BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair

                                           1340 (Kehoe)
          
          Hearing Date:  05/10/2010           Amended: 04/22/2010
          Consultant:  Brendan McCarthy   Policy Vote: T&H 6-1, EQ5-0
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          ____
          BILL SUMMARY: SB 1340 authorizes the California Energy  
          Commission to provide financial assistance, under an existing  
          program, for electricity infrastructure upgrades needed for  
          residential home owners to charge hybrid or electric vehicles.
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          ____
                            Fiscal Impact (in thousands)

           Major Provisions         2010-11      2011-12       2012-13     Fund
           
          Developing grant criteria         Up to $140            Special  
          *

          * Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Fund.
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          ____

          STAFF COMMENTS: 
          
          Under current law (AB 118, Nunez, Chapter 750, Statutes of  
          2007), the California Energy Commission is authorized to provide  
          grants, loans, or loan guarantees to develop and deploy  
          innovative transportation technologies. The purpose of this  
          program is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions from  
          transportation in the state. Current law authorizes the Energy  
          Commission to provide financial assistance for a variety of  
          processes and technologies, including: low-carbon fuels,  
          alternative and renewable fuel infrastructure, retrofits of  
          heavy duty vehicles to reduce emissions, workforce training  
          programs, and other uses. The program is supported primarily by  
          fees on vehicle registrations, plus $10 million per year in  
          electricity ratepayer funds from the Public Interest Research,  
          Development and Demonstration Fund. In the 2010-11 budget year,  
          the Commission proposes to spend $108 million in this program.

          SB 1340 authorizes the Energy Commission to provide financial  
          assistance for a cost-effective program to provide funding to  










          residential homeowners to upgrade their electrical  
          infrastructure, in order to facilitate charging plug-in hybrid  
          or electric vehicles.

          The bill also deletes an obsolete code reference.

          The Energy Commission has interpreted current law to allow it to  
          provide financial assistance to homeowners for electricity  
          upgrades, as the Energy Commission considers this alternative  
          fuel infrastructure. Thus the bill does not impose any cost  
          pressure to provide additional financial assistance.

          However, because the bill requires financial assistance for  
          residential electricity system upgrades to be cost effective,  
          the Energy Commission anticipates some additional workload to  
          develop criteria for cost effectiveness before grants could be  
          made under the bill. Staff estimates this will require up to  
          $140,000 over one year.