California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 2630

Introduced by Assembly Member Salas

February 19, 2016

An act to add Section 399.23 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 2630, as introduced, Salas. San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy and Jobs Act.

Existing law, the Public Utilities Act, establishes the Independent System Operator to ensure the efficient use and reliable operation of the electric transmission grid. The Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 establishes a target of 50% for the amount of electricity generated and sold to retail customers per year from eligible renewable energy resources, to be achieved by December 31, 2030.

This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission and the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to evaluate potential renewable energy projects on least-conflict lands in the San Joaquin Valley, as specified, and, on or before January 31, 2017, using that evaluation, to recommend to the Independent System Operator an amount of renewable energy production in the San Joaquin Valley that reasonably maximizes, consistent with the state’s overall need for renewable energy, the use of least-conflict lands as identified by the San Joaquin Valley Solar Convening.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the
San Joaquin Valley Clean Energy and Jobs Act.

SEC. 2.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006
(Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health
and Safety Code) established a policy to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020 and to continue reductions
of emissions of greenhouse gases beyond 2020.

(b) The Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015
(Chapter 547 of the Statutes of 2015) established further clean
energy policies to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases and
expand renewable energy to at least 50 percent of total retail sales
of electricity in California by December 31, 2030.

(c) The San Joaquin Valley remains mired in chronic double
digit unemployment, unprecedented rates of poverty, a severe
ongoing drought, and poor air quality.

(d) California’s energy sector is undergoing significant
advancement and transformation driven by evolving regulation,
expanding renewable energy goals, and increasing greenhouse gas
emissions reduction efforts.

(e) While rich in natural resources and clean energy
opportunities, the San Joaquin Valley has largely been left behind
in California’s clean energy revolution. The overwhelming majority
of the state’s new transmission assets have been sited in other
regions, particularly southern California, and renewable energy
investment, jobs, and economic and environmental benefits have
followed grid access.

(f) Unlocking the renewable energy potential of the San Joaquin
Valley by providing more equitable investment in a clean energy
economy should be a key priority of California policymakers.

(g) Timely investment and improved transmission access are
critical to the San Joaquin Valley and will allow the region to more
effectively and efficiently develop clean energy opportunities,
create jobs, and derive cobenefits for disadvantaged communities.

(h) The Governor’s office is nearing completion of the San
Joaquin Valley Solar Convening to identify high potential
least-conflict lands for solar energy development in the San Joaquin
Valley that maximize renewable energy benefits and minimize
environmental biological and habitat impacts.

(i) Development of renewable energy projects on least-conflict
lands will provide for the economically viable and environmentally
beneficial reuse of physically impaired agricultural soils, facilitate
solutions to agricultural drainage problems by retiring marginal
agricultural land from irrigated agriculture, and redirect increasing
scarce surface water supplies from impaired lands to more
productive agricultural land.

(j) As future clean energy investments are planned and
implemented, state officials must ensure an appropriate share is
targeted to improve environmental quality, expand economic
development, contribute to environmental solutions, and create
jobs in the San Joaquin Valley.

SEC. 3.  

Section 399.23 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:

399.23.  

(a) The Public Utilities Commission and the State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission
shall evaluate potential renewable energy projects on least-conflict
lands in the San Joaquin Valley. Evaluation of projects that provide
the following benefits shall be prioritized:

(1) The economically viable and environmentally beneficial
reuse of drainage-impaired agricultural lands.

(2) The retirement of drainage-impaired agricultural land and
facilitation of regional agricultural drainage solutions.

(3) The facilitation of surface water supply redirection from
drainage-impaired agricultural lands to other productive agricultural
land.

(b) Using the results of the evaluation, on or before January 31,
2017, the Public Utilities Commission and the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission shall
recommend to the Independent System Operator an amount of
renewable energy production in the San Joaquin Valley that
reasonably maximizes, consistent with the state’s overall need for
renewable energy, the use of least-conflict lands as identified by
the San Joaquin Valley Solar Convening.