BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2593
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2593 (Bradford)
As Introduced February 21, 2014
Majority vote
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 10-4 NATURAL
RESOURCES 5-2
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|Ayes:|Bradford, Bonilla, |Ayes:|Chesbro, Garcia, |
| |Buchanan, Fong, Garcia, | |Muratsuchi, Stone, |
| |Roger Hern�ndez, Mullin, | |Williams |
| |Quirk, Rendon, Skinner | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Ch�vez, Dahle, Beth |Nays:|Dahle, Bigelow |
| |Gaines, Jones | | |
| | | | |
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APPROPRIATIONS 12-4
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|Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, | | |
| |Bradford, | | |
| |Ian Calderon, Campos, | | |
| |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, | | |
| |Pan, Quirk, | | |
| |Ridley-Thomas, Weber | | |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, | | |
| |Wagner | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires large businesses participating in programs
funded through the State's Cap-and-Trade Program to report on
efforts to increase procurement from women, minorities, and
disabled veteran enterprises. Specifically, this bill :
1)Applies to business enterprises with gross annual revenues
exceeding $25 million, funded in whole or in part from the
Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Reduction Fund.
2)Defines "control," "operate," "women business enterprise," and
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"minority business enterprise" consistent with similar
provisions already in statute that are used in a similar
program to report on procurement efforts by regulated
utilities.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, increased annual costs to the Air Resource Board
(ARB) in the $150,000 to $350,000 range to identify qualifying
businesses, develop reporting guidelines and mechanisms, and
monitor and track projects (GHG Reduction Fund).
COMMENTS :
1)Author's statement. According to the author, women and
minority-owned businesses participating in programs to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions should factor in inclusion of diverse
sectors within California's economy to ensure that access to
new job opportunities are available to all Californians. In
California, women and minority-owned businesses represent the
bulk of small businesses. Since diverse business owners are
more likely to hire diverse workers, the success of women-,
minority-, and disabled veteran-owned businesses translates
into jobs for women, minorities, and disabled veterans.
2)Cap-and-Trade Revenues. The California Global Warming
Solutions Act of 2006 [AB 32 (N��ez), Chapter 488, Statutes of
2006] requires ARB to adopt a statewide GHG emissions limit
equivalent to 1990 levels by 2020, and adopt regulations,
including market-based compliance mechanisms, to achieve
maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective GHG
emission reductions.
All moneys collected by ARB from the auction or sale of
allowances pursuant to a market-based compliance mechanism
(i.e., the cap-and-trade program adopted by ARB under AB 32)
are deposited into the GHG Reduction Fund and are available
for appropriation by the Legislature. The local and regional
agencies defined in this bill are eligible for funding under
this program.
For the 2014-15 budget, the Governor has proposed spending
$850 million on a variety of programs, including $100 million
for grants to local governments to support implementation of
Sustainable Communities Strategies, $50 million for inter-city
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rail grants, $30 million for organic waste diversion
infrastructure, and $20 million for water and energy saving
projects.
3)Supplier Diversity. In response to legislation authored by
former Assembly Member Gwen Moore, the California Public
Utilities Commission (PUC) adopted General Order 156 (GO 156),
in 1988 which created Women-Owned and Minority-Owned Business
Enterprise (W/MBE) program to increase diversity in various
utility operations and procurement processes. GO 156 requires
PUC-regulated electrical, gas, and telephone corporations with
gross annual revenues exceeding $25 million to submit annual
detailed and verifiable plans that includes short- and
long-term goals and timetables for increasing W/MBE
procurement in all procurement categories. GO 156 includes
rules and regulations for the utilities' compliance with the
W/MBE program, and requires participating utilities to inform,
recruit, and obtain at least 20% of their products and
services purchased within a five-year period from W/MBEs (15%
from minority-owned businesses and 5% from women-owned
businesses).
AB 3678 (Moore), Chapter 1259, Statutes of 1986, codified the
broader parameters of GO 156, and required the PUC to
establish guidelines for the plans.
SB 2398 (Dills), Chapter 516, Statutes of 1990, later included
disabled veteran business enterprises in the classes of
entities eligible under W/MBE programs.
AB 2758 (Bradford), Chapter 475, Statutes of 2010, required
cable corporations (with gross annual revenues exceeding $25
million) to annually submit a detailed and verifiable plan for
increasing women, minorities, and disabled veterans business
enterprises (W/M/DVBE) procurement. It specifies that
renewable energy, wireless telecommunications, broadband,
smart grid and rail projects should be projects of focus for
utility procurement with M/W/DVBE.
4)Related Legislation. AB 1678 (Gordon) of the current
legislative session, extends an existing utility supplier
diversity program to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and/or
Transgender business enterprises.
AB 2593
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Analysis Prepared by : Brandon Gaytan / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083 FN: 0003705