BILL NUMBER: AB 197	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia

                        JANUARY 28, 2015

   An act to add Sections 399.23 and 636 to, and to repeal and add
Section 454.55 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to public
utilities.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 197, as introduced, Eduardo Garcia. Public utilities: renewable
resources.
   (1) The Public Utilities Act requires the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC), in consultation with the Independent System
Operator, to establish resource adequacy requirements for all
load-serving entities, including electrical corporations, in
accordance with specified objectives. The act further requires each
load-serving entity to maintain physical generating capacity adequate
to meet its load requirements, including peak demand and planning
and operating reserves, deliverable to locations and at times as may
be necessary to provide reliable electric service.
   The California Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program,
requires a retail seller of electricity and local publicly owned
electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of
electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources for
specified compliance periods, sufficient to ensure that the
procurement of electricity products from those resources achieves 25%
of retail sales by December 31, 2016 and 33% of retail sales by
December 31, 2020, and in all subsequent years. The RPS program,
consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit
eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability
principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a balanced
portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy
resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content
requirements.
   This bill would state the policy of the state to require all
retail sellers of electricity, including investor-owned electrical
corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities, to procure
all available cost-effective, reliable, and feasible energy
efficiency, demand response, and renewable resources, so as to
achieve grid reliability and greenhouse gases emission reductions
simultaneously, in the most cost-effective and affordable manner
practicable. The bill would require that procurement not be limited
by any targets established for these resources by statute or
regulatory decision.
   (2) The Public Utilities Act requires the PUC to review and adopt
a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with
specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. The act
requires that an electrical corporation's proposed procurement plan
include certain elements, including a showing that the electrical
corporation will first meet its unmet needs through all available
energy efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost
effective, reliable, and feasible. The act requires the PUC, in
consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, to identify all potentially achievable
cost-effective electricity efficiency savings and to establish
efficiency targets for electrical corporations to achieve pursuant to
their procurement plan.
   This bill would require electrical corporations to procure all
available cost-effective, reliable, and feasible energy efficiency,
demand response, and renewable energy resources, and to consider
procuring available cost-effective energy storage technologies. The
bill would require the PUC to continue to establish efficiency
targets for an electrical corporation pursuant to the utility's
procurement plan.
   (3) The Public Utilities Act requires an electrical corporation or
a local publicly-owned electric utility, in a long-term plan or a
procurement plan, respectively, to adopt a strategy applicable both
to a newly constructed or repowered generation owned and procured by
the electrical corporation or local publicly owned electric utility
to achieve efficiency in the use of fossil fuels and to address
carbon emissions.
   This bill would require an electrical corporation, in a long-term
plan, or local publicly owned electric utility, in a procurement
plan, to adopt a long-term procurement strategy to achieve a target
of procuring 50% of its electricity products from eligible renewable
energy resources by December 31, 2030. The bill would require that
each long-term plan adopted by an electrical corporation or
procurement plan implemented by a local publicly owned electric
utility be updated not less than every 3 years and released to the
public, the Governor, and the Legislature, and would require that
each plan update include estimated emissions of greenhouse gases that
are expected to result from implementation of the plan for each
5-year period through December 31, 2030.
   (4) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or
any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
Public Utilities Commission is a crime.
   Because the provisions of this bill are within the act, a
violation of the requirements would impose a state-mandated local
program by expanding the definition of a crime.
   (5)  The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 399.23 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
   399.23.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) There is increasing uncertainty with regard to the
availability of California's fleet of older powerplants, as well as
the state's ability to reduce greenhouse gas emissions beyond the
target established for 2020, creating the need for both increased
electrical generation from renewable energy resources and reduced
demand through energy efficiency and demand response.
   (2) It is in the best interest of the electricity consumers of
this state that sufficient renewable energy generation supply and
demand-side resources are procured to meet electricity demand, and
that this supply and these resources provide the highest value,
including providing safe, reliable, and affordable electricity
supplies and minimizing air quality impacts to consumers in the most
cost-effective manner practicable.
   (3) Renewable energy generation from renewable energy resources
that qualify as local capacity resources are essential to maintaining
reliable electricity deliveries.
   (4) There are substantial high-quality renewable energy resources
in the County of Imperial near the Salton Sea with the ability to
reduce greenhouse gas emissions that can generate electricity in a
manner that will simultaneously meet local capacity requirements,
maintain grid reliability, and provide significant local and regional
environmental and economic development benefits.
   (5) The commitment to a loading order of preferred resources in
the manner prescribed in Section 454.55 is necessary to the continued
health and safety of California electric consumers.
   (b) Consistent with the loading order adopted by the Energy
Commission and the commission that sets forth state policy for
preferred resources to meet electrical load needs, it is the intent
of the Legislature, and the policy of the state, that all retail
sellers of electricity, including investor-owned electrical
corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities, shall
procure all available cost-effective, reliable, and feasible energy
efficiency, demand response, and renewable energy resources, so as to
achieve grid reliability and greenhouse gases emission reductions
simultaneously, in the most cost-effective and affordable manner
practicable. Procurement shall not be limited by any targets
established for these resources by statute or regulatory decision.
  SEC. 2.  Section 454.55 of the Public Utilities Code is repealed.

   454.55.  The commission, in consultation with the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, shall identify all
potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings
and establish efficiency targets for an electrical corporation to
achieve pursuant to Section 454.5. 
  SEC. 3.  Section 454.55 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   454.55.  Pursuant to a loading order of preferred resources to
meet electricity demand in a manner that improves the state's air
quality, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and preserves electric
grid reliability, electrical corporations shall procure all available
cost-effective, reliable, and feasible energy efficiency, demand
response, and renewable energy resources, and shall consider
procuring available cost-effective energy storage technologies.
Procurement of conventional or gas-fired generation shall only be
undertaken to meet residual need forecasted for the long-term
planning period that is not otherwise met by preferred resources. In
measuring the cost-effectiveness of the procurement of preferred
resources, the commission shall determine and include the value of
grid reliability, including the value of grid reliability of
diversity in renewable electric generation by resource type, size,
and location, both alone and in combination with nontransmission
alternatives, and local environmental benefits provided by each
renewable energy resource type technology in disadvantaged
communities that have been identified by the California Environmental
Protection Agency pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety
Code. This procurement shall not be limited by any targets
established for these resources by statute or regulatory decision.
However, the commission shall continue to establish efficiency
targets for an electrical corporation to achieve pursuant to Section
454.5.
  SEC. 4.  Section 636 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   636.  (a) In a long-term plan adopted by an electrical corporation
or in a procurement plan implemented by a local publicly owned
electric utility, the electrical corporation or local publicly owned
electric utility shall adopt a long-term procurement strategy to
achieve a target of procuring 50 percent of its electricity products
from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined in Section
399.12, by December 31, 2030, consistent with Section 454.55.
   (b) Each long-term plan adopted by an electrical corporation or
procurement plan implemented by a local publicly owned electric
utility shall be updated not less than every three years and released
to the public, the Governor, and the Legislature. Each plan update
shall include estimated emissions of greenhouse gases that are
expected to result from implementation of the plan for each five-year
period through December 31, 2030.
  SEC. 5.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.