BILL NUMBER: SB 771	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 30, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 20, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 13, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  MARCH 22, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Kehoe
   (Coauthors: Senators Blakeslee, Correa, and Harman)

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to amend  Section 26003   Sections
26003 and 26011.6  of the Public Resources Code, relating to
energy.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 771, as amended, Kehoe. California Alternative Energy and
Advanced Transportation Financing Authority.
   Existing law requires the California Alternative Energy and
Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to establish a renewable
energy program to provide financial assistance to public power
entities, independent generators, utilities, or businesses
manufacturing components or systems to generate new and renewable
energy sources, develop clean and efficient distributed generation,
and demonstrate the economic feasibility of new technologies.
Existing law defines "renewable energy" to include  specified
  ultralow-emission  energy generation
technologies.
   This bill would  expand the   revise the
 definition of "renewable energy"  and would additionally
define "ultralow-emission energy"  to include energy generation
based on  natural gas turbines,  landfill gas turbines,
digester gas turbines, microturbines, natural gas engines, landfill
gas engines,  and  digester gas engines  , and
fuel cells that the authority, in consultation with the State Air
Resources Board, determines to meet specified requirements. The bill
would make conforming changes  .
   Existing law requires the authority to provide financial
assistance to eligible projects.
   This bill would revise the definition of "project" to include a
project that utilizes or is designed to utilize alternative source
components.
   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 26003 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
   26003.  As used in this division, unless the context otherwise
requires:
   (a) "Authority" means the California Alternative Energy and
Advanced Transportation Financing Authority established pursuant to
Section 26004, and any board, commission, department, or officer
succeeding to the functions of the authority, or to which the powers
conferred upon the authority by this division shall be given.
   (b) "Cost" as applied to a project or portion of the project
financed under this division means all or part of the cost of
construction and acquisition of all lands, structures, real or
personal property or an interest in the real or personal property,
rights, rights-of-way, franchises, easements, and interests acquired
or used for a project; the cost of demolishing or removing any
buildings or structures on land so acquired, including the cost of
acquiring any lands to which those buildings or structures may be
moved; the cost of all machinery, equipment, and furnishings,
financing charges, interest prior to, during, and for a period after,
completion of construction as determined by the authority; the cost
of the purchase or sale of energy derived from an alternative source
pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 26011; provisions for working
capital; reserves for principal and interest and for extensions,
enlargements, additions, replacements, renovations, and improvements;
the cost of architectural, engineering, financial, accounting,
auditing and legal services, plans, specifications, estimates,
administrative expenses, and other expenses necessary or incident to
determining the feasibility of constructing any project or incident
to the construction, acquisition, or financing of a project.
   (c) (1) "Alternative sources" means the application of
cogeneration technology, as defined in Section 25134; the
conservation of energy; or the use of solar, biomass, wind,
geothermal, hydroelectricity under 30 megawatts, or any other source
of energy, the efficient use of which will reduce the use of fossil
and nuclear fuels.
   (2) "Alternative sources" does not include a hydroelectric
facility that does not meet state laws pertaining to the control,
appropriation, use, and distribution of water, including, but not
limited to, the obtaining of applicable licenses and permits.
   (d) "Advanced transportation technologies" means emerging
commercially competitive transportation-related technologies
identified by the authority as capable of creating long-term, high
value-added jobs for Californians while enhancing the state's
commitment to energy conservation, pollution reduction, and
transportation efficiency. Those technologies may include, but are
not limited to, any of the following:
   (1) Intelligent vehicle highway systems.
   (2) Advanced telecommunications for transportation.
   (3) Command, control, and communications for public transit
vehicles and systems.
   (4) Electric vehicles and ultralow-emission vehicles.
   (5) High-speed rail and magnetic levitation passenger systems.
   (6) Fuel cells.
   (e) "Financial assistance" includes, but is not limited to,
either, or any combination, of the following:
   (1) Loans, loan loss reserves, interest rate reductions, proceeds
of bonds issued by the authority, insurance, guarantees or other
credit enhancements or liquidity facilities, contributions of money,
property, labor, or other items of value, or any combination thereof,
as determined by, and approved by the resolution of, the board.
   (2) Any other type of assistance the authority determines is
appropriate.
   (f) "Participating party" means either of the following:
   (1) A person, or an entity or group of entities engaged in
business or operations in the state, whether organized for profit or
not for profit, that does either of the following:
   (A) Applies for financial assistance from the authority for the
purpose of implementing a project in a manner prescribed by the
authority.
   (B) Participates in the purchase or sale of energy derived from an
alternative source pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 26011.
   (2) A public agency or nonprofit corporation that does either of
the following:
   (A) Applies for financial assistance from the authority for the
purpose of implementing a project in a manner prescribed by the
authority.
   (B) Participates in the purchase or sale of energy derived from an
alternative source pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 26011.
   (g) (1) "Project" means a land, building, improvement to the land
or building, rehabilitation, work, property, or structure, real or
personal, stationary or mobile, including, but not limited to,
machinery and equipment, whether or not in existence or under
construction, that utilizes, or is designed to utilize, an
alternative source, or that is utilized for the design, technology
transfer, manufacture, production, assembly, distribution, or service
of advanced transportation technologies, alternative source
components, or an arrangement for the purchase, including prepayment,
or sale of energy derived from an alternative source pursuant to
subdivision (g) of Section 26011.
   (2) "Project," for the purposes of Section 26011.8, means any
tangible personal property that is utilized for the design,
manufacture, production, or assembly of advanced transportation
technologies or alternative source products, components, or systems.
   (h) "Public agency" means a federal or state agency, department,
board, authority, state or community college, university, or
commission, or a county, city and county, city, regional agency,
public district, school district, or other political entity.
   (i) (1) "Renewable energy" means a device or technology that
conserves or produces heat, processes heat, space heating, water
heating, steam, space cooling, refrigeration, mechanical energy,
electricity, or energy in any form convertible to these uses, that
does not expend or use conventional energy fuels, and that uses any
of the following electrical generation technologies:
   (A) Biomass.
   (B) Solar thermal.
   (C) Photovoltaic.
   (D) Wind.
   (E) Geothermal.
   (2) For purposes of this subdivision, "conventional energy fuel"
means any fuel derived from petroleum deposits, including, but not
limited to, oil, heating oil, gasoline, fuel oil, or natural gas,
including liquefied natural gas, or nuclear fissionable materials.

   (3) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), for purposes of this section,
"renewable energy" also means ultralow-emission equipment for energy
generation based on thermal energy systems such as natural gas
turbines, landfill gas turbines, digester gas turbines,
microturbines, natural gas engines, landfill gas engines, digester
gas engines, and fuel cells. 
   (j) "Revenue" means all rents, receipts, purchase payments, loan
repayments, and all other income or receipts derived by the authority
from a project, or the sale, lease, or other disposition of
alternative source or advanced transportation technology facilities,
or the making of loans to finance alternative source or advanced
transportation technology facilities, and any income or revenue
derived from the investment of money in any fund or account of the
authority. 
   (k) "Ultralow-emission energy" means energy generation equipment
based on thermal energy systems such as natural gas turbines,
landfill gas turbines, digester gas turbines, microturbines, natural
gas engines, landfill gas engines, digester gas engines, and fuel
cells that the authority, in consultation with the State Air
Resources Board, determines will achieve reductions of the greenhouse
gas emissions pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions
Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the
Health and Safety Code) and meet the State Air Resources Board's
certification standards adopted pursuant to Section 41514.9 of the
Health and Safety Code, as set forth in Article 3 (commencing with
Section 94200) of Subchapter 8 of Chapter 1 of Division 3 of Title 17
of the California Code of Regulations. 
   SEC. 2.    Section 26011.6 of the   Public
Resources Code   is amended to read: 
   26011.6.  (a) The authority shall establish a renewable energy
 and ultralow-emission  program to provide financial
assistance to public power entities, independent generators,
utilities, or businesses manufacturing components or systems, or
both, to generate new and renewable  or ultralow-emission 
energy sources, develop clean and efficient distributed generation,
and demonstrate the economic feasibility of new technologies, such as
solar, photovoltaic, wind, and ultralow-emission  equipment
  energy  . The authority shall give preference to
utility-scale projects that can be rapidly deployed to provide a
significant contribution as a renewable energy supply. The program
established pursuant to this subdivision shall include financial
assistance provided pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 26011.
   (b) The authority shall make every effort to expedite the
operation of renewable  and ultralow-emission  energy
systems, and shall adopt regulations for purposes of this section and
Section 26011.5 as emergency regulations in accordance with Chapter
3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title
2 of the Government Code. For purposes of that Chapter 3.5, including
Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the adoption of the
regulations shall be considered by the Office of Administrative Law
to be necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace,
health and safety, and general welfare. Notwithstanding the 120-day
limitation specified in subdivision (e) of Section 11346.1 of the
Government Code, the regulations shall be repealed 180 days after
their effective date, unless the authority complies with Sections
11346.2 to 11347.3, inclusive, as provided in subdivision (e) of
Section 11346.1 of the Government Code.
   (c) The authority shall consult with the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission regarding the financing of
projects to avoid duplication of other renewable  and
ultralow-emission  energy projects.
   (d) The authority shall ensure that any financed project shall
offer its power within California on a long-term contract basis.
   (e) The authority shall ensure that a financed project is limited
to resources that the authority determines support the state's goals
for the reduction of emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the
California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5
(commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code).