Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979: energy storage systems and electric vehicle charging infrastructure: Native American tribes.

The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) . Existing law requires the Energy Commission, working with the State Air Resources Board and the Public Utilities Commission, to prepare and bienially update a statewide assessment of the electric vehicle charging infrastructure needed to support the levels of electric vehicle adoption required for the state to meet its goals of putting at least 5,000,000 zero-emission vehicles on California roads by 2030 and of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030. The Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 authorizes a school, hospital, public care institution, or unit of local government to submit an application to the Energy Commission for an allocation for the purpose of financing all or a portion of the costs incurred in implementing a project, which includes an energy audit, energy conservation and operating procedure, or energy conservation measure in an existing or planned building or facility, an energy conservation project, or a technical assistance program. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to approve only those applications for projects that will recover costs through savings in the cost of energy to the eligible institution during the repayment period of the allocation. Existing law creates the State Energy Conservation Assistance Account, which is continuously appropriated to the Energy Commission for purposes of the act. Under existing law, the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 is repealed on January 1, 2028, as specified. This bill would require the Energy Commission, in administering the account, to provide grants and loans to local governments and public institutions to maximize energy use savings, expand installation of energy storage systems, and expand the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure, including technical assistance, demonstrations, and identification and implementation of cost-effective energy efficiency, energy storage, and electric vehicle charging infrastructure measures and programs in existing and planned buildings or facilities. The bill would authorize an eligible institution to propose to bundle multiple projects where the determination of whether the costs of the projects will be recovered through savings during the repayment period of the allocation would be determined by the savings of those multiple projects bundled together. The bill would make changes to terminology used in the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in the account can be expended, this bill would make an appropriation. The bill would include Native American tribes as entities eligible for financial assistance under the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979, thereby expanding the purposes for which moneys in the continuously appropriated account can be used and making an appropriation. The bill would establish a subaccount within the account to track the award and repayment of loans to tribes. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the subaccount to the commission for loans only to tribes, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to transfer moneys from the account to the subaccount and from the subaccount to the account.