BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 626|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 626
Author: Kehoe (D)
Amended: 7/1/09
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE : 11-0, 4/21/09
AYES: Padilla, Benoit, Calderon, Corbett, Cox, Kehoe,
Lowenthal, Simitian, Strickland, Wiggins, Wright
SENATE TRANSPORTATION & HOUSING COMMITTEE : 9-1, 4/28/09
AYES: Lowenthal, Huff, Ashburn, DeSaulnier, Harman, Kehoe,
Pavley, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 11-0, 5/18/09
AYES: Kehoe, Cox, Corbett, Denham, DeSaulnier, Hancock,
Leno, Runner, Wolk, Wyland, Yee
NO VOTE RECORDED: Oropeza, Walters
SENATE FLOOR : 30-1, 6/1/09
AYES: Aanestad, Alquist, Calderon, Cogdill, Corbett,
Correa, Cox, DeSaulnier, Florez, Hancock, Harman, Huff,
Kehoe, Leno, Liu, Lowenthal, Maldonado, Negrete McLeod,
Oropeza, Padilla, Pavley, Romero, Runner, Simitian,
Steinberg, Strickland, Wiggins, Wolk, Wright, Wyland
NOES: Hollingsworth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ashburn, Benoit, Cedillo, Denham,
Ducheny, Dutton, Walters, Yee, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 58-17, 9/2/09 - See last page for vote
CONTINUED
SB 626
Page
2
SUBJECT : Electrical infrastructure: plug-in hybrid and
electric vehicles
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Public Utilities
Commission, in consultation with specified parties, to
evaluate policies to provide fueling infrastructure for
plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.
Assembly Amendments change the date by which the Public
Utilities Commission is to adopt rules from January 1, 2011
to July 1, 2011.
ANALYSIS : In 2006, the Legislature passed and the
Governor signed AB 32 (Nunez and Pavley), Chapter 488,
Statutes of 2006, to establish a statewide greenhouse gas
emissions limit such that by 2020 California reduces its
greenhouse gas emissions to the level they were in 1990.
Existing law authorizes the California Energy Commission
(CEC) to monitor transportation fuel supplies and prices in
California, including publishing a biennial integrated
energy policy report that examines issues of supply,
demand, and supply reliability for transportation fuel.
Existing law charges the Air Resource Board (ARB) with
primary responsibility for the control of mobile source air
pollution, including the adoption of rules for the
reduction of harmful vehicle emissions and the
specification of vehicular fuel composition.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission
(PUC), in consultation with the CEC, ARB, the air quality
management districts and air pollution control districts,
regulated electrical and natural gas corporations, and the
motor vehicle industry to evaluate and implement policies
that promote the use of electric power and natural gas to
fuel low-emission vehicles. The PUC shall report every two
years beginning January 30, 1993, on the policy it and
other agencies implement.
SB 626
Page
3
This bill requires the PUC, in consultation with the CEC,
ARB, electrical corporations, and the motor vehicle
industry, to evaluate policies to develop infrastructure
sufficient to overcome any barriers to the widespread
deployment and use of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.
Specifically, this bill requires the PUC, by July 1, 2011,
to adopt rules to address:
1. Electricity-delivery infrastructure needed to
accommodate the widespread use of plug-in hybrid and
electric vehicles, including the development of public
charging infrastructure.
2. The impact of plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles on
power grid stability.
3. The technical advances needed and the state role in
providing these advances to ensure the widespread use of
plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles.
4. Existing legal impediments to the widespread use of
these vehicles and recommended changes to those legal
impediments.
5. The role the state should take to ensure that
technologies employed in plug-in hybrid and electric
vehicles are harmonized across utility service areas.
6. The impact of widespread use of plug-in hybrid and
electric vehicles on achieving the state's AB 32 goals
and renewables portfolio standards, including what steps
should be taken to address shifting emissions reductions
from the transportation sector to the electrical
industry.
Background
Plug-in hybrid vehicles . Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles
are powered both by an engine that runs on a fuel, such as
gasoline, and an electric motor that runs on a battery,
which is rechargeable by plugging it into an electrical
outlet. With the exception of a small number of
demonstration vehicles, the only plug-in hybrids available
today are conversions of the commercially available
SB 626
Page
4
standard hybrids, such as the Toyota Prius. Plug-in
conversions are reported to obtain approximately 100 miles
to the gallon.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Assembly Appropriations Committee,
one-time special fund costs to the PUC of $110,000 for one
regulatory analyst position to administer and conduct a
proceeding within the allotted 18-month time frame.
SUPPORT : (Verified 9/3/09)
AAA
American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees
California Electric Transportation Coalition
Nissan North America
Plug in America
PowerGenix (Scripps Ranch)
Tesla Motors
Toyota Motor North America, Inc.
Union of Concerned Scientists
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : While various programs of the CEC
and the ARB examine lower carbon fuels and the
infrastructure required to deploy these fuels, the author's
office asserts that the state also needs to examine how
electric vehicle infrastructure will be integrated into the
state power grid. Proponents note that the impact of
plug-in vehicles on California's electric utility systems
and infrastructure could be significant, unless utilities
are able to shift the time that consumers charge them to
off-peak periods. They assert that utilities need to
evaluate potential impacts of large numbers of plug-in
vehicles on their systems and to develop strategies to
address this electrical load. This bill directs the PUC to
begin that process.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Ammiano, Arambula, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Blakeslee,
SB 626
Page
5
Block, Blumenfield, Brownley, Caballero, Charles
Calderon, Carter, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De
La Torre, De Leon, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher,
Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani, Hayashi, Hernandez,
Hill, Huber, Huffman, Jones, Krekorian, Lieu, Bonnie
Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning, Nava, Nielsen,
John A. Perez, V. Manuel Perez, Portantino, Ruskin,
Salas, Saldana, Skinner, Solorio, Audra Strickland,
Swanson, Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Yamada, Bass
NOES: Adams, Anderson, Tom Berryhill, DeVore, Fuller,
Gaines, Garrick, Gilmore, Hagman, Harkey, Jeffries,
Knight, Logue, Nestande, Niello, Silva, Smyth
NO VOTE RECORDED: Buchanan, Duvall, Hall, Villines,
Vacancy
DLW:mw 9/3/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
**** END ****