Item 7
1 VALLEY CLEAN ENERGY ALLIANCE
Staff Report – Item 7
To: Board of Directors
From: Mark Fenstermaker, Pacific Policy Group
Subject: Legislative Update – Pacific Policy Group
Date: September 8, 2022
______________________________________________________________________________ Staff, VCE’s lobby services consultant at Pacific Policy Group, and the Community Advisory Committee’s Legislative - Regulatory Task Group continues to meet and discuss legislative matters. Below is a summary of the last year of the two year session.
The 2021-22 legislative session came to a conclusion in the wee hours of Thursday, September 1 following the passage/failure of one of the most impactful measures of the session. SB 846 by Senator Dodd extends the operations of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Facility from 2025 to 2030 and provides a $1.4 billion loan to PG&E to facilitate the extension. A top priority of Governor Newsom, the Diablo Canyon extension was the bill of all bills in the final days of session.
There were plenty of other high-profile climate and energy proposals voted on in the final couple of days. A package of bills to increase California’s climate and clean energy ambitions, from putting more stringent greenhouse gas reduction goals for 2030 (AB 2133 (Quirk)) or a 2045 goal to achieve carbon neutrality (AB 1297 (Muratsuchi)) to interim clean energy targets on the way to 100% clean energy by 2045 (SB 1020 (Laird)), the end of the session has put California on a new path to confront climate change.
In addition to these significant policy bills, the final budget for Fiscal Year 2022-23 provided billions of dollars for electric vehicles and hundreds of millions of dollars to decarbonize homes, businesses, and industries. A new program at the California Energy Commission will receive $100 million to provide rebates and other incentives to homeowners to install energy efficient electric appliances, energy efficiency measures, demand flexibility measures, wiring and panel upgrades, building infrastructure upgrades, efficient air conditioning systems.
The end-of-session scrum also provided some foresight into what may be an issue CCAs must fight in the 2023 legislative session. In response to the Governor’s Diablo Canyon proposal, a handful of Assemblymembers crafted an alternative proposal that would provide funding and policy provisions to incentivize the acceleration of constructing and interconnection of more clean energy generation resources. One such provision sought to penalize load-serving entities (LSEs) with prior Resource Adequacy citations or penalties by barring those LSEs from adding Item 7
2 new customers or increasing their load. CalCCA and individual CCAs did a hard press on this provision and the alternative proposal and successfully kept the concept from gaining any traction. Despite winning this round, it is possible, and maybe even likely, that a similar proposal resurfaces next year.
The following chart provides an overview of bills that staff, Pacific Policy Group, and the Community Advisory Committee’s Legislative - Regulatory Task Group monitored and engaged on throughout the year. It also shows those bills where VCE took a position.
Measure Summary Outcome VCE
Position
CalCCA
Position
SB 846
(Dodd)
Extends the operation of the Diablo
Canyon Nuclear Facility to 2030 and
loans PG&E $1.4 billion to facilitate
the extension.
Passed Legislature None None
AB 1297
(Muratsuchi)
Requires California to be carbon
neutral by the year 2045. Passed Legislature None None
AB 2133
(Quirk)
Increases the state’s 2030 climate
goals from 40% below 1990 levels to
55% below 1990 levels
Failed
Asm. Floor None None
SB 905
(Caballero)
Requires the CA Air Resources Board
to create a program and regulatory
framework for Carbon Capture and
Sequestration (CCS) projects
Passed Legislature None None
SB 1020
(Laird)
Requires load-serving entities to
procure a minimum of carbon-free
energy resources to reach goals of
90% carbon-free by 2035 and 95%
by 2040. In addition, all state
agencies shall be served by 100%
carbon free energy by 2035.
Passed Legislature None
None
(MCE and
Sonoma
Supported)
SB 1137
(Gonzalez)
Prohibits the permitting for new oil &
gas wells within 3200 feet of a home,
school, hospital, or other sensitive
receptor.
Passed Legislature None None
AB 1814
(Grayson)
Sought to authorize CCAs to submit
applications to the CPUC to receive
funding to administer
transportation electrification
programs in their service areas
Failed
Assembly U&E Support Sponsor
Item 7
3 SB 833
(Dodd)
Sought to require the CEC to
implement a grant program to for
local governments to develop
community energy resilience plans
Failed
Senate Approps Support None
SB 881 (Min)
Sought to authorize the CPUC to
assess penalties or require
additional procurement, which
could be undertaken by an IOU, of
an LSE who fails to meet its
procurement obligations in its IRP.
Failed
Senate Approps
Oppose
Unless
Amended
Oppose