Legislative Update June 2018
The deadline for a bill to pass out of their house of origin occurred on June 1, 2018. The following is a short list of important bills that met this deadline by subject area. A full list of active bills we are currently tracking can be found at our Legislative Center.
Air Quality/Pollution:
SB 64 (Wieckowski): This bill would require California balancing authorities to provide specified data on fossil fuel generation quarterly to the ARB. ARB would then be authorized to provide this information to air districts who would be authorized to impose limits on generators on days in which emission are forecasted to exceed federal or state ambient air quality standards. The CPUC and Energy Commission would also be authorized to study how to reduce generation and prioritize the retirement of natural gas fired units to minimize localized air pollution in disadvantaged communities. This would become part of the integrated resource planning process.
Energy Data
SB 782 (Skinner): This bill would require the creation of global identifier system for each building in California, to match this with electric and gas utility customers in each building, and to further streamline data request authorization by customers.
CAISO Expansion
AB 813 (Holden): This bill would set requirements for the creation and participation in a multi-state regional transmission system organization.
Climate Change/GHGs
AB 2195 (Chau): This bill would require the quantifying and reporting of the release, loss, and uncombusted natural gas or flared natural gas from all natural gas imported into the state from out-of-state sources.
AB 3119 (G. Fletcher): This bill would create the San Diego International Airport Mobility and Sustainability Committee to address specified issues.
AB 3232 (Friedman): This bill would require the Energy Commission to assess the potential to reduce GHG emission from residential and commercial building stock by at least 40$ below 1990 levels by January 1, 2030 and require a report in the IEPR on emissions from these building stocks.
SB 1013 (Lara): This bill would regulate hydrofluorocarbons from refrigeration equipment in light of the federal SNAP regulation being vacated and withdrawn.
General Plans
SB 1035 (Jackson): would address update requirements to safety elements of general plans to address climate adaptation and resiliency.
Environmental Justice
AB 2636 (Garcia): This bill would create an environmental justice fund from penalties, settlements, and other funds from Attorney General actions that would be used to investigate and litigate environmental justice issues in specified communities.
Nuclear
SB 1090 (Monning): This bill would address the funding of community impact mitigation settlements for decommissioning of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
Rates and Tariffs
SB 819 (Hill): This bill would limit penalty rate recovery and uninsured expenses recovery where a gas or electric utility is found to have not reasonably maintained its facility rate recovery.
Safety/Security
There is a major focus on Fire Prevention in this legislative section. The following bills deal with fire and fire mitigation, among other issues:
AB 3257 (Committee on Nature Resources): this bill would require fire prevention reporting to the Legislature.
SB 901 (Dodd): This bill would require electric utilities to prepare wildfire mitigation plans, including when to denergize electric lines and deactivate reclosures, and notify customers under a defined priority for critical first responders, healthcare facilities, and telecom operators.
SB 1088 (Dodd): This bill would require adoption of standards and CPUC approved safety, reliability, and resiliency plans for major events, including wildfire.
SB 1205 (Hill): This bill would require gas and electrical corporations to report to the CPUC any self-identified statutory or regulatory violations that poses a significant safety threat, statewide impact, affects a large geographical regional or involves fraud, sabotage, or falsification of records, or other deception.
Transportation
SB 1328 (Beall): requires the assessment of mileage-based revenue collection systems as an alternative to existing gas tax system
A full list of active bills we are currently tracking can be found at our Legislative Center.
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