BILL NUMBER: SB 1268 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Pavley
FEBRUARY 23, 2012
An act to amend Sections 25411, 25415, 25421, 25443, and 25449.4
of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy, and making an
appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1268, as introduced, Pavley. Energy: energy conservation
assistance.
(1) The Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 requires the
State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, until
January 1, 2013, to administer the State Energy Conservation
Assistance Account, a continuously appropriated account, to provide
grants and loans to local governments and public institutions to
maximize energy use savings. The act defines "energy conservation
measures" to include measures primarily intended to reduce energy
consumption or allow the use of a more desirable energy source. The
act defines "unit of local government" to be a unit of general
purpose government below the state or a special district. The act
requires entities receiving a loan to repay the loan plus interest in
not more than 30 equal semiannual payments with the first semiannual
payment made on or before December 22 of the fiscal year following
the year in which the project is completed. The act authorizes the
commission to borrow moneys from specified entities from proceeds of
revenue bonds issued by those entities. The act requires unencumbered
funds in the account, on January 1, 2013, to revert back to the
General Fund.
This bill would extend the act to January 1, 2028. The bill would
additionally include measures primarily intended to reduce peak
electricity demand as "energy conservation measures" and any
combination of units of local government below the state and special
districts formed for the joint exercise of power as "units of local
government" for the purposes of the act. The bill would provide
instead that the loan repayments be made in accordance with a
schedule established by the commission. The bill would require any
unexpended funds from the proceeds of revenue bonds sold for the
purposes of the act remaining in the account on January 1, 2028 to
remain in the account until all bond obligations have been satisfied
and thereafter revert the remaining unexpended funds to the General
Fund. The bill would require unexpended funds from the federal
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 remaining in the
account on January 1, 2028, to revert to the Federal Trust Fund.
Because this bill would extend the operation of a continuously
appropriated account and would expand the purpose and entities
qualified for assistance from the account, this bill would make an
appropriation.
(2) Existing law establishes, until January 1, 2016, the Local
Jurisdiction Energy Assistance Account to provide funds administrated
by the commission for loans to local jurisdictions to reduce energy
costs. Existing law requires the commission to periodically set
interest rates on the loans based on surveys of existing financial
markets and at rates not less than 3% per annum. Existing law
requires that unencumbered funds in the account on January 1, 2028,
be deposited in the Federal Trust Fund.
This bill would extend the operation of the account to January 1,
2028. The bill would require the act to set the interest rates on the
loans at not less than 1% per annum. The bill, instead, would
require unencumbered funds in the account on January 1, 2028, to be
deposited in the Petroleum Violation Escrow Account.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25411 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
25411. As used in this chapter:
(a) "Allocation" means a loan of funds by the commission pursuant
to the procedures specified in this chapter.
(b) "Building" means any existing or planned structure that
includes a heating or cooling system, or both. Additions to an
original building shall be considered part of that building rather
than a separate building.
(c) "Eligible institution" means a school, hospital, public care
institution, or a unit of local government.
(d) "Energy audit" means a determination of the energy consumption
characteristics of a building or facility that does all of the
following:
(1) Identifies the type, size, and energy use level of the
building or facility and the major energy using systems of the
building or facility.
(2) Determines appropriate energy conservation maintenance and
operating procedures.
(3) Indicates the need, if any, for the acquisition and
installation of energy conservation measures.
(e) "Energy conservation maintenance and operating procedure"
means a modification or modifications in the maintenance and
operations of a building or facility, and any installations therein
(based on the use time schedule of the building or facility), which
are designed to reduce energy consumption in the building or facility
and that require no significant expenditure of funds.
(f) "Energy conservation measure" means an installation or
modification of an installation in a building or facility that is
primarily intended to reduce energy consumption or peak
electricity demand, or allow the use of a more desirable energy
source.
(g) "Energy conservation project" means an undertaking to acquire
and to install one or more energy conservation measures in a building
or facility, and technical assistance in connection with that
undertaking.
(h) "Facility" means any major energy using system of an eligible
institution whether or not housed in a building.
(i) "Hospital" means a public or nonprofit institution that is
both of the following:
(1) A general hospital, tuberculosis hospital, or any other type
of hospital, other than a hospital furnishing primarily domiciliary
care.
(2) Duly authorized to provide hospital services under the laws of
this state.
(j) "Hospital building" means a building housing a hospital and
related operations, including laboratories, laundries, outpatient
departments, nurses' home and training activities, and central
service operations in connection with a hospital, and also includes a
building housing education or training activities for health
professions personnel operated as an integral part of a hospital.
(k) "Local government building" means a building that is primarily
occupied by offices or agencies of a unit of local government or by
a public care institution.
( l ) "Project" means a purpose for which an allocation
may be requested and made under this chapter. Those purposes shall
include energy audits, energy conservation and operating procedures,
and energy conservation measures in existing and planned buildings
and facilities, energy conservation projects, and technical
assistance programs.
(m) "Public care institution" means a public or nonprofit
institution that owns:
(1) A long-term care institution.
(2) A rehabilitation institution.
(3) An institution for the provision of public health services,
including related publicly owned services such as laboratories,
clinics, and administrative offices operated in connection with the
institution.
(4) A residential child care center.
(n) "Public or nonprofit institution" means an institution owned
and operated by:
(1) The state, a political subdivision of the state, or an agency
or instrumentality of either.
(2) An organization exempt from income tax under Section 501(c)(3)
of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954.
(3) In the case of public care institutions, an organization also
exempt from income tax under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1954.
(o) "School" means a public or nonprofit institution, including a
local educational agency, which:
(1) Provides, and is legally authorized to provide, elementary
education or secondary education, or both, on a day or residential
basis.
(2) Provides, and is legally authorized to provide, a program of
education beyond secondary education, on a day or residential basis
and meets all of the following requirements:
(A) Admits as students only persons having a certificate of
graduation from a school providing secondary education, or the
recognized equivalent of that certificate.
(B) Is accredited by a nationally recognized accrediting agency or
association.
(C) Provides an education program for which it awards a bachelor's
degree or higher degree or provides not less than a two-year program
that is acceptable for full credit toward a degree at any
institution that meets the requirements of subparagraphs (A) and (B)
and provides that program.
(3) Provides not less than a one-year program of training to
prepare students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation
and that meets the provisions of (2).
(p) "School building" means a building housing classrooms,
laboratories, dormitories, athletic facilities, or related facilities
operated in connection with a school.
(q) "Technical assistance costs" means costs incurred for the use
of existing personnel or the temporary employment of other qualified
personnel, or both, necessary for providing technical assistance.
(r) "Technical assistance program" means assistance to schools,
hospitals, local government, and public care institutions and
includes, but is not limited to:
(1) Conducting specialized studies identifying and specifying
energy savings and related cost savings that are likely to be
realized as a result of:
(A) Modification of maintenance and operating procedures in a
building or facility, in addition to those modifications implemented
after the preliminary energy audit, or
(B) Acquisition and installation of one or more specified energy
conservation measures in the building or facility, or as a result of
both.
(C) New construction activities.
(2) Planning of specific remodeling, renovation, repair,
replacement, or insulation projects related to the installation of
energy conservation measures in the building or facility.
(3) Developing and evaluating alternative project implementation
methods and proposals.
(s) "Unit of local government" means a unit of general purpose
government below the state or , a
special district , or any combination of that unit and special
district formed for the joint exercise of power .
SEC. 2. Section 25415 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25415. (a) Each eligible institution to which an allocation has
been made under this chapter shall repay the principal amount of the
allocation, plus interest, in not more than 30 equal semiannual
payments, as determined by the commission. The first
semiannual payment shall be made on or before December 22 of the
fiscal year following the year in which the project is completed
Loan repayments shall be made in accordance with a
schedule established by the commission . The repayment period
may not exceed the life of the equipment, as determined by the
commission or the lease term of the building in which the energy
conservation measures will be installed.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission
shall, unless it determines that the purposes of this chapter would
be better served by establishing an alternative interest rate
schedule, periodically set interest rates on the loans based on
surveys of existing financial markets and at rates not less than 1
percent per annum.
(c) The governing body of each eligible institution shall annually
budget an amount at least sufficient to make the semiannual payments
required in this section. The amount shall not be raised by the levy
of additional taxes but shall instead be obtained by a savings in
energy costs or other sources.
SEC. 3. Section 25421 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25421. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), this chapter
shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2013
2028 , and as of that date is repealed, unless a later
enacted statute, which is enacted before January 1, 2013
2028 , deletes or extends that date.
(b) All Except as specified in
subdivisions (c) and (d), all loans outstanding as of January
1, 2013 2028 , shall continue to be
repaid on a semiannual basis, as specified in Section 25415, until
paid in full. All unexpended funds in the State Energy Conservation
Assistance Account on January 1, 2013 2028
, and thereafter , except to the extent those funds
are encumbered pursuant to Section 25417.5, shall revert to
the General Fund.
(c) To the extent required under applicable bond obligations,
unexpended funds from the proceeds of bonds sold pursuant to Section
25417.5 that remain in the State Energy Conservation Assistance
Account on January 1, 2018, shall remain in the account. These funds
shall be expended pursuant to the applicable requirements for bond
proceeds. Once all applicable bond obligations have been satisfied,
unexpended funds shall revert to the General Fund.
(d) Unexpended funds from the federal American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law No. 111-5) remaining in the
State Energy Conservation Assistance Account on January 1, 2028,
shall revert to the Federal Trust Fund.
SEC. 4. Section 25443 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25443. (a) Principal and interest payments on loans under this
article shall be returned to the commission and shall be used to make
additional loans to local jurisdictions pursuant to Section 25442 or
to provide financial assistance to local jurisdictions pursuant to
Section 25441.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission
shall, unless it determines that the purposes of this chapter would
be better served by establishing an alternative interest rate
schedule, periodically set interest rates on the loans based on
surveys of existing financial markets and at rates not less than
3 1 percent per annum.
SEC. 5. Section 25449.4 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25449.4. (a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), this chapter
shall remain in effect until January 1, 2016
2028 , and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute which is enacted before January 1, 2016
2028 , deletes or extends that date.
(b) All loans outstanding as of January 1, 2016
2028 , shall continue to be repaid in accordance with a
schedule established by the commission pursuant to Section 25442.7,
until paid in full. All unexpended funds in the Local Jurisdiction
Energy Assistance Account on January 1, 2016
2028 , and thereafter, except to the extent that those funds
are encumbered pursuant to Section 25443.5, shall be deposited in the
Federal Trust Fund Petroleum Violation
Escrow Account and be available for the purposes for which
federal oil overcharge funds are available pursuant to court judgment
or federal agency order.