BILL NUMBER: AB 1073 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 23, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 12, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 16, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Fuentes
FEBRUARY 18, 2011
An act to add Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 8390) to
Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities amend Section
25500.1 of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy
efficiency , and declaring the urgency
thereof, to take effect immediately .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1073, as amended, Fuentes. Electrical corporation
energy efficiency programs: application requirements.
Energy: solar thermal powerplants: conversion to solar photovoltaic
technology.
(1) Existing law vests the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission with the exclusive jurisdiction to certify
thermal powerplants. Under the California Environmental Quality Act
(CEQA), the certification of a thermal powerplant is a certified
regulatory program and is therefore exempt from certain requirements
of CEQA. A thermal powerplant does not include a solar photovoltaic
electrical generating facility. However, existing law provides that
the thermal powerplant certification process applies to owners of
specified proposed solar thermal powerplants who are proposing to
convert the proposed facility from solar thermal technology to solar
photovoltaic technology if the proposed solar thermal powerplant
project has been certified by the commission. Existing law provides
that the thermal powerplant certification process does not apply to
the proposed conversion if the certification of the proposed solar
thermal powerplant was timely challenged.
This bill would provide that the thermal powerplant certification
process would apply to a proposed conversion of a solar thermal
powerplant that was timely challenged if the challenge was
subsequently dismissed by the California Supreme Court.
(2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities
Act requires the PUC to review and adopt a procurement plan for each
electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements,
incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act requires that an
electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan include certain
elements, including a showing that the electrical corporation will
first meet its unmet needs through all available energy efficiency
and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and
feasible. The act requires the PUC, in consultation with the State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy
Commission), to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective
electricity efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets
for electrical corporations to achieve pursuant to their procurement
plan. The act additionally requires the PUC, in consultation with the
Energy Commission, to identify all potentially achievable
cost-effective natural gas efficiency savings and to establish
efficiency targets for a gas corporation to achieve and requires that
a gas corporation first meet its unmet resource needs through all
available natural gas efficiency and demand response resources that
are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Existing law, adopted as
part of electrical restructuring and continued in the Reliable
Electric Service Investments Act, requires the PUC to supervise the
administration of certain low-income energy efficiency programs, in
consultation with the Low-Income Oversight Board, funded through a
nonbypassable charge upon distribution. The PUC has approved various
energy efficiency programs by electrical corporations and gas
corporations.
Existing law requires that a local publicly owned electric
utility, in procuring energy to serve the load of its retail end-use
customers, to first acquire all available energy efficiency and
demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and
feasible, to establish annual targets for energy efficiency savings
and demand reduction, and to report those targets and their basis to
the Energy Commission. Existing law requires every publicly owned
electric and gas utility that provides the energy for space heating
for low-income customers to also provide home weatherization services
for those customers if a significant need for those services exists
in the utility's service territory, in consideration of certain
factors. Existing law requires that each local publicly owned
electric and gas utility develop and implement its low-income
weatherization program in consultation with gas and electrical
corporations and the Department of Economic Opportunity, to avoid
duplication and to ensure the most efficient use of public and
private resources.
This bill would prohibit an energy utility, as defined, from
issuing rebates or incentives for energy efficiency improvements
unless the recipient of the rebate or incentive certifies that the
improvement or installation has complied with applicable permitting
requirements and appropriate licensing requirements.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no yes .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25500.1 of the
Public Resources Code is amended to read:
25500.1. (a) The owner of a proposed solar thermal
powerplants powerplant , for which an
application for certification was filed with the commission after
August 15, 2007, and certified by the commission and, of a project on
federal land, for which a record of decision was issued by the
Department of the Interior or the Bureau of Land Management before
September 1, 2011, may petition the commission not later than June
30, 2012, to review an amendment to the facility's certificate to
convert the facility, in whole or in part, from solar thermal
technology to photovoltaic technology, without the need to file an
entirely new application for certification or notice of intent
pursuant to Section 25502, provided that the commission prepares
supplemental environmental review documentation, provides for public
notice and comment on the supplemental environmental review, and
holds at least one public hearing on the proposal.
(b) The Department of Fish and Game and the State Water Resources
Board shall provide comments to the commission on the water resource
and water quality effects of the proposed powerplants. The commission
shall incorporate all feasible mitigation measures identified by the
department and the board.
(c) For a facility specified in subdivision (a), this chapter
shall continue to apply, notwithstanding that the facility or part of
the facility would otherwise be excluded pursuant to Section 25120.
(d) The commission shall process a petition submitted under this
section pursuant to Section 1769 of Title 20 of the California Code
of Regulations.
(e) This section shall not apply to any project if the project's
certificate was timely challenged pursuant to Section 25531 ,
unless the challenge was subsequently dismissed by the California
Supreme Court .
(f) This section does not abrogate a party's right to challenge a
project's certification pursuant to Section 25531 or any other
provision of law.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
To expedite the construction of a proposed facility that is
converting from solar thermal to solar photovoltaic technology for
the protection of public health and the environment, it is necessary
for this measure to take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. Chapter 6 (commencing with Section
8390) is added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 6. ENERGY EFFICIENCY PROGRAMS
8390. (a) For purposes of this chapter, "energy utility" means an
electrical corporation, gas corporation, local publicly owned
electric utility, or municipal corporation that provides gas service.
(b) (1) Any rebates or incentives offered by an energy utility for
an energy efficiency improvement or installation of energy efficient
components, equipment, or appliances in buildings shall be provided
only if the recipient of the rebate or incentive certifies that the
improvement or installation has complied with any applicable
permitting requirements and, if a contractor performed the
installation or improvement, that the contractor holds the
appropriate license for the work performed.
(2) This subdivision does not imply or create authority or
responsibility, or expand existing authority or responsibility, of an
energy utility for the enforcement of the building energy and water
efficiency standards adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b) of
Section 25402 of the Public Resources Code, or appliance efficiency
standards and certification requirements adopted pursuant to
subdivision (c) of Section 25402 of the Public Resources Code.