BILL NUMBER: SB 675 VETOED DATE: 09/30/2010 To the Members of the California State Senate: I am returning Senate Bill 675 without my signature. SB 675 would allocate funds from the California Energy Commission's (Commission) Energy Resource Programs Account (ERPA) to the California Department of Education (CDE) for developing and maintaining programs that focus on employment and training for energy or water conservation, renewable energy, pollution reduction, or similar technologies. Throughout my tenure as Governor, I have been a staunch supporter of increasing career-tech education opportunities for our young men and women. I continue to believe that career-tech education has a vital role to play in helping to develop and sustain California's students and our emerging green economy. Nonetheless, given the current uses of the ERPA account at the Commission and the precariously low balance in that fund, this bill would require the Commission to increase the surcharge on electricity users throughout California to pay for its provisions. And even after doing so, the Commission would still be required in the future to cut its core programs to pay for this bill, including those related to power plant licensing, renewable energy facility licensing, and energy efficiency. More importantly, I will not support increasing the surcharge on electricity users to fund a K-12 Education program. To do so would start a dangerous precedent for finding unrelated revenue sources to fund, expand, or create K-12 programs outside of the Proposition 98 guarantee. Additionally, the bill only gives a minor role to the Commission in developing the guidelines for the program. Just as the Commission is not an expert in navigating our state's complex education system, neither are CDE employees proficient in the emerging technologies and future of our green economy. As such, the Commission should be CDE' s partner in putting together this program so as to provide our students with the right skills to enter our green economy. If the program included in this bill was wholly funded using Proposition 98 dollars and a greater role was given to the Commission to develop guidelines in cooperation with the Department of Education, I would sign it. Sincerely, Arnold Schwarzenegger