2026 California Legislative
Session: Mid-Session Review
Sam Sadle, Kendall Downie, Dominic Faria – June 12, 2026 2026 California Legislative Timeline
2 January
5: Legislature reconvenes
10: Governor submits
budget
February
20: Bill introduction
deadline
March April
24: Policy cmtes move
fiscal bills to fiscal cmtes
(1st chamber)
May
1: Policy cmtes move
non-fiscal bills to floor
(1st chamber)
29: Last day for bills to be
passed by 1st house
June
15: Budget bill must be
passed
July
2: Policy cmtes move bills
to fiscal cmtes or
floor (2nd chamber)
August
14: Fiscal cmtes move
bills to floor (2nd
chamber)
31: Last day for each
chamber to pass bills
September
30: Last day for Governor
to sign/veto bills
October November December
3 Support:
CalCCA-Sponsored Bills
AB 1761 (Rogers)
Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) data and input transparency SB 1138 (Padilla)
Resource Adequacy (RA) transactability
AB 1761 Electricity: calculation methodology: data disclosures (Rogers):
• Official summary: This bill would require the commission [CPUC] to ensure that all data relied on in any decision or ruling, or in any proposal or analysis provided by an electrical corporation, the commission’s staff, or any other party, for the determination or application of a calculation methodology for any charge imposed on customers of a load-serving entity to recover the cost of contracts or resources owned by an electrical corporation or any value derived from that calculation is made available to load-serving entities and ratepayer advocates on behalf of customers. The bill would require that data to meet specified requirements, including that it is made through a public disclosure, except for market-sensitive data, as provided. (Emphasis added)
4 Support: Process:
• Passed Assembly 61-8-11
• Next step: Senate Energy Committee date
TBD
Power Charge Indifference Adjustment (PCIA) Data Transparency CalCCA-Sponsored Bills
Oppose:
5 SB 1138 Load-serving entities: resource adequacy requirements (Padilla):
• Official summary: This bill would require the commission to permit a load-serving entity to demonstrate compliance with resource adequacy requirements by selling to, or otherwise making transactions with, another load-serving entity to meet not more than 25% of its compliance obligation, on a short-term basis, and to permit those transactions to be denominated in the same unit of time used to denominate resource adequacy compliance requirements.
(Emphasis added)
Support: Process:
• Passed Senate 31-0-9
• Passed Assembly Energy Committee
• Next Step: Assembly Appropriations
Committee
CalCCA-Sponsored Bills
Resource Adequacy (RA) Transactability
Oppose:
(None registered)
6 Support:
Ava positions
SB 222 (Wiener)
Streamlines permitting for residential heat
pump water heaters and HVAC systems
SB 1168 (McNerney)
Establishes new surcharges on natural gas use by
data centers
AB 2266 (Schultz)
Standardizes RA valuation across multiple
procurement programs
SB 913 (Becker)
Allows aggregated DERs to serve as RA
capacity
Support If Amended:
SB 868 (Wiener)
Sets rules for "plug in" solar system
SB 913 (Becker)
Allows aggregated DERs to serve as RA capacity
AB 1577 (Bauer-Kahan)
Requires monthly data center energy use reporting
AB 1975 (Schultz)
Establishes "grid utilization" metric and associated
incentives
AB 2389 (Irwin)
Extends property tax exemption for customer solar
California Large Load Legislative Update
7 Managing data center growth
Shifting sands in 2026: From "Should California encourage large load development?" to "Under what conditions should large load be served?" From CPUC-led to a core Legislative priority.
Large Load Legislative Questions
Legislative Vehicles: Now Down to Three "Classifications" Cost Responsibility &
Ratepayer Protection
Reliability & Clean
Energy Requirements
Environmental &
Community Impacts
Transparency & Data
Collection
Cost Causation
Ratepayer Protections
SB 886 and AB 2383
Reliability Protections:
Reflected in all proposed
large-load tariffs
Transparency
AB 1577
California Budget
8 • Schedule: State Legislature has until June 15 to adopt a budget. The Governor then has 12 days to sign it. • Next steps in negotiations: Three party negotiations ongoing. Governor's office released its "May revise" and the Senate and Assembly budget committees have released their respective plans. • Notable line items:
o Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) spending plan
o EV incentive program for first-time buyers — $200 million point-of-sale rebates for light-duty ZEVs o Climate Bond (Proposition 4) 2026-2027 spending plan — $322 million for the California Transmission Accelerator Revolving Fund created by SB 254
o Demand Side Grid Support Program (DSGS)
▪ Trailer Bill 1: Shift remaining funding (~$22 million) from the Distributed Electricity Backup Assets (DEBA) program to DSGS
▪ Trailer Bill 2: Return unspent California School Healthy Air, Plumbing, and Efficiency (CalSHAPE) program funding to the IOUs and transition DSGS participants to the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP), or a similar IOU-run program, for 2027 and 2028 What comes next? Legislative session
9 First house
• July 2: Second house policy committee
deadline
• August 14: Second house Appropriations
suspense deadline
• Aug 31: Second house floor passage
deadline
• September 30: Veto/signature deadline
Second house
• May 14: Governor's budget revise
• June 15: Budget deadline
• May to August: Budget trailer and cleanup hearings
Budget
Appendix
10 Support
11 SB 222 Residential heat pump systems: water heaters and HVAC: installations (Wiener - Coauthors: Allen, Becker, and Stern):
• Standardizes and streamlines local permitting for residential heat pump water heaters and heat pump HVAC systems, including by requiring an option for asynchronous inspections and online automated permitting. The bill would support the State’s target of installing six million heat pump systems by 2030, an objective the State is currently set to miss by roughly two million units.
• In 2025, Ava supported SB 282 (Wiener) which was largely the same language.
Support: Oppose:
Heat Pump Water Heater and HVAC Streamlining
• Passed Senate
• Next step: 6/24 Assembly Housing
Committee
Process:
Support (no longer "if Amended")
12 SB 913 Resource adequacy: aggregated distributed capacity resources (Becker):
• Requires the PUC to enhance pathways for aggregated distributed energy resources to qualify as resource adequacy capacity and to allow load-serving entities to include those resources in resource adequacy compliance and procurement. Also requires coordination with state agencies and the ISO to update market participation frameworks to support aggregated distributed capacity resources.
Amendments implemented: Bill now allows aggregated DERs as RA capacity while preserving CCA procurement flexibility and avoiding any implicit DER procurement mandate.
Support:
Distributed Energy Resources for Resource Adequacy
Process:
• Passed Senate
• Next Step: 6/24 Assembly Energy
Committee
Oppose:
Support
13 SB 1168 Data centers: natural gas and electricity: surcharges (McNerney - Coauthor Pérez):
• Originally, the bill imposed an annually set surcharges on electricity and natural gas consumed by data centers, including energy used to generate power for them.
• It originally required those funds to be used to offset CARE/FERA costs. It was later amended to offset wildfire-related costs currently embedded in customer rates. • It was eventually amended down to a study bill requiring the PUC to do a study to assess opportunities for rate structures to ensure data centers pay their fair share of infrastructure costs and identify ways to increase data center usage of non-polluting resources.
Support
SB 1168
(McNerney)
Support:
Data Center Rate Structure Study
Process:
• Passed Senate
• Next step: 6/24 Assembly Energy
Committee
Oppose:
Support
14 AB 2266 Electricity: load-serving entities (Schultz):
• Requires the use of a consistent method across regulatory proceedings for calculating how much reliability value different energy resources provide, so that short-term, mid-term, and long-term procurement programs all count resources the same way.
• Requires the PUC to consolidate specified compliance reporting requirements and to provide additional reporting on the use of backstop procurement authority.
• CalCCA is requesting amendments regarding timing and considerations required of the PUC when creating the new methodology.
Support:
Consistent Methodology for RA Valuation
Process:
• Passed Assembly
• Next step: 6/16 Senate Energy
Committee
Oppose:
(None registered)
Support if Amended:
Support if Amended
15 SB 868 Electricity: portable solar generation devices (Wiener - Coauthors: Arreguín, Becker, McNerney, Connolly, and Ward):
• Exempts portable solar generation devices from interconnection requirements and prohibits IOUs and POUs from imposing fees or other related requirements. Authorizes utilities to require basic notification of device installation through a simple registration process, as specified.
Proposed amendments: Require storage pairing and modern inverter standards for plug-in solar while maintaining basic oversight to protect grid reliability and mitigate cost impacts.
Support: Support if Amended:
Portable (or "Plug In") Solar Streamlining
Oppose: Process:
• Passed Senate
• Passed Assembly Energy
Committee
• Next Step: Assembly
Appropriations Committee
Support if Amended
16 AB 1577 Data Centers: reporting (Bauer-Kahan):
• Requires the Energy Commission to establish a process for data center owners to submit monthly reports on energy and water usage, including specified operational metrics. Would also require the CEC to publish aggregated data and incorporate data center load trends into future energy policy reports, and would require similar information to be provided to local agencies for planning and environmental review purposes, while protecting confidential customer information.
Proposed Amendments: Align reporting timelines with IOU-to-CCA data flows and prevent penalties for delays outside LSE control to ensure feasible implementation.
Support: Support if Amended:
Data Center Energy and Water Use Reporting
Process:
• Passed Assembly
• Next step: Senate Energy Committee
(presumably)
Support if Amended
17 AB 1975 Electrical corporations: grid utilization metric (Schultz):
• Requires the PUC to establish a grid utilization metric to measure electrical load as a percentage of system capacity; requires IOUs to publicly report on that metric; sets increasing minimum utilization targets; and establishes performance-based incentives or disincentives, while requiring utilities to propose programs to meet those targets.
Proposed amendments: Ensure CCAs can participate in and benefit from grid utilization programs while preventing IOU-only implementation.
Grid Utilization Metric and Associated Rules
Support: Support if Amended: Process:
No longer moving forward – died in
Assembly Appropriations Committee
Oppose:
Support if Amended
18 AB 2389 (Property taxation: active solar energy systems: customer sited: extension (Irwin - Principal coauthor:
McNerney, Coauthor: Blakespear):
• Extends the property tax exclusion for certain customer-sited solar energy systems, including systems up to 2 megawatts and those located on public entity property, through January 2032.
Proposed amendments: Require new solar systems to include battery storage to qualify for the exemption, while preserving eligibility for existing and resilience-focused projects.
Support:
Rooftop Solar Installation Tax Exemption
Process:
No longer moving forward – died in
Assembly Appropriations Committee
Support if Amended: Oppose:
Full Universe of Ava Monitored Bills
AB 13 Ransom (D) PUC membership and reporting
AB 34 Patterson (R) Extends the authority of POUs to count large hydro towards RPS AB 61 Pacheco (D) Require PAO to analyze ratepayer impacts of mandated programs AB 705 Boerner (D) Creates independent PUC audit office AB 706 Aguiar-Curry (D) Fire fuel reduction procurement program AB 710 Irwin (D) POU dynamic pricing and advanced metering mandate AB 942 Calderon (D) Changes climate credit
AB 1020 Schiavo (D) Requires IOUs to report taxpayer funding AB 1156 Wicks (D) Updates farmland solar-use easement statute AB 1577 Bauer-Kahan (D) Data center monthly reporting
AB 1738 Carillo (D) Requires local governments to offer remote inspections AB 1761 Rogers (D) PCIA data transparency
AB 1787 Schultz (D) Require IOUs to offer a dynamic tariff if smart meter infrastructure is in place AB 1813 Ward (D) Require CEC evaluation of renewable energy programs AB 1975 Schultz (D) Grid utilization metric
AB 2111 Papan (D) Transmission planning alignment with affordability and FERC Order 1920 19 Full Universe of Bills
AB 2175 Garcia (D) Removes advanced electricity storage from smart grid deployment objectives AB 2181 Petrie-Norris (D) Requires PUC commission diversity AB 2182 Irwin (D) Creates IOU run industrial decarbonization program AB 2234 Papan (D) CEQA exemptions for geothermal exploratory projects AB 2266 Schultz (D) RA valuation standardization
AB 2313 Berman (D) Require gas corporations to offer electrification incentives AB 2369 Rogers (D) Enables partial RA, allowing energy-only resources earn RA value AB 2383 Zbur (D) Require creation of a large load customer class and rate schedule AB 2463 Petrie-Norris (D) Require PUC to study IOU return on equity AB 2464 Wicks (D) Require PUC to study clean firm's role in 2045 goal AB 2493 Petrie-Norris (D) Require IOUs to have an interconnection auditor AB 2516 Petrie-Norris (D) California Grid Manufacturing Initiative AB 2518 Sharp-Collins (D) Requires SDG&E to prioritize and fast-track affordable housing energization.
AB 2589 Irwin (D) Requires PUC to analyze OBBBA and adjust rates to reflect impacts AB 2612 Schultz (D) Building standards for plug-in solar systems AB 2647 Calderon (D) Bans new nuclear power plants without fuel reprocessing capacity or adv tech 20 Full Universe of Bills
AB 2700 Gallagher (R) Requires a report to reduce electricity rates by at least 30% AB 2748 Quirk-Silva (D) Revert EV regulations to 2022 state building code for BMR housing SB 222 Weiner (D) Heat pump water heater and HVAC system permitting streamlining SB 327 McNerney (D)
Prohibits IOUs from using ratepayer funds for advocacy activities related to municipalization
SB 332 Wahab (D) Study breaking up IOUs
SB 453 Stern (D) Microgrid incentive program
SB 742 Perez (D) IOUs to remove unused transmission facilities SB 842 Stern (D) Report on firm zero-carbon resources
SB 868 Wiener (D) Plug-in solar interconnection exemption SB 886 Padilla (D) Large load cost shift prevention
SB 887 Padilla (D) Large load CEQA application
SB 905 Becker (D) Utility Cost and Performance Reform
SB 913 Becker (D) Resource Adequacy for aggregated distributed capacity resources SB 924 Hurtado (D) PUC to consider affordability when looking at home weatherization SB 925 McNerney (D) Requires state strategy and permitting framework to advance fusion 21 Full Universe of Bills
SB 943 Becker (D) Industrial billing and NBC/TAC reform SB 1138 Padilla (D) RA transactability
SB 1158 Stern (D)
Adds status of utility transmission upgrades and electrical grid infrastructure to Reliability Planning Assessment
SB 1167 Blakespear (D) Clarifies ebike definition and bans advertising of non-eligible bikes SB 1168 McNerney (D) Data center tariff study
SB 1233 Allen (D) Requires enhanced justification of CPUC findings tied to utility returns SB 1245 Stern (D)
Intent of legislature to address cost containment of renewable integration into grid
SB 1295 Stern (D)
Requires IOUs to evaluate distributed storage and nonwire alternatives and authorizes them to own distributed storage assets
Budget
Trailer Dept of Finance
Reallocates outstanding funding from the Distributed Energy Backup Assets (DEBA) program to the Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) program Budget
Trailer Dept of Finance
Transitions 2026 DSGS participants to the Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) or an equivalent CPUC load reduction program. 22