BILL NUMBER: AB 644 INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blumenfield FEBRUARY 16, 2011 An act to add Chapter 6.2 (commencing with Section 25550) to Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 644, as introduced, Blumenfield. Energy: renewable energy facility: siting. (1) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission with the exclusive jurisdiction to certify the siting of a thermal powerplant with a generation capacity of 50 megawatts or more. Under existing law, a powerplant not under the jurisdiction of the commission is regulated by local jurisdictions through their land use authority. This bill would require the commission, in consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the Department of Conservation, to establish criteria for identifying land with a high potential for use as a site of a renewable energy generation facility with a generation capacity of less than 50 megawatts in 3 specific types of parcels and to prepare a list identifying lands meeting the criteria. 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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Renewable energy promotes economic development and provides opportunities to stimulate the creation of jobs for Californians. (b) California is seeking to increase renewable power generation to help achieve the state's climate change goals required by the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code). (c) The state has been seeking to revitalize and recycle brownfields and provide for beneficial uses for closed landfills and unproductive farmland that does not have access to water. (d) Closed landfills and brownfields present a unique opportunity for siting solar energy on land that has few reuses and is often located close to roads and transmission lines. (e) By identifying brownfields, closed landfills, and unproductive farmland that does not have access to water and creating incentives to use the land for renewable energy generation, the state could put the land with limited reuses to beneficial use while preserving undisturbed lands and advancing renewable energy generation goals. SEC. 2. Chapter 6.2 (commencing with Section 25550) is added to Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, to read: CHAPTER 6.2. RENEWABLE ENERGY SITING 25550. The commission, in consultation with the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, and the Department of Conservation, shall do both of the following: (a) Establish criteria for identifying land with a high potential for use as a site for a renewable generation facility with a generation capacity of less than 50 megawatts of electricity in the following types of parcels: (1) Closed landfill. (2) Brownfield. (3) Degraded agricultural land with no access to water. (b) Prepare a list that identifies lands that meet the criteria developed pursuant to subdivision (a).