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).