Office of the Mayor
City of Santa Rosa
100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Room 10
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
June 15, 2022
The Honorable Bill Dodd
California State Senate
1021 O Street, Room 6620
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 833 (Dodd) Community Energy Resilience Act of 2022 [As Amended March 21, 2022] –
SUPPORT
Dear Senator Dodd:
On behalf of the City of Santa Rosa, I write in support of your bill SB 833 (Dodd) which would require the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop and implement a grant program for local governments to develop community energy resilience plans, as specified, to address power outages.
This bill would lead to important discussions on how to increase collaboration on innovative approaches in water technology and management practices to meet climate change head on in alignment with the state’s climate goals and would result in recommendations for streamlined regulations and eliminating barriers to the innovation or adoption of new water technologies.
The City of Santa Rosa is committed to impede the effects of climate change by making a conscious effort to plan responsibly and prepare for our next climate-related disaster. Further, Santa Rosa has taken important steps to strengthen our actions surrounding climate change, and the City’s legislative platform includes support for legislation that coordinates public safety shut off (PSPS) events between customers, regulators, government officials, and public safety partners.
Like much of California in recent years, The City Santa Rosa experienced catastrophic wildfire that ravaged through the Santa Rosa community. These fires, often ignited by electrical utility infrastructure, have led to de-energization events to mitigate the risk of electric utility equipment igniting fires. These outages present an additional challenge of ensuring that residents and critical facilities have continual and critical access to power. These emergency backup plans are particularly essential in the context of providing reliable power to functional and special needs residents and 24/7 access to water flows that provide a lifesaving firefighting resource.
Office of the Mayor
City of Santa Rosa
100 Santa Rosa Avenue, Room 10
Santa Rosa, CA 95404
We appreciate that SB 833 does not prescribe specific projects, but would encourage collaboration between local governments, community stakeholders, and electric utilities to develop needed community energy resiliency plans. The identification of critical facilities using a resilience valuation index to inform planning efforts that are aligned with the State’s climate policies and air quality goals will ensure that local governments have the plans in place necessary to meet the next disaster while simultaneously ensuring such plans align with the states climate goals.
For these reasons, we are in strong support of SB 833 and applaud your leadership on this issue, ensuring that communities like ours are prepared should disaster strike again. Should you have any questions please contact our legislative advocate, Sharon Gonsalves, with the Renne Public Policy Group, at (916) 974-9270.
Sincerely,
Chris Rogers
Mayor, City of Santa Rosa
CC: Senator Mike McGuire
Assemblymember Jim Wood
Assemblymember Marc Levine