BILL ANALYSIS �
SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
Senator Ed Hernandez, O.D., Chair
BILL NO: AB 2297
AUTHOR: Levine
AMENDED: April 24, 2014
HEARING DATE: June 18, 2014
CONSULTANT: Marchand
SUBJECT : Health facilities: reliable alternative clean energy
technologies.
SUMMARY : Permits health facilities to use reliable alternative
clean energy technologies as primary or backup power sources if
the technology meets reliability requirements, and requires the
Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development to submit
building standards for the use of reliable alternative clean
energy technologies to be adopted in the next triennial edition
of the California Building Standards Code.
Existing law:
1.Establishes the Alfred E. Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic
Safety Act of 1983, which requires the Office of Statewide
Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) to propose proper
building standards for earthquake resistance, and provide an
independent review of the design and construction of hospital
buildings.
2.Establishes the California Building Standards Commission
(CBSC), consisting of the Secretary of the State and Consumer
Services Agency, and 10 members appointed by the Governor, as
specified.
3.Requires any building standard adopted or proposed by state
agencies to be submitted to, and approved or adopted by, the
CBSC. Requires building standards adopted by state agencies
and submitted to CBSC to be accompanied by an analysis written
by the state agency that proposes the standards to justify the
approval to the satisfaction of the CBSC.
This bill:
1.Permits a health facility to use reliable alternative clean
energy technologies as primary or backup power sources if the
technology meets reliability requirements set forth by federal
and state regulators.
Continued---
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2.Requires OSHPD to submit to the CBSC building standards for
the use of reliable alternative clean energy technologies for
essential power systems to be adopted in the next triennial
edition of the California Building Standards Code.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, likely minor and absorbable staff costs to OSHPD and
CBSC to incorporate building standards specific to clean energy
technology for backup power generation in the next revision of
the California Building Standards Code.
PRIOR VOTES :
Assembly Health: 16- 2
Assembly Appropriations: 13- 4
Assembly Floor: 66- 10
COMMENTS :
1.Author's statement. According to the author, AB 2297 simply
states that California should explore the various technologies
that can be used to power hospitals in the state and asks
state regulators to adopt building standards that are
technology neutral, rather than being singularly focused on
diesel.
2.OSHPD building standards and the California Building Standards
Code. OSHPD is the adopting agency for building standards for
health facilities, including clinics. The CBSC, which is
responsible for adopting and publishing the California
Building Standards Code, which is updated every three years,
accepts building standard recommendations from state adopting
agencies related to the types of buildings that fall under
their respective jurisdictions. The 2013 code was recently
adopted, and took effect on January 1, 2014. OSHPD states that
the deadline for submissions for the next triennial edition
has already passed, so that the earliest building standards
code that could reflect any changes from this bill is the code
that will be published in 2020.
3.Conflict with federal requirements. According to OSHPD, there
are two required power systems in a hospital. The first is the
normal power system, which is the main source of power for a
hospital. Alternative energy technologies are sometimes used
for this purpose. The second power system is the essential
power system used for emergency backup purposes. When OSHPD
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proposes new hospital building standards, the submission is
required to include a "Nine Point Criteria Analysis" that
justifies the approval of the building standard in terms of
specified criteria of the CBSC. One of those criteria
specifies that "applicable national specification, published
standards, and model codes have been incorporated." With
regard to power sources, federal Medicare participation
requirements for hospitals include requirements that hospitals
meet National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) standards,
which include requirements on primary and back-up power
sources. One of the NFPA requirements specifies that a
generator has to be driven by one of the following "prime
mover" types: a spark-ignited otto cycle (basically, a
4-stroke piston engine similar to what is found on gasoline
cars), a diesel cycle, or a gas turbine cycle. Given that this
bill does not define "alternative green energy technology," it
is conceivable that there is a technology out there that is
"green" and that meets this requirement. However, if the
intent of this bill is to authorize the use of fuel cell
technology for back-up power systems, it does not appear as
though this technology would meet federal requirements, and
therefore, even if OSHPD proposed permitting this technology
to the CBSC, it is unlikely that it would be approved unless
NFPA standards changed.
4.Prior legislation. AB 1863 (Gaines), Chapter 164, Statutes of
2010, extended until January 1, 2016 existing requirements
that health facilities test diesel backup generators in
accordance with standards set by The Joint Commission.
AB 2216 (Gaines), Chapter 232, Statutes of 2008, extended
until January 1, 2011, a requirement that health care
facilities meet the most recent standards set by the Joint
Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations
for testing of backup diesel generators, and deleted a
requirement that health facility diesel backup generators be
started during weeks when the generator is not being tested.
AB 390 (Montanez), Chapter 676, Statutes of 2003, reduced the
testing frequency for testing diesel backup generators of
health facilities.
5.Support. Bloom Energy supports this bill and writes that
other technologies exist that provide the same electrical
back-up capacities and can be significantly cleaner than
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current back-up generating technologies. Bloom Energy
manufactures distributed fuel cell power systems using a
non-combustion process. According to Bloom Energy, the result
is a new option for energy infrastructure that combines
increased electrical reliability and improved energy security
with significantly lower environmental impact. The National
Resources Defense Council (NRDC) supports this bill and writes
that currently hospitals are required to have diesel back-up
generators on-site in case electricity from the grid fails and
these backup generators are required to be tested at regular
intervals. NRDC further argues that diesel back-up generators
contribute to local air pollution problems and that even
though other technologies exist that provide similar
electrical back-up capacities and are cleaner than back-up
diesel generating technologies, significant regulator
impediments exist that prevent hospitals from utilizing these
cleaner technologies. The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
also supports this bill stating that researchers estimate that
as many as 60,000 Americans die prematurely each year because
of exposure to fine particles and diesel back-up generators
emit fine particles at extremely high rates. EDF states that
this bill will help allow for the adoption of less- or
non-polluting technologies in many of the areas of California
most impacted by localized air pollution.
6.Suggested amendments. As discussed in comment 3) above, the
requirements in this bill could conflict with federal
standards for hospital power systems. While the first
provision of this bill only permits health facilities to use
alternative clean energy if it meets federal and state
reliability requirements, the second provision of the bill
requiring OSHPD to propose new standards does not have a
similar qualification. To ensure OSHPD is not wasting time and
resources proposing new standards that are in conflict with
federal law and will not be approved, this bill should be
clarified so that OSHPD is only required to submit new
building standards for the use of alternative technologies if
the new standards would meet federal requirements for hospital
power systems.
SUPPORT AND OPPOSITION :
Support: Bloom Energy
Environmental Defense Fund
Natural Resource Defense Council
Sunrun
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Oppose: None received
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