BILL NUMBER: SB 16 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 30, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 27, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 12, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 15, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Rubio
DECEMBER 6, 2010
An act to add Section 2099.20 to the Fish and Game Code, relating
to energy, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 16, as amended, Rubio. Renewable energy: Department of Fish and
Game: expedited permitting.
(1) The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish
and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a
list of threatened species, and requires the Department of Fish and
Game to recommend, and the commission to adopt, criteria for
determining if a species is endangered or threatened. CESA authorizes
the department to authorize the take of threatened species,
endangered species, or candidate species by permit if certain
requirements are met. CESA authorizes the department, in consultation
with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission (Energy Commission) and, to the extent practicable, the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Bureau
of Land Management, to design and implement actions to protect,
restore, or enhance the habitat of plants and wildlife that can be
used to fully mitigate the impacts of the take of endangered,
threatened, or candidate species resulting from certain solar thermal
and photovoltaic powerplants in the planning area of the Desert
Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.
Existing law requires the department to collect, and requires the
owner or developer of certain solar thermal powerplants or
photovoltaic powerplants to pay, a one-time permit application fee of
$75,000. Existing law requires the department to utilize the permit
application fee to pay for all or a portion of the department's cost
of processing incidental take permit applications pursuant to CESA.
This bill would require the department to take prescribed
procedural steps regarding applications for certain eligible
renewable energy projects, including determining whether the
application is complete or incomplete, notifying the applicant of its
determination, and approving or rejecting an incidental take permit
application for an eligible project 60 days or less from the date the
application is deemed complete, unless a longer period is agreed
upon by the department and applicant. The bill would require the
department to provide an accounting to the Legislature on incidental
take permit applications for eligible renewable energy projects, and
to report to the Legislature on the extent to which it arranges for
entities other than itself to provide all or part of the
environmental review of eligible renewable energy projects.
(2) This bill would declare that it is to become
operative only if AB 13 of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session is
enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2012.
(3) The bill would also declare that it is to become operative 30
days after the effective date of this act the
bill or 30 days after the effective date of AB 13 of the
2011-12 First Extraordinary Session, whichever occurs later.
(4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Vote: 2/3. 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) It is important to facilitate the permitting of renewable
energy projects that are eligible renewable energy resources under
the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16
(commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division
1 of the Public Utilities Code), including expediting the scientific
evaluation by the Department of Fish and Game of the wildlife
impacts of those projects with special attention to the impacts on
threatened and endangered species.
(b) In imposing statutory deadlines on the review of these
projects, it is important not only for the department to respond more
efficiently, but also important for project proponents to submit
accurate information from which the department can commence a
complete review without being required to obtain further information
in a piecemeal manner.
(c) It is reasonable to expect the department to expedite its
decisionmaking in order to help achieve the renewable energy goals of
the state and create jobs.
(d) The Legislature expects that the department may be inundated
with more than 300 applications for renewable energy projects in this
calendar year because of the increasing interest in renewable energy
projects and because of the investment and tax provisions contained
in state and federal law. It is important to give each of those
applications fair consideration by the department and absent the
provisions of this act the department will simply be unable to
adequately review these applications.
(e) It is the intent of the Legislature to monitor closely the
performance of the department in implementing this act. It is further
the intent of the Legislature that the department use, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, a small portion of the fees
submitted to it by renewable energy applicants to provide the
Legislature with an accounting of the department's review and
decisionmaking process for these permit applications, to evaluate
whether the process has been carried out as efficiently and as
effectively as possible and in furtherance of the department's
statutory responsibilities.
(f) It is further the intent of the Legislature to reevaluate the
performance of the department in two years, and, if necessary, to
consider whether there is a need to enact legislation that would
provide incentives for timely permit decisions by requiring the
department to refund a portion of permit fees in the event that the
department failed to meet permit decisionmaking deadlines.
SEC. 2. Section 2099.20 is added to theFish
the Fish and Game Code, to read:
2099.20. (a) As used in this section, "eligible project" has the
same meaning as defined in Section 2099.10.
(b) (1) At the request of the applicant, the department shall, to
the extent feasible, identify and clarify information that will be
needed in an application for a project subject to Section
2099.10 prior to its submittal to the department.
(2) Within 30 45 days after the
department receives an application for a project subject to Section
2099.10, the department shall determine whether the application is
complete or incomplete and shall notify the applicant of its
determination. If the department determines that the application is
incomplete, it shall concurrently identify and inform the applicant
in writing of the specific information or supporting documentation
that is needed to complete the application currently under review.
The department shall make all reasonable efforts to consolidate its
information request into a single request.
(3) Within 15 business 30 days of
receipt of the information requested of the applicant pursuant to
paragraph (2), the department shall make a determination if
whether the application is complete.
(4) If the department determines pursuant to paragraph (3) that
additional information is needed to complete the application, the
director department shall inform the
applicant in writing of the specific information or supporting
documentation that is needed to complete the application, and the
director, or his or her designee reporting directly to the director,
shall offer to meet with the applicant to review the
application and establish a plan and a timeframe to complete the
application.
(c) The department shall approve or reject an incidental take
permit application for an eligible project 60 days or less from the
date the application is deemed complete, unless a longer period is
agreed upon by the department and the applicant. If the department
has not made a determination within 45 days to approve or reject
the application , the director , or his or her designee
reporting directly to the director, shall offer to meet with
the applicant to review the status of the application.
(d) Subdivision (c) does not apply to projects that the department
determines are eligible to obtain an incidental take permit pursuant
to Section 2080.1, in which case the department shall approve or
reject an incidental take permit application for these projects
within 150 days after the application is deemed complete.
within 30 days after the issuance of the federal
permit.
(e) (1) By January 1, 2014, the department shall provide an
accounting to the Legislature on incidental take permit applications
for eligible projects. This accounting shall include, but shall not
be limited to, all of the following:
(A) The number of applications that have been received.
(B) The number of applications that have been approved, rejected,
or withdrawn.
(C) The type and nature of the incidental take permits sought,
including, but not limited to, the number of acres in each permit,
the location of the project, the list of endangered or threatened
species and whether the species were state or federally listed, the
land ownership, the other permits involved in the project during the
permit review period and which agencies were involved, and any
relevant special resource issues.
(D) The time that elapsed between when a permit was deemed
complete and when it was approved, if the permit was approved.
(E) The staff time spent on each permit.
(F) Other information determined by the department to be relevant
in assessing whether the permit approval process, including the
deadlines prescribed by this section, provide for an efficient review
process in furtherance of the department's statutory obligations.
(2) By January 1, 2012, and annually thereafter for two years
until 2014, the department shall report to the Legislature on the
extent to which it arranges for entities other than itself to provide
all or part of the environmental review of eligible projects. The
2014 report may be combined with the report described in paragraph
(1).
(3) A report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
(4) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this
subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2016.
SEC. 3. This act shall become operative only if Assembly Bill 13
of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session is enacted and takes
effect on or before January 1, 2012.
SEC. 4. The This act shall become
operative 30 days after the effective date of this act or 30 days
after the effective date of Assembly Bill 13 of the 2011-12 First
Extraordinary Session, whichever occurs later.
SEC. 5. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to expedite permitting of needed renewable energy
projects as soon as possible, it is necessary for this act to take
effect immediately.