BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 870
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Date of Hearing: July 5, 2011
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Steven Bradford, Chair
SB 870 (Padilla) - As Proposed to be Amended: July 5, 2011
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Energy: State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission
SUMMARY : Requires the Chair of the California Energy
Commission (CEC) to annually appear before the appropriate
policy committees of the Senate and Assembly.
EXISTING LAW
1)Establishes the CEC, provides for appointment of the Chair and
four other commissioners by the Governor, subject to Senate
confirmation, and requires the Chair to direct the adviser,
the executive director, and other staff in the performance of
their duties in conformance with the policies and guidelines
established by the CEC.
2)Requires the President of the California Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to annually appear before the appropriate
policy committees of the Senate and Assembly to report on two
specified annual reports required by statute.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, this bill is "part of a
multi-pronged effort to improve communication between the CEC
and the Legislature in an attempt to focus and revitalize its
programs and priorities."
The CEC's responsibilities include:
Developing and adopting the State's Integrated Policy
Report to address energy policy priorities for energy
efficiency, renewable resources (distributed and utility
scale), energy storage, and combined heat and power
facilities.
Forecasting future energy needs and keeping historical
energy data.
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Licensing thermal power plants 50 megawatts or larger.
Promoting energy efficiency by setting the state's
appliance and building efficiency standards and working
with local government to enforce those standards.
Supporting public interest energy research that advances
energy science and technology through research,
development, and demonstration programs.
Supporting renewable energy by providing market support
to existing, new, and emerging renewable technologies;
providing incentives for small wind and fuel cell
electricity systems; and providing incentives for solar
electricity systems in new home construction.
Developing and implementing the state Alternative and
Renewable Fuel and Vehicle Technology Program to reduce the
state's petroleum dependency and help attain the state
climate change policies.
Administering more than $300 million in American
Reinvestment and Recovery Act funding through the state
energy program, the energy efficiency conservation and
block grant program; the energy efficiency appliance rebate
program and the energy assurance and emergency program.
Planning for and directing state response to energy
emergencies.
The PUC's responsibilities include regulating privately owned
electric, natural gas, telecommunications, water, railroad, rail
transit, and passenger transportation companies, in addition to
authorizing video franchises to ensure that consumers have safe,
reliable utility service at reasonable rates, protecting against
fraud, and promoting the health of California's economy. The PUC
also administers the California Solar Initiative (CSI), the Self
Generation Incentive Program, and the Public Goods Charge (PGC)
for Energy Efficiency. Within the CSI and PGC programs, funds
are allocated for marketing and outreach and research and
development.
Redux : This bill is substantially similar to SB 1467 (Padilla,
2010) that was a code clean-up bill and required the Chairperson
of the CEC to annually appear before the Senate Committee on
Energy, Utilities and Communications and the Assembly Committee
on Utilities and Commerce to report on the activities of the
Commission. The bill was vetoed by the Governor with the
following message:
"This bill is unnecessary. During my Administration, the
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Chairperson of the Commission has always been accessible to the
Legislature and, in fact, has appeared on several occasions this
year before both committees to report on Energy Commission
activities.
If the Legislature would like to invite the Chairperson to
appear before their committees, they simply need to call. In
this bill's absence, I am ordering DGS to check all phone lines
between the Legislature and the Chairperson's office to make
sure they are in good working order".
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file.
Opposition
None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : DaVina Flemings / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083