BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1 X1
Page 1
Date of Hearing: March 14, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SB 1 X1 (Steinberg) - As Amended: March 10, 2011
Policy Committee: UtilitiesVote:9-3
Education 6-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable:
SUMMARY
This bill establishes a six-year program to fund California
Partnership Academies (CPAs) that focus on training for
employment in "clean technology" and "renewable energy"
businesses, as defined. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires funding, subject to appropriation by the Legislature,
of $8 million annually to the Superintendent of Public
Instruction (SPI), from the following sources:
a) The Renewable Resources Trust Fund (RRTF).
b) If sufficient funds are not available from the RRTF in
2010-11, 2011-12, or 2012-13, the balance of the $8 million
will come from the Alternative and Renewable Fuel and
Vehicle Technology Fund (AB 118 funds).
2)Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC), within 60
days of the effective date of the bill and in consultation
with the SPI, to adopt guidelines ensuring that CPAs receiving
grants reflect state energy policies and provide education
linked to the needs of relevant industries.
3)Specifies criteria for CPA grant applicants and requires the
SPI, in consultation with the CEC, to review grant
applications, to review grant awardees to ensure ongoing
compliance with program requirements, and to report annually,
beginning in 2014, specified information on the funded CPAs.
4)Establishes priority categories for awarding grants, a
per-student grant amount of $1,000, and increasing maximum
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grant amounts for the first through fourth years of a CPA's
operation.
5)Allows up to 5% of the annual allocation to be used by the SPI
from program administration.
6)Makes the program inoperative on June 30, 2017, with repeal on
January 1, 2018.
FISCAL EFFECT
1)Assuming appropriations are provided by the Legislature over
the life of the program through the budget act or other
legislation, there will be special fund costs of $8 million
each year from 2011-12 through 2016-17, including up to
$400,000 for program administration by the SPI. It appears
that funding is only assured for the program in 2011-12 and
2012-13. This is because authorization to collect ratepayer
funds for deposit in the RRTF expires January 1, 2012, and the
bill only allows use of AB 118 funds, if insufficient RRTF
funds are available, through 2012-13. For 2013-14 and beyond,
funding would depend on extension of the Public Goods Charge
(PGC) or an appropriation from any RRTF balance, assuming
repayment of prior RRTF loans to other funds (see Comment #2
below).
2)CEC costs to develop guidelines within 60 days will, by
necessity, be absorbed. Commission costs for ongoing
consultation with the SPI should also be absorbable with
existing resources or within the amount set aside for program
administration.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . According to the author, "California suffers from
too many high school dropouts, too little meaningful career
technical education at the middle and high school levels, and
the lack of a skilled workforce to fuel the emerging green
economy. California must lead in addressing both the problems
of its youth and the opportunities created by the new green
economy. SB 1 X1 offers solutions at the intersection of these
two state priorities. Investment in these emerging careers and
industries will drive the next phase of California's economic
growth in a way that helps us meet the challenge of climate
change. This investment in reducing the dropout rate,
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expanding workforce opportunities, and targeting climate
change will create economic stimulus for clean energy and
technology jobs in California."
2)California Partnership Academies . A CPA is a three-year
program in grades 10-12, structured as a
school-within-a-school. CPAs serve at-risk pupils-at least
one-half of each new class must meet specified at-risk
criteria. The curriculum of CPAs is focused on a career theme
and is coordinated with related academic classes. The career
technical focus for a CPA is determined by an analysis of the
local labor market and fields that have companies willing to
support the program. According to the California Department
of Education (CDE), there are 461 CPAs currently operating in
the state.
3)Renewable Resources Trust Fund . This fund receives revenue
from a designated portion of the PGC-a surcharge on
electricity customers of the investor-owned utilities. The
purpose of the fund is to optimize public investment and
ensure that the most cost-effective and efficient investments
in renewable energy resources are pursued with a long-term
goal of having a fully competitive and self-sustaining supply
of electricity generated from renewable sources and a
near-term goal of increasing the quantity of electricity
generated by in-state renewable electricity generation
facilities.
RRTF revenues used for CEC administration are subject to
appropriation by the Legislature, but the balance of funds is
continuously appropriated to the CEC for several programs.
Statutory authorization for the PGC, and thus the current RRTF
revenue source, sunsets on January 1, 2012. Outstanding loans
from the RRTF to other funds or departments total about $101
million, and an additional $20 million loan to the General
Fund is proposed due to the recent cancellation of the sale of
state office buildings. Accounting for this additional loan,
and assuming the pending PGC sunset, the fund is projected to
have a balance of $44 million at the end of 2011-12.
4)AB 118 Funds . AB 118 (Nunez)/Chapter 750 of 2007, created the
Alternative and Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program,
administered by the CEC to provide, upon appropriation by the
Legislature, various forms of financial assistance to develop
and deploy innovative technologies to transform the state's
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fuel and vehicle types in order to help attain the state's
climate change policies. Funding for this program comes from
increases, until January 2016, in vehicle and vessel
registration fees and the smog abatement fee (currently about
$90 million annually), plus a $10 million annual appropriation
from the Public Interest Research, Development, and
Demonstration (PIER) Fund.
5)Prior Legislation .
a) AB 2855 (Hancock)/Chapter 685 of 2008, established the
Green Technology Partnership Academies and the Goods
Movement Partnership Academies as two new categories of
CPAs, commencing with the 2009-10 school year.
b) AB 519 (Budget Committee)/Chapter 757 of 2008, a trailer
bill to the 2008-09 Budget Act, appropriated $12.5 million
from the PIER Fund to establish "green" CPAs over three
fiscal years. There are currently 58 such CPAs funded from
these monies.
c) SB 1672 (Steinberg) of 2008, which proposed the
Renewable Energy, Climate Change, Career Technical
Education, and Clean Technology Job Creation Bond Act of
2010, was held on this committee's Suspense file.
d) SB 675 (Steinberg) of 2010, which was substantially
similar to SB 1 X1 but was funded from the Energy Resources
Programs Account, was vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger,
who argued that the bill inappropriately used monies
generated by a surcharge on electricity users to pay for a
K-12 program and only gave a minor role to the CEC in
developing program guidelines.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081