BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          AB 2161 (Achadijian) - Energy: renewable energy resources.
          
          Amended: As introduced          Policy Vote: EU&C 11-1
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: July 2, 2012      Consultant: Marie Liu
          
          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: AB 2161 would add San Luis Obispo to the list of 
          counties which are eligible for grants from the California 
          Energy Commission (CEC) for the development or revision of rules 
          and policies including general plan elements, zoning ordinances, 
          and natural community conservation plans, that facilitate the 
          development of renewable energy resources and associated 
          transmission facilities.

          Fiscal Impact: Uncertain cost pressures, possibly in the 
          hundreds of thousands of dollars, from the Renewable Resource 
          Trust Fund (General Fund) beginning in 2012-13 from additional 
          applications for local assistance grants.

          Background: Recently enacted legislation, ABx1 13 (V.M. Perez) 
          Chapter 10/2011, expanded existing siting and permitting 
          provisions for renewable energy projects and changed planning 
          and permitting of renewable energy projects. Among its 
          provisions was a requirement for the CEC to provide, upon 
          appropriation by the Legislature, up to $7 million in grants to 
          15 eligible counties in the San Joaquin Valley and desert areas 
          to revise planning documents to facilitate development of 
          renewable energy resources. The eligible counties were seen as 
          the counties that were most likely to develop large scale 
          renewable energy projects with revised local planning and 
          permitting revisions.

          Proposed Law: This bill would make San Luis Obispo County an 
          eligible county to receive a planning or permitting grant from 
          the CEC under ABx1 13.

          Staff Comments: In the recently passed budget, the Legislature 
          approved an appropriation of $7 million and two limited term 
          staff to the CEC for ABx1 13 grants. As the CEC has not yet 








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          begun developing the grant program, adding an additional 
          eligible county to the program does not pose any additional 
          administrative costs to the CEC.

          However, staff notes that by increasing number of eligible 
          entities, this bill puts a cost pressure on the program. As 
          planning costs frequently range in the hundreds of thousands to 
          millions of dollars, especially for large counties, staff 
          believes that the cost pressures imposed by this bill are likely 
          in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. The CEC has not 
          determined how the grants will be distributed amongst the 
          eligible counties (e.g. competitively, per capita, 
          first-come-first-serve).