BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                              1
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                SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                                 ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
          

          AB 531 -  Saldana                                 Hearing Date:   
          July 7, 2009               A
          As Amended:         June 11, 2009            FISCAL       B
                                                                        
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                                      DESCRIPTION
           
           Current law  requires an owner or operator of a commercial  
          building to disclose energy consumption data to a prospective  
          buyer, lessee or lender based on the United States Environmental  
          Protection Agency's (EPA) Energy Star Portfolio Manager,  
          benchmarking data and rankings commencing January 1, 2010.   
          Electric and gas utilities are required to maintain and disclose  
          the necessary data for the rankings.

           This bill  requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to  
          develop a schedule for disclosure of the data to instead replace  
          the January 1, 2010 trigger.

                                      BACKGROUND
           
          Benchmarking compares the energy consumption per square foot of  
          floor space for comparable classes of buildings or Standard  
          Industrial Code designations.  It is a tool for understanding  
          the relative energy efficiency of buildings.  The Schwarzenegger  
          Administration has been encouraging benchmarking of all  
          commercial and public buildings through his Green Building  
          Initiative and Executive Order S-20-04.  

          The CEC believes that benchmarking will allow building owners to  
          compare their building's energy performance against similar  
          buildings and to see the performance of their own building over  
          time.  Benchmarking was considered in a public meeting of the  
          CEC where it received supportive comments.  They believe  
          benchmarking is cost effective.

          Commercial buildings consume 36% of the state's electricity, the  











          most of any sector.

                                       COMMENTS
           
          The author reports that the federal website intended to  
          facilitate the benchmarking data disclosure required under  
          current law will not, in and of itself, be sufficient to meet  
          the benchmarking mandate of current law by the mandated  
          implementation date of January 1, 2010.  The CEC, under its  
          general energy efficiency authority, is working with the IOUs to  
          bridge the gap between data in the federal website and needs  
          specific to California.  Consequently, flexibility is needed  
          which this bill will provide by directing the CEC to develop a  
          schedule for implementation rather than the specific  
          implementation date of January 1, 2010.

                                    ASSEMBLY VOTES
           
          Assembly Floor                     (77-1)
          Assembly Appropriations Committee  (17-0)
          Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee                       
          (15-0)

                                       POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          Author

           Support:
           
          California Association of Realtors
          California Business Properties Association
          California Chamber of Commerce

           Oppose:
           
          None of file

          































          Kellie Smith 
          AB 531 Analysis
          Hearing Date:  July 7, 2009