Amended in Senate April 13, 2015

Senate Bill No. 723

Introduced by Senators Pavley and Roth

begin insert

(Coauthors: Assembly Members Mullin and Williams)

end insert

February 27, 2015

An act to add and repeal Section 454.57 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 723, as amended, Pavley. Energy efficiency: begin delete military end delete begin insert United States Armed Forces end insert bases and facilities.

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 adopt 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 act 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.

This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to encourage electrical corporations and gas corporations to expedite implementation of energy efficiency measures and enable the achievement of additional energy goals at United States begin delete Department of Defense military bases and facilities and United States Coast Guard end delete begin insert Armed Forces bases and end insert facilities.

This bill would require the Public Utilities Commission to approve financial incentives for energy efficiency upgrades at begin delete military end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert bases and facilities begin delete and United States Coast Guard facilities end delete through existing energy efficiency programs administered by electrical corporations and gas corporations. Because a violation of an order or a direction of the commission is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.

This bill would repeal the above requirements on January 1, 2020.

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.

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

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

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:

(a) The United States begin delete Department of Defense and the United
States Coast Guard, end delete begin insert Armed Forces, end insert as the nation’s largest energy
users, are required to comply with laws enacted by Congress,
executive orders, and goals established by military leaders,
including requirements for 3 percent annual reductions in facility
energy intensity, which is measured by energy used per gross
square foot.

(b) The United States begin delete Department of Defense and the United
States Coast Guard end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert are reducing energy demand
through conservation and efficiency. The United States begin delete Department
of Defense and the United States Coast Guard end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert are
improving the efficiency of their existing buildings through
retrofitting, including the use of advanced lighting, heating,
ventilation, and air-conditioning technologies.

(c) The United States begin delete Department of Defense and United States
Coast Guard end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert facilities have leveraged the energy
efficiency programs of electrical corporations and gas corporations
and have used turnkey contracts to facilitate energy efficiency
upgrades while bundling energy and water efficiency, demand
response, and distributed generation.

(d) Additional energy efficiency incentives to assist the United
States begin delete Department of Defense and the United States Coast Guard end delete
begin insert Armed Forces end insert to perform energy efficiency projects will help in
meeting the state’s greenhouse gas reduction goals.

SEC. 2.  

Section 454.57 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:

454.57.  

(a) For the purposes of this section, begin delete the following
terms have the following meanings: end delete begin insert “Armed Forces bases and
facilities” are those establishments under the jurisdiction of the
United States Armed Forces that are classified in Code 928110 of
the North American Industry System and paragraph (4) of
subsection (a) of Section 101 of Title 10 of the United States Code. end insert

begin delete

(1) “Military bases and facilities” are those establishments under
the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Defense that
are classified in Code 928110 of the North American Industry
Classification System.

end delete begin delete

(2) “United States Coast Guard facilities” are those facilities
under the jurisdiction of the United States Coast Guard that are
classified in Code 926120 of the North American Industry
Classification System.

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(b)  begin delete Military end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert bases and facilities begin delete and United States
Coast Guard facilities end delete shall be eligible to calculate their energy
efficiency savings by comparing the facilities’ existing energy
usage, as a whole, with the facilities’ projected energy usage that
would be achieved from the implementation of the energy
efficiency measures.

(c) Through an existing or new proceeding, the commission, in
consultation with the Energy begin delete Commission, the United States
Department of Defense, end delete begin insert Commission end insert and the United States begin delete Coast
Guard, end delete begin insert Armed Forces, end insert shall encourage electrical corporations and
gas corporations, using existing military contracting procedures
or new partnerships with the federal government, to expedite the
implementation of energy efficiency measures and shall enable
the achievement of additional energy goals, for example,
microgrids, demand response, self-generation, and energy storage,
at begin delete military end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert bases and begin delete facilities and United States
Coast Guard end delete facilities.

(d) The commission shall approve financial incentives for energy
efficiency upgrades at begin delete military end delete begin insert Armed Forces end insert bases and facilities
begin delete and United States Coast Guard facilities end delete through existing energy
efficiency programs administered by electrical corporations and
gas corporations.

(e) To the extent that the commission finds that funds in addition
to funds collected from ratepayers are needed to achieve energy
efficiency saving goals in begin delete military bases and facilities and United
States Coast Guard facilities, end delete begin insert Armed Forces bases and facilities, end insert
the commission, in consultation with the Energy begin delete Commission, the
United States Department of Defense, and the United States Coast
Guard, end delete begin insert Commission and the United States Armed Forces, end insert shall
identify other potential sources of funding to supplement funds
collected from ratepayers to achieve those savings goals.

(f)  This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2020, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2020, deletes or extends that date.

SEC. 3.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of
the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within
the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.