BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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                                    THIRD READING


          Bill No:  AB 415
          Author:   Garcia (D)
          Amended:  6/25/13 in Senate
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE ENERGY, UTIL. & COMMUNIC. COMMITTEE  :  8-0, 6/18/13
          AYES:  Padilla, Fuller, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Hill, Knight, Wolk,  
            Wright
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Cannella, De León, Pavley

           SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE  :  Senate Rule 28.8
           
          ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 5/23/13 (Consent) - See last page for  
            vote


           SUBJECT  :    Solar energy:  water heating

           SOURCE  :     California Solar Energy Industries Association


           DIGEST  :    This bill modifies the eligibility criteria for solar  
          water heater incentive rebates to include certification by an  
          accredited listing agency according to standards adopted by the  
          Public Utilities Commission (PUC).

           ANALYSIS  :    

          Existing law: 

          1. Establishes an incentive program to support installation of  
             200,000 solar water heaters by 2017. 
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                                                                     AB 415
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          2


          2. Requires equipment eligible for incentives to be certified by  
             Solar Rating and Certification Corporation (SRCC). 

          This bill:

          1.  Modifies the eligibility criteria to require that the solar  
             water heating systems must be certified by an accredited  
             listing agency according to the standards adopted by the PUC.

          2. Permits the adoption of future standards for the California  
             Solar Initiative (CSI) Thermal program.   

           Comments
           
          In 2007, the California Solar Energy Industries Association  
          (CALSEIA) sponsored AB 1470 (Huffman, Chapter 536), which  
          established the CSI Thermal program focused on solar heating  
          systems.  In order to build a product quality aspect into AB  
          1470, CALSEIA recommended that product certification be tied to  
          the only solar collector and system certifications then in  
          existence, OG-100 and OG- 300, as promulgated by the SRCC.

          In order to address sole-source issues caused by SRCC's recent  
          re-write and re-issuance of its standards under new names, it is  
          necessary to amend that section of existing California code  
          which references obsolete guidelines and has the effect of  
          conferring a monopoly on the performance rating of products  
          eligible for use in existing California programs.  Further, it  
          allows accredited standards developers to produce new standards  
          designed to address the CSI Thermal program's evolving needs.

          FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  Yes    
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  8/12/13)

          California Solar Energy Industries Association (source)
          Ameco Solar
          Aztec Solar, Inc.
          SunEarth Inc.

           ASSEMBLY FLOOR  :  74-0, 5/23/13
          AYES:  Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,  

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                                                                     AB 415
                                                                     Page  
          3

            Blumenfield, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown,  
            Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway,  
            Cooley, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox,  
            Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gordon, Gorell,  
            Gray, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Jones-Sawyer,  
            Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor,  
            Medina, Melendez, Mitchell, Morrell, Mullin, Muratsuchi,  
            Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, V. Manuel  
            Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Salas, Skinner, Stone,  
            Ting, Wagner, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John  
            A. Pérez
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Grove, Holden, Jones, Waldron, Vacancy,  
            Vacancy


          JG:k  8/13/13   Senate Floor Analyses 

                           SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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