BILL NUMBER: AB 197 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 8, 2016
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia
JANUARY 28, 2015
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. 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.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 197, as amended, Eduardo Garcia. Public utilities:
renewable resources. State Air Resources Board:
greenhouse gases.
(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.
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
(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.
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.
(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.
(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.
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.
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.
(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.
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.
(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.
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.
(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.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
(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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. 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 Government Code , to read:
Article 7.6. Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change
Policies
9147.10. (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.
SEC. 2. Section 38562.5 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
38562.5. 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.
SEC. 3. Section 38562.7 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
38562.7. (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.
SEC. 4. Section 39510 of the Health and
Safety Code is amended to read:
39510. (a) The State Air Resources Board is continued in
existence in the California Environmental Protection Agency. The
state board shall consist of 14 voting 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.
(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.
(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.
(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.
SEC. 5. 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. All matter omitted in
this version of the bill appears in the bill as amended in the
Assembly, April 29, 2015. (JR11)