BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 13X1|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 13X1
Author: V. Manuel P�rez (D), et al.
Amended: 7/7/11 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE NATURAL RES. AND WATER COMMITTEE : 5-3, 4/12/11
AYES: Pavley, Evans, Kehoe, Padilla, Wolk
NOES: La Malfa, Cannella, Fuller
NO VOTE RECORDED: Simitian
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 6-3, 7/6/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Lieu, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 58-15, 3/7/11 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Energy: renewable resources: endangered
species: environmental impact reports
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill expands existing permitting
requirements for renewable energy projects to additional
types of renewable energy projects, and requires the Energy
Commission to provide grants to local governments for
renewable energy planning efforts.
Senate Floor Amendments of 7/7/11 increase reporting
accountability for the use of permit application fees, and
reduce restrictions on the use of California Energy
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Commission grants.
ANALYSIS : Under current law, thermal power plants with a
capacity over 50 megawatts are licensed by the Energy
Commission (CEC).
Current law requires the state's investor owned electricity
utilities and load serving entities to increase their
procurement of renewable energy by one percent per year,
such that twenty percent of their total electricity load
comes from renewable resources by December 31, 2010. This
requirement is referred to as the Renewable Portfolio
Standard. All three of the state's investor owned
utilities are behind in their procurement of renewable
resources, in part because of a lack of transmission
infrastructure from areas with potential renewable
resources. (SB 2X1 �Simitian], Chapter 1, Statutes of
2011-12, First Extraordinary Session, extends this
requirement to requires 33 percent renewable energy sources
by 2020. That bill has been signed by Governor Brown and
will go into effect 60 days after the close of the First
Extraordinary Session of 2011.)
SB 34X8 (Padilla), Chapter 9,Statutes of 2009-10, Eighth
Extraordinary Session, makes several changes to the process
for permitting certain solar thermal energy projects that
are eligible for funding under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and would be located in the
Colorado and Mojave desert regions of the state. SB 34X8
requires project applicants to pay a fee of $75,000 to the
DFG for review of incidental take permit applications. SB
34X8 also directs the DFG to develop interim mitigation
strategies for species conservation in the desert region of
the state and authorizes project developers to pay "in
lieu" fees the DFG to meet a project's Endangered Species
Act mitigation obligations. (In other words, project
applicants could pay the DFG to undertake mitigation
activities required by the Endangered Species Act, rather
than undertaking the mitigation themselves. This would
meet project applicants' mitigation responsibilities under
state law, but not federal law.)
SB 34X8 also authorizes specified project applicants to pay
discretionary fees to the CEC, to be used by the CEC to pay
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third party contractors to assist in the review of
licensing applications for eligible renewable energy
projects. The intent of this provision is to speed up the
licensing process, by allowing the CEC to augment staff
resources with consultants, at the applicant's cost.
This bill:
1. Expands the authority granted under SB 34X8 for the use
of interim
mitigation projects and "in lieu" fees, by adding wind
and geothermal energy projects in the Mojave and
Colorado Desert regions of the state, and for projects
that either are eligible for ARRA or have a complete
application by December 31, 2011.
2. Extends the authority for renewable energy project
developers subject to licensing requirements by the CEC
to pay voluntary fees to allow the CEC to hire outside
consultants to assist with licensing review.
3. Requires developers of renewable energy projects
anywhere in the state that are subject to the
Endangered Species Act to pay fees to DFG for permit
review on a sliding scale from $25,000 to $75,000 based
on project size. The DFG is also authorized to require
additional fees to cover its actual costs to review an
application, up to a maximum of $200,000. For projects
that are licensed by the CEC, this bill specifies that
the DFG's costs for permit review will be paid from fees
imposed by the CEC for project review (currently capped
in statute at $750,000 per project).
4. Includes a sunset date of January 1, 2016 on the
requirement that developers of renewable energy projects
pay fees to DFG and makes the section of the bill
imposing those fees contingent on the enactment of SB 16
(Rubio), 2011-12 Session.
5. Appropriates $6,000,000 from the Fish and Game
Preservation Fund to DFG, to allow it to spend the fee
revenues collected under the bill.
6. Requires the CEC, upon appropriation of the Legislature,
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to provide up to $7,000,000 in planning grants to
specified counties in the San Joaquin Valley and
southern California, for planning activities to
accommodate future renewable energy projects.
The DFG indicates that about 120 proposed projects may meet
these criteria. Thus this bill results in projected
revenues of at least $6 million to the DFG over the next
several years, with the potential for additional revenues
based on the DFG's actual costs.
Because this bill directs the CEC to pay for the DFG's
permitting costs related to projects that also need
licensing by the CEC, this bill will result in increased
costs to the CEC. Because most renewable energy projects
are not licensed by the CEC, this requirement will likely
only apply to a small share of potential renewable energy
projects. The total amount of that revenue loss is
unknown, but likely to be in the hundreds of thousands.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: Yes Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
Major Provisions 2011-12 2012-13 2013-14 Fund
New fee revenues At least ($6,000) over the next few
years Special*
Appropriation for review $6,000 Special*
of permit applications
Interagency transfer for Likely costs in the hundreds
of Special** permit review
thousands
Planning grants $7,000
General***
* Fish and Game Preservation Fund.
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** Energy Facility License and Compliance Fund.
*** Energy Resources Program Account or Renewable
Resources Trust Fund.
SUPPORT : (Verified 7/6/11 - previous version)
Brawley Inn
Geothermal Energy Association
Global ReEnergy
Imperial Valley College
Independent Energy Producers
Natural Resources Defense Council
Noble and Company
Suneco Energy
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : Virtually all of the supporters
mentioned that the expansion of the existing law to cover
additional technologies, the provision for local planning
grants, and the anticipation that the renewable energy
development in the desert will help alleviate high
unemployment rates are what caused them to support this
bill.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 58-15, 3/7/11
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall,
Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Eng,
Feuer, Fletcher, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Galgiani,
Gatto, Gordon, Grove, Hall, Hayashi, Roger Hern�ndez,
Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Knight, Lara,
Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Mitchell, Monning,
Nestande, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez, Portantino,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Torres, Wieckowski, Yamada
NOES: Conway, Garrick, Hagman, Halderman, Harkey, Jones,
Logue, Mansoor, Miller, Morrell, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen,
Valadao, Wagner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Donnelly, Gorell, Silva, Swanson,
Williams, John A. P�rez, Vacancy
CTW:kc 7/8/11 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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