Amended in Assembly April 21, 2014

Amended in Assembly March 28, 2014

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2137

Introduced by Assembly Member Quirk

February 20, 2014

An act to add begin delete Chapter 5.10 (commencing with Section 25499) to Division 15 of the Public Resources end delete begin insert Section 12098.9 to the Government Code, and to add Section 323.5 to the Public Utilities end insert Code, relating to energy efficiency.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2137, as amended, Quirk. begin delete Small Business Energy Efficiency Incentive Program. end delete begin insert Energy efficiency programs: information available for small businesses. end insert

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Existing law creates the Office of Small Business Advocate within the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development. Existing law establishes the duties and functions of the advocate, which include advisory participation in the consideration of all legislation and administrative regulations that affect small businesses. Existing law also requires the office to post specified information on its Internet Web site, including information about emergency preparedness, responses, and recovery strategies for small businesses and information regarding programs administered through the statewide network of small business financial development corporations.

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This bill would require the office to develop and maintain on its Internet Web site a section dedicated to all of the energy efficiency programs that are available to small businesses within the state.

end insert begin insert

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities Commission to review and accept, modify, or reject a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires that an electrical corporation’s proposed procurement plan include certain elements, including a showing that the electrical corporation will first meet its unmet needs through all available energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for electrical corporations to achieve pursuant to their procurement plan. The Public Utilities Act additionally requires the Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective natural gas efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for gas corporations to achieve and requires that a gas corporation first meet its unmet resource needs through all available gas efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible.

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This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to develop and maintain on its Internet Web site a section dedicated to all of the electrical corporation and gas corporation energy efficiency programs that are available to small businesses within the state, which emphasizes energy efficiency measures that are likely to be of most interest to small businesses. The bill would require the Public Utilities Commission, when available, to include hyperlink or URL connections to electrical corporation and gas corporation Internet Web sites that enable users of the Internet to directly access available information on those utility Internet Web sites.

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Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to administer various programs to provide incentives to specified entities for energy efficiency projects. Existing law requires the commission to establish incentives in the form of specified financial assistance for, among other entities, small businesses for constructing and retrofitting buildings to be more energy efficient by using, among other things, products certified by the commission as energy efficient zone heating products. Existing law also requires the commission to establish minimum levels of operating efficiency for appliances.

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This bill would require the commission to establish the Small Business Energy Efficiency Incentive Program to provide rebates to small business for eligible equipment, as defined, that meets the appliance efficiency standards established by the commission and reduces the electricity usage of the small business. The bill would establish the Small Business Energy Efficiency Incentive Program Fund in the State Treasury and would require the moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to be expended by the commission for the purposes of the program. The bill would require the commission to identify excess moneys available for energy efficiency programs that it administers and would require those excess moneys be transferred to the fund.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert The Legislature finds and declares all the
following: end insert

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(a) Helping small businesses become more energy efficient can
help California reduce energy consumption and thereby help in
reducing emissions of greenhouse gases throughout the state.

end insert begin insert

(b) Small businesses are the backbone of California’s economic
prosperity.

end insert begin insert

(c) Maximizing the energy efficiency programs the state,
electrical corporations, gas corporations, and local publicly owned
electric and gas utilities offer can help small businesses become
more productive and assist in reducing electrical demand during
peak demand periods.

end insert begin insert

(d) To better serve the public, and to benefit the state, the state
shall promote and facilitate the fullest possible participation of
small businesses to benefit from energy efficiency programs run
by the state, as well as any programs of an electrical corporation,
gas corporation, or local publicly owned electric or gas utility.

end insert

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 12098.9 is added to the end insert begin insert Government Code end insert begin insert , to
read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 12098.9. end insert   

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms
have the following meanings:

(1) “Energy efficiency programs” mean all energy efficiency,
energy conservation, energy savings, or weatherization programs
of the state or a local government, electrical corporations, gas
corporations, or a local publicly owned electric or gas utility.

(2) “Electrical corporation,” “gas corporation,” and “local
publicly owned electric utility” have the same meanings as
respectively defined in Sections 218, 222, and 224.3 of the Public
Utilities Code. “Local publicly owned gas utility” includes the
gas departments of the City of Long Beach and the City of Palo
Alto.

(3) “Small business” has the same meaning as defined in Section
14837.

(b) In order to educate small business owners of the availability
of various programs promoting the efficient use of energy, the
office shall develop and maintain on its Internet Web site a section
dedicated to all of the energy efficiency programs that are available
to small businesses within the state. The office shall consult with
the Public Utilities Commission, the State Energy Resources
Conservation and Development Commission, and local publicly
owned electric and gas utilities in developing the information to
include on its Internet Web site.

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begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 323.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Public Utilities Code end insert begin insert , to
read: end insert

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begin insert 323.5. end insert   

(a) For purposes of this section, the following terms
have the following meanings:

(1) “Energy efficiency programs” mean all energy efficiency,
energy conservation, energy savings, or weatherization programs
of electrical corporations or gas corporations subject to direction
and supervision by the commission.

(2) “Hyperlink” means a special Hypertext Markup Language
(HTML) code that allows text or graphics to serve as a link that,
when clicked on, takes a user to another place in the same
document, to another document, or to another Internet Web site
or Web page.

(3) “Small business” has the same meaning as defined in Section
14837 of the Governmental Code.

(4) “Uniform Resource Locator” or “URL” means the address
of an Internet Web site or the location of a resource on the World
Wide Web that allows a browser to locate and retrieve the Internet
Web site or the resource.

(b) In order to educate small business owners of the availability
of various electrical corporation and gas corporation programs
promoting the efficient use of electricity and natural gas, the
commission shall develop and maintain on its Internet Web site a
section dedicated to all of the energy efficiency programs that are
available to small businesses within the state, which emphasizes
energy efficiency measures that are likely to be of most interest to
small businesses. Where available, the commission shall include
hyperlink or URL connections to electrical corporation and gas
corporation Internet Web sites that enable users of the Internet to
directly access available information on those utility Internet Web
sites.

(c) (1) Nothing in this section limits the authority of the
commission to make information relative to energy efficiency
programs available to other target audiences in addition to small
businesses.

(2) Nothing in this section limits the authority of the commission
to make information specially available to small businesses relative
to other public utility programs that may be of special interest to
small businesses.

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SECTION 1.  

Chapter 5.10 (commencing with Section 25499)
is added to Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, to read:

 

Chapter  5.10. Small Business Energy Efficiency Incentive
Program

 

25499.  

(a) For purposes of this chapter, “eligible equipment”
means an electric or gas product that supports the day-to-day
operation of a business.

(b) The commission shall establish the Small Business Energy
Efficiency Incentive Program to provide rebates to small businesses
for the purchase of eligible equipment that meets the energy
efficiency standards established pursuant to subdivision (c) of
Section 25402 and decreases the electricity usage of the small
business.

(c) The commission, in consultation with the Governor’s Office
of Business and Economic Development, shall develop an
investment strategy to allocate funds appropriated for the purpose
of this program.

(d) (1) There is hereby established in the State Treasury the
Small Business Energy Efficiency Incentive Program Fund.
Moneys in the fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, shall
be expended by the commission for the purpose of this chapter.

(2) The commission shall identify excess moneys available for
energy efficiency programs it administers and, to the extent not
inconsistent with federal law or the California Constitution, shall
transfer those excess moneys to the Small Business Energy
Efficiency Incentive Program Fund to be available for
appropriation.

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