BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 415| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- 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. CONTINUED AB 415 Page 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, CONTINUED 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 **** END **** CONTINUED