BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 16|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 16
Author: Rubio (D)
Amended: 5/27/11
Vote: 27 - Urgency
SENATE NATURAL RES. AND WATER COMMITTEE : 6-1, 3/22/11
AYES: Pavley, Evans, Kehoe, Padilla, Simitian, Wolk
NOES: La Malfa
NO VOTE RECORDED: Cannella, Fuller
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-3, 4/11/11
AYES: Kehoe, Alquist, Pavley, Price, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Emmerson, Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Lieu
SUBJECT : Renewable energy: Department of Fish and
Game: expedited permitting
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill shortens some existing timelines for
the review of California Endangered Species Act permit
applications by the Department of Fish and Game (DFG), and
requires the Director of DFG to meet with applicants if
timelines are not met.
Senate Floor Amendments of 5/27/11 impose deadlines in the
review process of incidental take permit applications for
renewable energy projects to accompany the existing
provisions in this bill that require an accounting from DFG
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about the number of applications, the characteristics of
the projects for which permits were sought, and time spent
on these permit applications.
ANALYSIS : Under current law, thermal power plants with a
capacity over 50 megawatts are licensed by the Energy
Commission.
Under the California Endangered Species Act (CESA), certain
species are listed as endangered, threatened, or candidates
for protected under the law. The "take" of those listed
species is prohibited without an incidental take permit,
which typically includes stringent mitigation requirements.
The DFG is required to review project applications for
incidental take permits. The DFG spends about $4 million
per year reviewing incidental take permit applications. The
DFG generally does not charge fees for this review. Under
current regulation, the DFG is required to complete an
initial review of an incidental take permit application for
completeness within 30 days.
Depending on whether the DFG is designated a "lead agency"
or a "responsible agency" under the California
Environmental Quality Act, the DFG must act to approve or
deny and incidental take permit within 90 days (with the
potential for a 60 day extension) or 120 days (with a
potential 60 day extension).
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 Renewables Portfolio
Standard.
This bill:
1. Imposes a requirement that the DFG, within 30 days, to
notify applicants when an application for an incidental
take permit is complete.
2. Imposes a requirement that DFG approve or reject an
incidental take application within 60 days after the
application is complete, if the permit involves only the
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state endangered species act.
3. Imposes a requirement that DFG approve or reject an
incidental take application within 150 days after the
application is complete where the permit involves
species listed pursuant to both the state and federal
endangered species act. This provision would mirror the
same applicable timeline that is in federal regulations,
as is the case in federal regulations.
4. Requires DFG to offer to meet with the applicant in the
event the application remains incomplete for the purpose
of establishing a timetable to complete the application
5. Extends the $75,000 application fee to all renewable
energy projects eligible under the state's RPS. For
complex applications, the DFG is authorized to charge up
to an additional $75,000 (based on the DFG's actual
costs). For applications that require the DFG only to
determine whether an existing federal incidental take
permit is consistent with the CESA, the DFG is
authorized to charge a fee equal to the DFG's actual
costs of making the consistence determination (which is
likely to be significantly less than $75,000). The fee
would be imposed on all new projects when they are
submitted, or for applications that have already been
submitted, and is currently under review, by January 30,
2012.
6. For projects that are eligible for a consistency
determination pursuant to Section 2080.1 of the Fish and
Game Code, the fee would not be $75,000 but instead
would be the DFG's actual costs of reviewing the
application, an amount that would be considerably lower.
7. The DFG would be required to produce a full accounting
of its expenditures of fee revenues for all of the
factors listed in this bill.
8. Integrates this bill with a section in AB 13 X1 (Perez),
Session of 2011-12, First Extraordinary Session, that
deals with the funding of DFG's review of incidental
take permit applications for renewable energy projects.
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Together the two bills provide funding to DFG, deadlines
that benefit renewable energy developers, and an
accounting that will help assess whether further
legislative action may be necessary in the future.
Background
The DFG has the responsibility to administer the CESA,
among other duties. This law authorizes, in specified
circumstances, DFG to issue "incidental take" permits to
enable a development project to harm one or more protected
species or their habitat. In the absence of such a permit,
CESA prohibits the take of any endangered or threatened
species. DFG may issue an incidental take permit
authorizing the take of endangered or threatened species if
certain conditions are met, including that the take is
incidental to an otherwise lawful activity, and the impacts
of the authorized take are minimized and fully mitigated.
CESA requires applicants to ensure adequate funding to
implement mitigation and monitoring measures.
Last year, in SB 34 X8 (Padilla), Chapter 9, Statutes of
2009-10, Eighth Extraordinary Session, the Legislature
passed and Governor Schwarzenegger signed into law several
amendments to CESA that were intended to expedite the
regulatory approval of solar thermal and photovoltaic
energy projects in parts of the southern California desert
within the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Program
(DRECP) planning area. The DRECP effort will identify the
best sites for renewable projects and the best lands that
should be reserved for mitigation. Among other provisions,
that new statute provides for the in lieu payment of funds
that would allow DFG to purchase mitigation lands in
advance for eligible renewable energy projects in the
desert that were to receive funds from the federal
government's stimulus funds. That new law also created a
$75,000 fee that developers would pay to DFG to cover its
costs in reviewing the endangered species implications of
these projects.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author:
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"SB 16 is needed because there is currently no timeframe
under which DFG must adhere to in the review of
incidental take permits for siting renewable energy
permits already approved by the county. Applicants
often wait long periods of time and the project is
delayed.
"Kern County has approved and moved into the
construction phase over 1000 megawatts of wind and solar
energy projects. The average timeline for DFG to issue
incidental take permits was six months. The processing
times varied greatly and there is no specific timeframe
under which applicants can rely.
"It is anticipated that DFG will be inundated with more
than 300 applicants for renewable energy projects this
year because of the increasing interest in renewable
energy projects and because of the investment and tax
provisions contained in state and federal law. SB 16
is essential to ensuing these projects are approved in a
reasonable frame."
CTW:kc 5/27/11 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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