Amended in Senate June 8, 2016

Amended in Assembly April 29, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 197

Introduced by Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia

January 28, 2015

begin delete An act to amend Sections 399.13 and 399.15 of, and to add Section 636 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities. end delete begin insert An act to add Article 7.6 (commencing with Section 9147.10) to Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2 of the Government Code, and to amend Section 39510 of, and to add Sections 38562.5 and 38562.7 to, the Health and Safety Code, relating to air resources. end insert

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 197, as amended, Eduardo Garcia. begin delete Public utilities: renewable resources. end delete begin insert State Air Resources Board: greenhouse gases. end insert

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(1) Existing law establishes the State Air Resources Board consisting of 14 members and vests the state board with regulatory jurisdiction over air quality issues.

end insert begin insert

This bill would add 2 Members of the Legislature to the state board as ex-officio, nonvoting members. The bill would provide that the voting members of the state board are appointed for staggered 6-year terms. The bill would require the state board to establish the initial staggered terms. The bill would create the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies consisting of 3 Members of the Senate and 3 Members of the Assembly and would require the committee to ascertain facts and make recommendations to the Legislature and to the houses of the Legislature concerning the state’s programs and policies related to climate change

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(2) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the state board as the state agency charged with monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases. The act requires the board to adopt greenhouse gas emissions limits and emission reduction measures by regulation, and authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based compliance mechanisms to comply with the regulations.

end insert begin insert

This bill would require the state board to consider adopting measures to meet the greenhouse gas emissions limits based on a specified priority. The bill would require the state board to rank all greenhouse gas emissions reduction measures, as specified. The bill would require the state board to make available to the public all data related to the ranking and to provide annually a presentation of the ranking at one of its regular meeting.

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(3) This bill would become operative only if SB 32 of the 2015-16 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2017.

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(1) The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC), in consultation with the Independent System Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all load-serving entities, including electrical corporations, in accordance with specified objectives. The act further requires each load-serving entity to maintain physical generating capacity adequate to meet its load requirements, including peak demand and planning and operating reserves, deliverable to locations and at times as may be necessary to provide reliable electric service.

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The California Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program, requires a retail seller of electricity and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources for specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from those resources achieves 25% of retail sales by December 31, 2016 and 33% of retail sales by December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. The RPS Program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content requirements. The RPS Program requires the PUC, by rulemaking, to adopt a process that provides criteria for the rank ordering and selection of the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources taking into account specified factors and to require an electrical corporation, in soliciting and procuring eligible renewable energy resources, to take specified actions. The RPS Program authorizes an electrical corporation to refrain from entering into new contracts or constructing facilities beyond the quantity that can be procured within the cost limitation of the electrical corporation unless the eligible renewable energy resources can be procured without exceeding a de minis increase in rates consistent with the electrical corporation’s long-term procurement plan.

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This bill would require the PUC, in adopting the process, to include consideration of any statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit established pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and consideration of capacity and essential reliability services of the eligible renewable energy resource to ensure grid reliability. The bill would require the PUC to require a retail seller of electricity, in soliciting and procuring eligible renewable energy resources, to consider the best-fit attributes of resources types that ensure a balanced resource mix to maintain the reliability of the electrical grid. The bill would revise the authority of an electrical corporation to refrain from entering into new contracts or constructing facilities beyond the quantity that can be procured within the electrical corporation’s cost limitation, as specified.

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(2) The Public Utilities Act requires an electrical corporation or a local publicly owned electric utility, in a long-term plan or a procurement plan, respectively, to adopt a strategy applicable both to a newly constructed or repowered generation owned and procured by the electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility to achieve efficiency in the use of fossil fuels and to address carbon emissions.

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This bill would require an electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility, in adopting a procurement plan, to consider any statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit established pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 and consider capacity and essential reliability services to ensure grid reliability.

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(3) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the Public Utilities Commission is a crime.

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Because the provisions of this bill are within the act, a violation of the requirements would impose a state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime.

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(4)  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.

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This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

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(5) This bill would become operative only if AB 645 of the 2015-16 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2016.

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Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program:  begin delete yes end delete begin insert no end insert .

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 Article 7.6 (commencing with Section 9147.10)
is added to Chapter 1.5 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 2 of the end insert begin insert
Government Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

 

Article begin insert 7.6. end insert   Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change
Policies

 

begin insert 9147.10. end insert   

(a) The Joint Legislative Committee on Climate
Change Policies is hereby created. The committee shall ascertain
facts and make recommendations to the Legislature concerning
the state’s programs and policies related to climate change.

(b) The committee shall consist of three Members of the Senate
and three Members of the Assembly who shall be selected in the
manner provided for in the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly.
The committee shall elect its own chair. A vacancy occurring in
the membership of the committee shall be filled in the manner
provided for in the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly. A
vacancy is deemed to exist as to any member of the committee
whose term is expiring whenever the member is not reelected at
the general election.

end insert

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begin insert SEC. 2. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 38562.5 is added to the end insert begin insert Health and Safety
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 38562.5. end insert   

The state board shall consider adopting measures to
achieve the statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits adopted
pursuant to this division based on the following priority:

(a) Measures that result in direct reductions in the emissions
of greenhouse gases from large stationary sources, such as oil
refineries, and the transportation sector in the most technologically
feasible and cost effective manner possible that accounts for the
societal costs of the emissions of greenhouse gases.

(b) Measures that result in direct reductions in the emissions
of greenhouse gases from sources other than those specified in
subdivision (a) in the most technologically feasible and cost
effective manner possible that accounts for the societal costs of
the emissions of greenhouse gases.

end insert

begin insert

begin insert SEC. 3. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 38562.7 is added to the end insert begin insert Health and Safety
Code end insert begin insert , to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 38562.7. end insert   

(a) The state board shall rank all emission reduction
measures adopted pursuant to this part based on both of the
following:

(1) The reductions in the emissions of greenhouse gases, criteria
pollutants, and toxic air contaminants resulting from the
implementation of the measure.

(2) The cost-effectiveness of the measure.

(b) The state board shall make available to the public all data
related to its ranking pursuant to subdivision (a) and annually
provide a presentation on the ranking at a regular meeting of the
state board.

end insert

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begin insert SEC. 4. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 39510 of the end insert begin insert Health and Safety Code end insert begin insert is
amended to read: end insert

39510.  

(a) The State Air Resources Board is continued in
existence in the California Environmental Protection Agency. The
state board shall consist of 14 begin insert voting end insert members.

(b) Twelve members shall be appointed by the Governor, with
the consent of the Senate, on the basis of their demonstrated interest
and proven ability in the field of air pollution control and their
understanding of the needs of the general public in connection
with air pollution problems.

(c) Of the members appointed pursuant to subdivision (b), six
members shall have the following qualifications:

(1) One member shall have training and experience in
automotive engineering or closely related fields.

(2) One member shall have training and experience in chemistry,
meteorology, or related scientific fields, including agriculture or
law.

(3) One member shall be a physician and surgeon or an authority
on health effects of air pollution.

(4) Two members shall be public members.

(5) One member shall have the qualifications specified in
paragraph (1), (2), or (3) or shall have experience in the field of
air pollution control.

(d) Of the members appointed pursuant to subdivision (b), six
members shall be board members from districts who shall reflect
the qualitative requirements of subdivision (c) to the extent
practicable. Of these members:

(1) One shall be a board member from the south coast district.

(2) One shall be a board member from the bay district.

(3) One shall be a board member from the San Joaquin Valley
Unified Air Pollution Control District.

(4) One shall be a board member from the San Diego County
Air Pollution Control District.

(5) One shall be a board member from the Sacramento district,
the Placer County Air Pollution Control District, the Yolo-Solano
Air Quality Management District, the Feather River Air Quality
Management District, or the El Dorado County Air Pollution
Control District.

(6) One shall be a board member of any other district.

(e) The Senate Committee on Rules and the Speaker of the
Assembly shall each appoint one member to the state board who
shall be a person who works directly with communities in the state
that are most significantly burdened by, and vulnerable to, high
levels of pollution, including, but not limited to, communities with
diverse racial and ethnic populations and communities with
low-income populations.

(f) Any vacancy shall be filled by the appointing authority within
30 days of the date on which it occurs. If the Governor fails to
make an appointment for any vacancy within the 30-day period,
the Senate Committee on Rules may make the appointment to fill
the vacancy in accordance with this section.

(g) While serving on the state board, all members shall exercise
their independent judgment as officers of the state on behalf of the
interests of the entire state in furthering the purposes of this
division. A member of the state board shall not be precluded from
voting or otherwise acting upon any matter solely because that
member has voted or acted upon the matter in his or her capacity
as a member of a district board, except that a member of the state
board who is also a member of a district board shall not participate
in any action regarding his or her district taken by the state board
pursuant to Sections 41503 to 41505, inclusive.

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(h) (1) Except for initial staggered terms that shall be
established by the state board, the term of office for the voting
members shall be six years.

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(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), a person who is a member
of the state board pursuant to subdivision (d) shall not continue
as a member if he or she ceases to hold the membership that
qualifies that person to be appointed as a member of the state
board. The membership on the state board held by that person
shall terminate immediately upon ceasing to hold that qualifying
membership.

end insert begin insert

(i) In addition to subdivision (a), two Members of the Legislature
shall serve as ex-officio, nonvoting members of the state board.
One member shall be appointed by the Senate Committee on Rules.
One member shall be appointed by the Speaker of the Assembly.

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begin insert SEC. 5. end insert   

end insert begin insert

This act shall become operative only if Senate Bill 32
of the 2015-16 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective
on or before January 1, 2017.

end insert

All matter omitted in this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in the Assembly, April 29, 2015. (JR11)