BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1060|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1060
Author: Fox (D) and V. Manual Perez (D)
Amended: 9/6/13 in Senate
Vote: 27
PRIOR VOTES NOT RELEVANT
SENATE BUDGET & FISCAL REVIEW COMMITTEE : 12-0, 9/12/13
AYES: Leno, Emmerson, Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Hill,
Jackson, Monning, Roth, Torres, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: DeSaulnier, Hancock, Nielsen, Wyland
SUBJECT : Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill reappropriates the remaining funding in the
Budget Act of 2012 from the Renewable Resource Trust Fund for
planning grants for renewable energy projects available to
counties in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan
(DRECP) Act.
ANALYSIS : This bill helps ensure close coordination between
local government planning efforts and the continued development
of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, as well as
support renewable energy development in the California desert,
San Joaquin Valley, and San Luis Obispo by reappropriating funds
to the California Energy Commission (CEC) for renewable energy
planning grants in key California counties.
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Background
AB 13 1X (V.M. Perez, Chapter 10, Statutes of 2011) authorized
up to $7 million for CEC to issue grants to fifteen counties to
help them develop policies and regulations to facilitate
renewable energy development. Those counties are Fresno,
Imperial, Inyo, Kern, Kings, Los Angeles, Madera, Merced,
Riverside, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Joaquin, San Luis
Obispo, Stanislaus and Tulare.
The 2011-12 Budget Act appropriated the $7 million to CEC to
provide the renewable energy grants to eligible counties that
applied for them. By the encumbrance deadline on June 30, 2013,
CEC received and approved applications from five counties -
Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, and San Luis Obispo
- for planning grants totaling approximately $3.4 million.
At the end of the encumbrance period, $3.6 in planning grant
funds remained unencumbered. Several counties eligible for the
renewable energy planning grants that did not apply for them
have expressed interest in applying for the planning grants.
This includes Kern County which submitted a letter expressing
their immediate interest in applying for a renewable energy
planning grant and support for reapproriation to CEC of the
remaining $3.6 million in renewable energy planning grant money.
Without renewable energy planning grants, renewable energy
development in the San Joaquin Valley, San Luis Obispo County,
and the counties in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation
Plan area will lack the close collaboration and consistency of
shared planning efforts.
Each of the five counties that received renewable energy
planning grants from CEC began their projects in July 2013 and
will complete their projects by March 30, 2015. As required by
the grant program, each county in the DRECP that will enter into
a grant agreement with CEC also has a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) with CEC. The MOU is a significant
milestone for the DRECP because the MOU formalizes the
participation and engagement of each county in the development
of the DRECP. Counties with an MOU and grant agreement in the
DRECP include: Imperial, Inyo, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino.
Additionally, CEC entered into a grant agreement with the County
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of San Luis Obispo. Though outside of the DRECP, the agreement
with the County of San Luis Obispo is significant and
demonstrates a significant step toward investing state resources
into local processes to meet California's long-term energy and
conservation goals.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/12/13)
Audubon California
California Native Plant Society
Clean Power Campaign
County of Kern
Defenders of Wildlife
Gualco Group
Natural Resources Defense Council
Sierra Club
The Nature Conservancy
The Wilderness Society
RM:nl 9/12/13 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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