BILL NUMBER: SB 16 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 15, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Rubio
DECEMBER 6, 2010
An act relating to energy. An act to add
Sections 2069.5 and 2099.7 to the Fish and Game Code, relating to
energy, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 16, as amended, Rubio. Energy: renewable energy and
transmission projects: Renewable energy: Department of
Fish and Game: expedited permitting.
(1) The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish
and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a
list of threatened species, and requires the Department of Fish and
Game to recommend, and the commission to adopt, criteria for
determining if a species is endangered or threatened. CESA authorizes
the department to authorize the take of threatened species,
endangered species, or candidate species by permit if certain
requirements are met. CESA authorizes the department, in consultation
with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission (Energy Commission) and, to the extent practicable, the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Bureau
of Land Management, to design and implement actions to protect,
restore, or enhance the habitat of plants and wildlife that can be
used to fully mitigate the impacts of the take of endangered,
threatened, or candidate species resulting from certain solar thermal
and photovoltaic powerplants in the planning area of the Desert
Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.
Existing law requires the department to collect, and requires the
owner or developer of certain solar thermal powerplants or
photovoltaic powerplants to pay, a one-time permit application fee of
$75,000. Existing law requires the department to utilize the permit
application fee to pay for all or a portion of the department's cost
of processing incidental take permit applications pursuant to CESA.
This bill would require the department to collect a permit
application fee of $75,000 from the owner or developer of an eligible
renewable energy project to support the department's permitting and
review of the project, as provided. The bill would require the Energy
Commission to provide $75,000 to the department from revenues
created from application fees received by the commission for each
permit application for a project funded under the American Recovery
and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for which the commission has entered
into an agreement with the department for the review of the impacts
of the project on fish and wildlife.
The bill would require the department to notify an applicant for
an incidental take permit for an eligible renewable energy project
when the application is complete, and require the department to
approve or reject an incidental take permit application for an
eligible renewable energy project in 90 days or less. The bill, until
January 1, 2015, would authorize the department to enter into a
contract with a private entity for the review necessary to issue an
incidental take permit for an eligible project, as provided.
(2) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately
as an urgency statute.
Existing law requires energy and transmission projects to obtain
specified certification or permits or both certification and permits
from various state and local agencies.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to establish a new program to ease and expedite the state
permitting process for renewable energy and transmission projects
within the state.
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. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) It is important to facilitate the permitting of renewable
energy projects that are eligible renewable energy resources under
the California Renewables Portfolio Standard (Article 16 (commencing
with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the
Public Utilities Code), including expediting the scientific
evaluation by the Department of Fish and Game of the wildlife impacts
of those projects with special attention to the impacts on
threatened and endangered species.
(b) In imposing statutory deadlines on the review of these
projects, it is important not only for the department to respond more
efficiently, but also important for project proponents to submit
accurate information from which the department can commence a
complete review without being required to obtain further information
in a piecemeal manner.
(c) Existing law provides a timeline of 30 days for the department
to determine whether an application for an incidental take permit is
complete and 120 days to approve or reject the application. In
practice, if an application is considered incomplete, applications
are routinely amended or resubmitted and therefore there is no
incentive for applicants to submit a timely, complete application.
(d) It is reasonable to expect the department to expedite its
decisionmaking in order to help achieve the renewable energy goals of
the state and create jobs.
(e) The Legislature expects that the department may be inundated
with more than 150 applications for renewable energy projects in this
calendar year because of the increasing interest in renewable energy
projects and because of the investment and tax provisions contained
in state and federal law. It is important to give each of those
applications fair consideration by the department and absent the
provisions of this act the department will simply be unable to
adequately review these applications.
SEC. 2. Section 2069.5 is added to the
Fish and Game Code , to read:
2069.5. (a) The department shall notify an applicant for an
incidental take permit for an eligible project when the application
is complete.
(b) The department shall approve or reject an incidental take
permit application for an eligible project in 90 days or less from
the date the application was deemed complete.
(c) To the extent permitted by state law, the department, until
January 1, 2015, may enter into a contract with a private entity for
the review necessary to issue an incidental take permit for an
eligible project, if the number of applications for an incidental
take permit exceeds 40 at any one time. A review undertaken by a
private entity pursuant to this subdivision shall be approved by the
director. Nothing in this subdivision expressly or impliedly reduces
the authority of the department to review applications for incidental
take permits. The department shall report quarterly to the
appropriate policy and appropriation committees of the Legislature on
expenditures made pursuant to this subdivision.
(d) For purposes of this section, an "eligible project" means an
eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the California
Renewables Portfolio Standard (Article 16 (commencing with Section
399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code).
SEC. 3. Section 2099.7 is added to the
Fish and Game Code , to read:
2099.7. (a) (1) The department shall collect a permit application
fee from the owner or developer of an eligible project to support
the department's permitting and review of the eligible project. The
owner or developer of a proposed eligible project shall pay a
one-time permit application fee of seventy-five thousand dollars
($75,000) to the department that shall be applied to the department's
services in reviewing that application. The fee shall be assessed
for all applications filed with the department on and after January
1, 2011.
(2) If the application described in paragraph (1) is incomplete,
the applicant may remedy any specific deficiencies identified by the
department and for each separate reapplication it shall submit an
additional application fee of ____ ($____).
(3) For purposes of this subdivision, an "eligible project" means
an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the California
Renewables Portfolio Standard (Article 16 (commencing with Section
399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code).
(b) The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission shall provide seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) to
the department from revenues created from application fees received
by the commission for each permit application for a project funded
under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law
111-5) for which the commission has entered into an agreement with
the department for the review of the impacts of the project on fish
and wildlife.
SEC. 4. 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:
In order to expedite permitting of needed renewable energy
projects as soon as possible, it is necessary for this act to take
effect immediately.
SECTION 1. (a) It is the intent of the
Legislature to enact legislation to establish a new program to ease
and expedite the state permitting process for renewable energy
projects and transmission projects within the state.
(b) It is further the intent of the Legislature that this new
program require appropriate state agencies to establish one program
under which qualified renewable energy and transmission projects
would have expedited, coordinated, and knowledgeable processing of
all necessary state permits, and would have a defined timeframe
within which all permits would be issued after all documents required
pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13
(commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code) have
been certified.