California Renewables Portfolio Standards Program.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities, as defined, are under the direction of their governing boards. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires the PUC to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieve 33% by December 31, 2020, 44% by December 31, 2024, 52% by December 31, 2027, and 60% by December 31, 2030. The program additionally requires each local publicly owned electric utility, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources to achieve the procurement requirements established by the program. This bill would require that retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources so that the total kilowatthours of those products sold to their retail end-use customers achieve 68% of retail sales by December 31, 2033, 76% by December 31, 2036, and 80% by December 31, 2038. The bill would revise the definition of "eligible renewable resource" for purposes of the program to include, on and after January 1, 2026, an electrical generation facility that has a specified point source emission level of carbon dioxide equivalent at, or below, a specified level, if the marginal increase in the cost of procurement from other eligible renewable energy resources exceeds a specified level. The bill would revise the definition of "eligible renewable resource" to include, on and after January 1, 2030, hydroelectric generation facilities of any generation capacity. The bill would require the State Air Resources Board to develop a methodology to determine whether an electric generation facility is a zero-carbon resource. The bill would require the PUC, on or before January 1, 2021, to submit to the Legislature a report identifying all statutory and regulatory requirements and mandates that pertain to, or overlap with, achieving the state's clean energy goals and identifying and providing options to prevent related negative outcomes, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain of the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the PUC implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. By expanding the requirements placed upon a local publicly owned electric utility, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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 specified reasons.