BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1236| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1236 Author: Chiu (D) and Low (D), et al. Amended: 9/2/15 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 6-1, 6/17/15 AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Pavley NOES: Moorlach SENATE TRANS. & HOUSING COMMITTEE: 8-0, 7/7/15 AYES: Beall, Cannella, Allen, Galgiani, Leyva, McGuire, Roth, Wieckowski NO VOTE RECORDED: Bates, Gaines, Mendoza SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: Senate Rule 28.8 ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/26/15 (Consent) - See last page for vote SUBJECT: Local ordinances: electric vehicle charging stations SOURCE: Author DIGEST: This bill requires each city and county to adopt an ordinance to streamline and expedite the permitting process for electric vehicle (EV) charging stations. Senate Floor Amendments of 9/2/15 add legislative intent provisions consistent with the bill and change a reference to the trade organizations that promulgate EV charging station standards. ANALYSIS: AB 1236 Page 2 Existing law: 1) Authorizes the legislative body of any city, or county to adopt, ordinances to regulate a variety of purposes, such as the location, height, bulk, number of stories, and size of buildings and structures. 2) Requires every city and county to adopt an ordinance, by September 30, 2015, to streamline and expedite the permitting process for small, residential, rooftop solar energy systems. 3) Directs relevant state agencies to develop benchmarks to help support and facilitate the rapid commercialization, of Zero Emissions Vehicles (ZEVs). The order directed these agencies to establish benchmarks to help the state's ZEV infrastructure support 1.5 million ZEVs by 2025. The Office of Planning and Research (OPR) has developed a "ZEV guidebook" to help local jurisdictions plan for increasing numbers of ZEVs. The guidebook offers a number of tools and templates, including a checklist that guides both permit applicants and building department staff through the process of charging station installation. 4) Requires every city, or county to adopt an ordinance that creates an expedited permitting process for small, residential rooftop solar energy systems. These ordinances must be adopted by September 30, 2015. 5) Requires an owner of a commercial, or residential property to approve the installation of an EV charging station, if it meets specified requirements and complies with the owner's process for approving a modification to the property and made a term in a lease of a commercial property executed, renewed, or extended on or after January 1, 2015, void and unenforceable if it prohibits or unreasonably restricts the installation of an EV charging station in a parking space. AB 1236 Page 3 6) Allows cities to own and operate electrical utilities. 7) Establishes the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to provide funding for projects and activities that reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This bill: 1) Requires each city, county, and city and county with a population of 200,000 or more residents to develop an ordinance for an expedited, streamlined permitting process for EV charging stations by September 30, 2016. 2) Requires each city, county and city and county with a population of less than 200,000 residents to develop an ordinance for an expedited, streamlined permitting process for EV charging stations by September 30, 2017. 3) Requires the streamlined permitting process to include a checklist of requirements for EV charging stations to be eligible for expedited review. If a local agency has a website, it must (a) post the checklist and any required permitting documents online, (b) allow applicants to submit the permit application electronically and (c) allow applicants to sign documents electronically unless it states a reason why it is unable to do so. 4) Allows local governments to refer to the recommendations for expedited permitting in the most recent version of OPR's ZEV guidebook. The process may vary to account for unique local conditions including climate, geology, seismology, or topology. 5) Limits the local agency's review of the permit application, AB 1236 Page 4 to whether the application meets all relevant health and safety standards. 6) Requires approval through the issuance of a building permit, or similar nondiscretionary permit, for any application that meets the requirements of the checklist. If the application doesn't meet the requirements, the local agency must provide a list of deficiencies to the applicant. 7) Allows a local agency to require a discretionary use permit for a charging station, if a building official at the agency makes certain findings, including that the proposed installation could have a specific, adverse impact on public health or safety. However, the local agency cannot deny the permit unless it makes findings that there is no way to mitigate the health or safety impacts. 8) Requires the local agency to consult with local fire agencies and, if applicable, the jurisdiction's utility director. 9) Prohibits a local agency from requiring approval by a common interest development (such as a homeowners association) as a condition of a permit. 10)Allows the decision of the local agency's building official to be appealed to the agency's planning commission. 11)Requires an application for an electric vehicle charging station permit in a city, or county that owns and operates an electrical utility to demonstrate that the application complies with the utility's interconnection policy. 12)Requires charging stations to meet standards promulgated by various trade associations, including the Society of AB 1236 Page 5 Automotive Engineers and the National Electrical Manufacturers Association. 13)Allows the local agency to establish a process to prioritize competing applications for expedited permits. 14)Makes findings and declarations, including the Legislature's intent to remove obstacles to the installation of charging stations, so long as it does not supersede building officials' ability to address higher priority life-safety situations. Background As an alternative to gasoline-based vehicles, California has more EVs and the charging stations necessary to fuel them than any other state in the nation. The state currently has over 137,000 EVs on the roads and nearly 12,000 charging stations to support them, according to the Plug-in Electric Vehicle Collaborative and the U.S. Department of Energy. This represents 43 percent of the electric vehicles and about 22 percent of the charging stations in the country. Both EVs and charging stations have grown significantly in recent years, due to a rapidly growing list of state policies that support the adoption of EV technology and infrastructure, beginning with incentives for purchasing EVs and requirements on automakers, to manufacture specified percentages of EVs in relation to their production of conventional cars. To further help communities across the state support their residents and businesses in making the switch to ZEVs, OPR created several resources to help achieve the goals in the Governor's Executive Order, including the ZEV guidebook. According to the ZEV guidebook, local jurisdictions follow several types of permitting processes: No Permit Necessary. A few jurisdictions have characterized the installation of EV charging equipment, as a minor AB 1236 Page 6 improvement and do not require a permit. Permit Required, Online System. Some jurisdictions have invested in online permitting and inspection portals, which reduces the time and paperwork necessary to complete the permit application. The jurisdiction defines what is acceptable to be permitted through the online system. Permit Required, Over-the-Counter (OTC) with Scope-of-Work Only. This process is similar to the online system, except that the electrical contractor deals directly with a city official noting the type of job being completed. There is no detailed overview of the installation and the permit is obtained immediately. Permit Required, OTC with Plan Check. Plan check is defined as a technical review of the installation and will typically require additional documentation from the electrician. In these cases, the permit will be obtained only if the official agrees that the documentation shows an acceptable installation, which can add time and cost to the upfront permit application process. Permit Required, Plan Check. The same technical review occurs, but not immediately. Instead, an official or third-party contractor reviews the documents according to the jurisdiction's process timeline. It is not uncommon for the timeframe to be a few days to a few weeks. Because the permitting process can vary from one local agency to another, some businesses and organizations want to standardize and streamline the process for permitting EV charging stations. Comments 1)Purpose of the bill. The Legislature and the Governor have made it a priority to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas AB 1236 Page 7 emissions in California. Achieving the state's target of 1.5 million ZEVs by 2025 is a critical step towards both of those goals and developing a system of convenient EV charging stations is essential to promoting and accelerating the adoption of ZEVs. Unfortunately, the number of EV charging stations has not kept pace with the number of EVs purchased in the state. Currently, the permitting process associated with installing EV charging stations varies widely across local agencies. Permitting requirements and the time needed to receive the permit differ drastically across local jurisdictions. This results in uncertainty and hinders the ability of prospective EV buyers to understand the administrative burden and the cost of installing EV charging stations before purchasing an EV. AB 1236 equalizes the process for permitting across jurisdictions and simplifies the process of installing charging stations. At the same time, AB 1236 also provides local jurisdictions with flexibility in how they permit EV charging stations. AB 1236 will help lower the cost of installation, expedite permitting, and further expand the infrastructure needed to meet these statewide goals. 2)Home rule. As demand for EVs and charging stations grows over time, cities and counties will adopt best practices for EV permitting based on the needs and experiences of their communities. For local agencies that process very few permit requests, it may not make sense to require them to go through the significant effort to develop a checklist and ordinance when demand for charging stations is low. 3)Too Soon? AB 1236 was modeled very closely upon AB 2188 (Muratsuchi, Chapter 521, Statutes of 2014), which required ordinances for residential rooftop solar installations to be developed by September 30, 2015. Many cities and counties have not yet completed or begun to implement these ordinances. It may make sense to delay action on this legislation until after AB 2188 has been in place for some time, so as to identify any problems with this structure. Prior Legislation AB 2188 (Muratsuchi, Chapter 521, Statutes of 2014) requires every city and county to adopt an ordinance by September 30, AB 1236 Page 8 2015, to streamline and expedite the permitting process for small, residential, rooftop solar energy systems. FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.:YesLocal: Yes SUPPORT: (Verified9/3/15) American Institute of Architects American Lung Association in California California Apartment Association California League of Conservation Voters Chargepoint, Inc. Coalition for Clean Air Natural Resources Defense Council NRG Energy, Inc. Pacific Gas and Electric Company Plug In America SacEV Sierra Club California Silicon Valley Leadership Group Stem, Inc. TechNet Volta OPPOSITION: (Verified9/3/15) California Building Industries Association California Building Officials California Municipal Utilities Association California State Association of Counties City of Burbank City of San Marcos League of California Cities Marin County Council of Mayors and Councilmembers Urban Counties Caucus ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 76-0, 5/26/15 AB 1236 Page 9 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Baker, Bigelow, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke, Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chiu, Chu, Cooley, Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Eggman, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Gallagher, Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Roger Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey, Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mayes, McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte, O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Perea, Quirk, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Santiago, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Bloom, Chávez, Harper, Mathis Prepared by:Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119 9/3/15 18:30:28 **** END ****