between its energy efficiency programs and
the solar energy programs of the California Solar Initiative, that,
in the determination of the PUC, can make energy efficiency and solar
investments cost effective for utility customers in multiunit
commercial and residential rental properties.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 2853 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   2853.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares both of the
following:
   (1) Owners of multiunit residential or commercial rental property
that are individually metered or master-metered have little financial
incentive to implement reasonable and cost-effective energy
efficiency improvements and solar energy projects.
   (2) Forty-three percent of this state's residential housing units
are rented, indicating that many housing units and many Californians
are unable to benefit from this state's programs to support energy
efficiency and the use of solar energy.
   (b) By July 1, 2010, the commission shall do both of the
following:
   (1) Develop and implement a strategy to expand the participation
rates of multiunit residential and commercial rental properties in
utility energy efficiency and solar energy programs.
   (2) Prepare and submit a report to the Legislature on the program
developed pursuant to paragraph (1).
   (c) The commission shall ensure that the strategy developed and
implemented pursuant to subdivision (b) does not result in any
additional ratepayer surcharges and is funded through existing
utility energy efficiency programs and the California Solar
Initiative, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 2852.
   (d) The commission shall ensure that the strategy developed and
implemented pursuant to subdivision (b) is cost effective for utility
customers.
   (e) The commission shall consider, in developing the strategy
pursuant to subdivision (b), whether synergies exist between its
energy efficiency programs and the solar energy programs of the
California Solar Initiative, including the low-income provisions of
the California Solar Initiative, that, in the determination of the
commission, can make energy efficiency and solar investments cost
effective for utility customers in multiunit residential or
commercial rental properties.