BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1198
Page 1
Date of Hearing: August 4, 2010
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1198 (Huff) - As Amended: June 30, 2010
Policy Committee:
UtilitiesVote:12-1
Natural Resources 7-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill:
1)Delays implementation of the California Energy Commission's
(CEC's) television energy efficiency labeling regulations
until July 1, 2011.
2)Makes the CEC regulations effective July 1, 2011 if a Federal
Trade Commission (FTC) labeling rule for televisions is not
effective by that date, and continues the CEC regulations in
effect until FTC final labeling rule is effective.
FISCAL EFFECT
Minor absorbable cost for the CEC to conduct an abbreviated
rulemaking to modify its existing regulations and to respond to
public inquiries regarding the modification.
COMMENTS
1)Background . On November 18, 2009, the CEC adopted television
energy efficiency standards for new televisions offered for
sale in California beginning in 2011. According to the
commission, televisions represent approximately 10% of a
home's electricity use, and the first phase of regulations
would reduce the energy consumption of new televisions by
approximately one-third. A second phase of regulations, for
products sold beginning in 2013, would reduce energy use by
approximately one-half. In addition, the CEC is requiring
labeling for televisions sold in California in accordance with
SB 1198
Page 2
their efficiencyy regulations. The labels must clearly
identify a product's "on" mode power consumption in watts-the
rate at which the product consumes energy.
The FTC's Appliance Labeling Rules require energy disclosures
for a variety of covered products, including home appliances,
lighting, and plumbing products. Prior to the CEC proposing
its own approach to energy-use labeling, the FTC proposed
earlier this year to extend the labeling rule to televisions.
The FTC proposal would require each television to have
specific information, including annual energy costs based on a
uniform electricity rate and on-mode usage rate and 19 hours
per day in standby mode. There is no statutory deadline for a
final rulemaking, but upon final issuance, the labeling
requirements will become effective in six months to allow for
state implementation.
2)Purpose . The sponsors of SB 1198 (Consumer Electronics
Association [CEA]) are concerned that the CEC's requirements
for energy labeling on televisions disregarded the federal
rulemaking already underway. Moreover, CEA notes the CEC's
labeling requirements have presented several interpretation
problems for both manufacturers and retailers, and that the
requirements were not based on a careful approach to consumer
product labeling and thus, for example, included font size
requirements that are impractical in the marketplace.
3)Opposition . The CEC believes that the FTC labels could be
misleading. By conveying operating costs in dollars, compared
with the CEC labels that convey power consumption, the
commission argues that Californians could be misled into
believing a television is cheaper to operate than it really is
due to different energy rate structures across the country.
The CEC states this bill dilutes CEC's standards because the
federal standards are almost always less stringent that
California's.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081