BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
AB 2614 - John A Perez Hearing Date: June
29, 2010 A
As Amended: May 13, 2010 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Existing law requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to
develop and implement a comprehensive program to achieve greater
energy savings in existing residential and nonresidential
building stock, including energy assessments, cost-effective
energy efficiency improvements, financing options, public
outreach, and education efforts.
Existing law requires the CEC to establish criteria for adopting
a statewide home energy rating program for residential
dwellings, and requires CEC to adopt the program in consultation
with representatives of the Department of Real Estate, the
Department of Housing and Community Development, the California
Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), investor-owned and municipal
utilities, cities and counties, real estate licensees, home
builders, mortgage lenders, home appraisers, and inspectors,
home energy rating organizations, contractors who provide home
energy services, consumer groups, and environmental groups.
This bill directs the CEC, upon enactment of the federal Home
Star Energy Retrofit Act of 2010 (Home Star), in consultation
with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to develop programs
required to complement Home Star by establishing a quality
assurance program, thus ensuring a qualified pool of home energy
inspectors are available to perform energy audits, and that the
requisite audits are performed, and various financing options
are developed.
BACKGROUND
On May 5, 2010, the Home Star passed the U.S. House of
Representatives and has since been referred to the Senate
Finance Committee. The goal of Home Star is to increase energy
efficiency at the residential level and to increase green jobs
in construction and manufacturing. It would authorize $6.6
billion in federal funding to provide rebates to homeowners who
retrofit their homes to achieve energy savings. The proposed
legislation is designed to create jobs in construction and
manufacturing by providing incentives for residential energy
efficiency improvements. Specifically, Home Star is projected to
create almost 200,000 jobs and enable 3 million home energy
retrofits.
Home Star proposes two levels of rebates:
1) A Silver Star retrofit program with rebates of up to
$1,500 per home for energy saving retrofit work such as
air-sealing and insulation measures, duct sealing or
replacement, window or door replacement, heating or cooling
system replacement, and water heater replacement.
2) A Gold Star retrofit program with rebates of up to
$8,000 per home for retrofit work that achieves 'whole
home' energy savings.
Home Star calls for matching funds from the consumer at the
point of installation (i.e. the rebates cannot exceed 50% of the
project cost). To qualify for this program, an energy audit
must be performed. In addition, after the first year, consumers
would be eligible to receive tax credits for whole home
retrofits that meet specified home energy ratings. The tax
credit would allow homeowners to be eligible to receive up to
$8,000 in rebates or 50% of the total retrofit cost. and be
available until the end of 2013.
States that receive funding under the Home Star must submit to
the U.S. Secretary of Energy a plan to implement quality
assurance programs that cover the energy efficiency retrofit
work. In addition, the U.S. Secretary of Energy is to establish
a Home Star Energy Efficiency Loan Program, which is designed to
make funds available to states for energy saving measures under
the Silver Star or Gold Star programs.
COMMENTS
1) Author's Purpose . The author's purpose is to have
California ready to implement the Home Star program
immediately upon enactment so that the state can maximize
and fully leverage the federal resources that may become
available. The programs will help jumpstart the economy by
putting service people to work and employees of
manufacturers back on the job, get more energy efficiency
accomplished, lower the utility bill of the average
residential dweller and leave more money in that person's
pocket to be used driving the economy elsewhere through its
purchase power.
2) Planning Ahead . Because the federal bill has only passed
the House of Representatives, the potential exists that the
final version of the federal legislation will be
significantly different than the current version described
above. Consequently, the provisions of this bill may need
to be reevaluated later in this legislative session. In
the meantime, this bill specifically references the Home
Star program as HR 5019 however a vehicle in the U.S.
Senate is being considered and if the Home Star program is
ultimately adopted it may end up in a completely different
bill. The author and committee may wish to consider
striking the references to HR 5019 and leaving just the
references to Home Star.
ASSEMBLY VOTES
Assembly Utilities & Commerce 15-0
Assembly Appropriations 17-0
Assembly Floor 75-0
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
Author
Support:
ServiceMaster
Oppose:
None on file
Maurice Pitesky
AB 2614 Analysis
Hearing Date: June 29, 2010