1 VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
Staff Report – Item 8
To: Board of Directors
From: Mitch Sears, Interim General Manager
Subject: Legislative Update – Pacific Policy Group
Date: January 27, 2022
______________________________________________________________________________ Pacific Policy Group, VCE’s lobby services consultant, continues to work with Staff and the Community Advisory Committee’s Legislative - Regulatory Task Group continues to meet and discuss legislative matters. Below is a summary:
The 2022 legislative calendar has been published and January 3, 2022 marks the Legislature’s return to Sacramento. As 2022 is the second year of the two-year session, a number of two-year bills must pass their house of origin by January 31, 2022 in order for those legislative vehicles to remain active. SB 612 (Portantino) is a two-year bill but has already passed out of its original house and its next deadline is July 1, 2022 when bills must pass a policy committee of the other house.
In addition to consideration of two-year bills, January will bring about Governor Newsom’s proposal for the 2022-23 state budget. The Legislature and Governor spent much of the 2021 session negotiating a record surplus and 2022 is likely to be similar. The Legislative Analyst’s Office recently published its fiscal outlook for the 2022-23 budget and is currently projecting a $31 billion surplus (resources in excess of current law commitments) to allocate in 2022‑23. The Governor’s proposed budget is due by January 10, 2022 and the Legislature must respond with its own budget proposal by June 15, 2022. With such a large amount of unspoken for funding to allocate it is likely the negotiations will go well into August.