Energy

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires each electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or electrical cooperative, or any other entity that offers electrical service, except as provided, to develop a standard contract or tariff providing for net energy metering, and to make this standard contract or tariff available to eligible customer-generators using renewable electrical generation facilities, as specified. Pursuant to its authority, the commission issued a decision revising net energy metering tariff and subtariffs, commonly known as the net billing tariff. Existing law authorizes an eligible customer-generator with multiple meters to aggregate the electrical load of the meters located on the property where the renewable electrical generation facility is located and on all property adjacent or contiguous to the property on which the renewable electrical generation facility is located, if those properties are solely owned, leased, or rented by the eligible customer-generator, as provided. This bill would require the commission, for purposes of certain net energy metering contracts or tariffs, to ensure that logistics businesses and manufacturing businesses are eligible customer-generators for purposes of aggregating multiple meters, as described above, if the commission extends the application of that provision. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 a specified reason.

Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, sets forth the requirements for the adoption, publication, review, and implementation of regulations by state agencies. The Safe Drinking Water, Wildfire Prevention, Drought Preparedness, and Clean Air Bond Act of 2024 (act) , approved by the voters as Proposition 4 at the November 5, 2024, statewide general election, authorized the issuance of bonds in the amount of $10,000,000,000 pursuant to the State General Obligation Bond Law to finance projects for safe drinking water, drought, flood, and water resilience, wildfire and forest resilience, coastal resilience, extreme heat mitigation, biodiversity and nature-based climate solutions, climate-smart, sustainable, and resilient farms, ranches, and working lands, park creation and outdoor access, and clean air programs. Existing law authorizes certain regulations needed to effectuate or implement programs of the act to be adopted as emergency regulations in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Act, as provided. Existing law requires the emergency regulations to be filed with the Office of Administrative Law and requires the emergency regulations to remain in effect until repealed or amended by the adopting state agency. This bill, notwithstanding the above, would exempt the adoption of regulations for purposes of developing and adopting program guidelines and selection criteria needed to effectuate or implement programs of the act from the requirements of the Administrative Procedure Act, as provided. The bill would require a state entity that receives funding to administer a competitive grant program established using the Administrative Procedure Act exemption to do certain things, including, among other things, to develop draft project solicitation and evaluation guidelines, to transmit copies of the draft guidelines to the fiscal committees and to the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature, to hold a noticed public meeting on the draft guidelines, and to submit the final guidelines to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, except as provided. The bill would require the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency to post an electronic form of the guidelines submitted by a state entity and the subsequent verifications on the Natural Resources Agency's internet website. The bill would authorize the use of certain previously developed program guidelines and selection criteria for these purposes, as provided. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Under existing law, the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources during certain compliance periods up to December 31, 2030. Existing law provides that a local publicly owned electric utility is not required to procure a certain amount of eligible renewable energy resources if, during a year within those compliance periods, the local publicly owned electric utility receives more than 40% of its retail sales from large hydroelectric generation under an ownership agreement or contract in effect as of January 1, 2018. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to establish appropriate multiyear compliance periods for local publicly owned electric utilities beyond December 31, 2030. This bill would provide that the provision related to the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources by local publicly owned electric utilities also applies to the compliance periods established by the Energy Commission.

Existing state sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state of, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. The Sales and Use Tax Law provides various exemptions from those taxes, including a partial exemption for the sale of, or the storage, use, or consumption of, qualified tangible personal property purchased for use by a qualified person to be used primarily in any stage of the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling of tangible personal property, beginning at the point any raw materials are received by the qualified person and introduced into the process and ending at the point at which the manufacturing, processing, refining, fabricating, or recycling has altered tangible personal property to its completed form, including packaging, if required. Existing law (backfill requirement) requires an amount that equals the estimated revenue loss to the General Fund from the allowance of the above-described exemptions, with the concurrence of the Department of Finance, to be transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the General Fund, as prescribed. This bill would, beginning July 1, 2027, define "processing" to include the altering, converting, conditioning, or other preparation of hydrogen or electricity for the purposes of selling the hydrogen for fueling or the electricity for charging a vehicle and would define "qualified tangible personal property" to include hydrogen fueling station equipment and charging station equipment and component parts used as an integral part of those activities. By expanding the scope of the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would provide that the backfill requirement does not apply with respect to the exemptions allowed by the bill, as specified. Existing law requires any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure to contain, among other things, specific goals, purposes, and objectives that the tax expenditure will achieve, detailed performance indicators, and data collection requirements. This bill would include additional information required for any bill authorizing a new tax expenditure. 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. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.

Existing law defines a "renewable electrical generation facility" as a facility that uses biomass, solar thermal, photovoltaic, wind, geothermal, fuel cells or linear generators that use specified fuels, small hydroelectric generation of 30 megawatts or less, digester gas, municipal solid waste conversion, landfill gas, ocean wave, ocean thermal, or tidal current, and that meets other specified requirements. Existing law incorporates that definition into various programs, including the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from electrical generating facilities that meet that definition of "renewable electrical generation facility," and the net energy metering program, in which residential customers, small commercial customers, and commercial, industrial, or agricultural customers of an electrical utility, who use renewable electrical generation facilities, are eligible to participate, as specified. This bill would expand the definition of "renewable electrical generation facility" to include a facility that converts hydrogen gas to electricity in a turbine and meets specified criteria, including that the hydrogen used in the turbine is solely derived from an eligible renewable resource, as specified, or through the electrolysis of water, and exclusively uses electricity generated from another renewable electrical generation facility, and that the manufacturing of the hydrogen does not result in resource shuffling or use unbundled renewable energy credits, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, 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 a specified reason. This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

(1) Existing law authorizes the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to authorize the conversion of not more than 250 wells for use as gravity-based energy storage wells to evaluate their use, including the establishment of appropriate operating conditions and physical parameters to safely store and generate energy. Existing law repeals this authorization on January 1, 2035, and would specify that authorizations issued by the supervisor terminate on that date. This bill would correct an erroneous cross reference for that authorization. (2) Existing law defines "task force" as the Wildfire and Forest Resilience Task Force established by the Governor to oversee the implementation of Executive Order No. B-52-18, and required the task force to, among other things, on January 1, 2022, develop a comprehensive implementation strategy to track and ensure the achievement of the goals and key actions identified in "California's Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan" issued by the task force in January 2021, as provided. This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the definition of "task force." (3) Existing law requires the State Lands Commission to adopt regulations relating to ballast water, as provided. Existing law requires the commission to adopt a regulation that requires an owner or operator of a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that operates on the waters of the state to comply with specified federal laws, as provided. Existing law requires the commission to consult with the United States Coast Guard to attempt to identify an alternative, environmentally sound method of ballast water management under specified circumstances in accordance with specified federal laws, as provided. This bill would require the commission to adopt a regulation that requires an owner or operator of a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water that operates on the waters of the state to instead comply with different specified federal law. The bill would also require the commission to consult with the United States Coast Guard on an alternative, environmentally sound method of ballast water management under specified circumstances in accordance with additional federal law. (4) Existing law lifts, until February 1, 2066, the use restrictions imposed by the granting statutes and the public trust doctrine with respect to after-acquired lands, property that is not original tidelands or submerged lands, title to which was not derived from the granting statutes, that were acquired with public trust funds derived from port operations as specified, in Jack London Square and authorizes the Port of Oakland to lease these lands for any purpose subject to specified conditions. Existing law authorizes the port to lease after-acquired lands for a nontrust use only if the port finds specified conditions are met, including, among other conditions, that the nontrust uses will not impair or harm existing public access or public trust uses and are intended to attract the statewide public to Jack London Square and the waterfront to promote increased use and enjoyment of the area. Existing law requires the port to make the findings that these specified conditions are met for each proposed nontrust lease at a public meeting. This bill would correct an erroneous cross-reference relating to that requirement.

(1) Upon receipt of a petition or resolution seeking reorganization of a school district, existing law requires a county committee on school district reorganization to hold one or more public hearings on the petition or resolution and, following the hearing or hearings, to grant or deny the petition. If the county committee grants the petition, existing law requires it to adopt a tentative recommendation and hold one or more further public hearings in the area proposed for reorganization. Following the last public hearing, existing law authorizes the county committee to adopt a final recommendation and requires the county committee to (A) transmit that recommendation with the petition or resolution to the State Board of Education for hearing, (B) transmit the petition to the state board and order the reorganization granted, or (C) transmit the petition to the state board and order that an election be held. Existing law authorizes an action of the county committee under (B) or (C) to be appealed to the state board, as specified. Existing law authorizes the state board to approve proposals for the reorganization of school districts if the state board determines that certain conditions are substantially met, and also authorizes the state board to approve a proposal for the reorganization of school districts if the state board determines that it is not practical or possible to apply the specified criteria literally, and that the circumstances with respect to the proposal provide an exceptional situation sufficient to justify approval of the proposal. If the state board approves the plans and recommendations for the unification or other reorganization of the school districts in any area, existing law requires the county superintendent of schools, within 35 days after being notified of that approval, to call an election in the territory of the districts as determined by the state board, as specified. This bill, notwithstanding any other law, and until January 1, 2030, would authorize the state board to approve a proposal for the reorganization of school districts if the governing board of a school district that is an excess tax entity, as specified, with an enrollment of fewer than 10,000 pupils and the governing board or body of a city, county, special district, or local agency formation commission with a population of more than 10,000 residents that adopted a resolution seeking reorganization of the original school district, have executed one or more legally binding and enforceable written agreements intended to effectuate the reorganization, and the state board determines that the agreements satisfactorily address the specified criteria and provide an exceptional situation sufficient to justify approval of the proposed reorganization. (2) Existing law prohibits the reorganization of a school district or districts from affecting the classification of certificated employees already employed by a school district affected by the reorganization and from affecting the rights of persons employed in positions not requiring certification qualifications to retain the salary, leaves, and other benefits that they would have had if the reorganization had not occurred. Existing law requires that persons employed in positions not requiring certification qualifications in a school district whose territory is included in a unification of districts continue as employees of the unified school district for not less than 2 years and prohibits those persons from being deprived, by reason of the unification, of any benefit that they would have had if the unification had not taken place. When a school district is reorganized as described in this bill, the bill would (A) require, in addition to the above-prescribed prohibitions, both permanent and probationary certificated and noncertificated employees who elect to remain employees of reorganized portion of the divided district to have the same rights as persons employed in positions not requiring certification qualifications in a school district whose territory is included in a unification of districts, including, but not limited to, continuing as employees of the reorganized portion of the divided district for not less than 2 years and (B) require, notwithstanding any other law, any collective bargaining agreement in effect immediately before the effective date of reorganization to remain in full force and effect until the expiration or renewal of the agreement, as specified. (3) When a school district is reorganized and the allocation of funds, property, and obligations are not fixed by terms, conditions, or recommendations as provided by law, existing law requires the funds, property, and obligations of a former district to be allocated in a specified manner. Existing law authorizes a school district to impose qualified special taxes, as defined, subject to specified constitutional and statutory provisions. When a school district is reorganized as described in this bill, the bill would authorize the reorganized portion of the divided school district and the remaining portion of the divided school district, as defined, to continue to impose within their respective geographical boundaries any qualified special taxes imposed in the boundaries of the original school district, as defined, before it was divided.

Under existing law, the purpose of the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority Act is to advance the state's goals of reducing the levels of greenhouse gas emissions, increasing the deployment of sustainable and renewable energy sources, implementing measures that increase the efficiency of the use of energy, creating high quality employment opportunities, and lessening the state's dependence on fossil fuels and to that end to provide an alternative method of financing in providing and promoting the establishment of facilities utilizing alternative methods and sources of energy and facilities needed for the development and commercialization of advanced transportation technologies. Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority to carry out that purpose. Existing Public Utilities Commission decisions established the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing program, administered by the authority and funded through charges collected by specified electrical corporations and gas corporations from their ratepayers. This bill would require the authority to administer the GoGreen Program, previously known as the California Hub for Energy Efficiency Financing program, and would authorize the authority to use moneys collected from the ratepayers of electrical and gas corporations, as directed by the commission, and other available funding sources, consistent with the program's purposes. The bill would require the program to provide financing assistance to participating lenders to support residents in financing eligible energy efficiency and decarbonization measures at costs that are competitive with or below market rates. The bill would authorize the authority to receive, administer, and deploy additional moneys from federal, state, local, or private sources to support and expand the GoGreen Program, if those moneys are used in a manner consistent with the program's goals and the parameters of the funding source. The bill would create the GoGreen Program Fund in the State Treasury and would make all moneys in the fund available, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the authority for expenditure, as provided.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission to require electrical corporations and gas corporations to perform home weatherization services, as described, for low-income customers if the commission determines that a significant need for those services exists in the corporation's service territory, taking into consideration both the cost-effectiveness of the services and the policy of reducing the hardships facing low-income households, as specified. This bill would require the commission to take into consideration the cost-effectiveness of the services as a whole and to require electrical corporations and gas corporations, in performing those home weatherization services, to prioritize integration of health, safety, and indoor air quality improvement measures necessary to enable whole-home improvements, coordinated delivery across fuel types and housing types, conditions, and tenancy structures, and program design that allows for tenant-level benefits where upgrades occur in rental properties, while preserving flexibility in program design. The bill would authorize the commission to consider nonenergy benefits when establishing priorities for program design. The bill would require the commission to ensure that weatherization program costs do not result in undue cost burdens for ratepayers. The bill would require the commission to require electrical and gas corporations to report on measurable household affordability outcomes, as specified. The bill would require the commission to ensure meaningful public and stakeholder input on the design and implementation of these low-income programs, as provided. The bill would require the commission to ensure that diverse contracting requirements are consistent with specified plans submitted to the commission and certain guidelines. The bill would revise the definition of "weatherization" for these purposes, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, this 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 a specified reason.

Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Controller, and the Director of Finance to develop and update as necessary, standards and criteria to be reviewed and adopted by the State Board of Education and to be used by local educational agencies in the development of annual budgets and the management of subsequent expenditures from that budget, as specified. Existing law requires these standards and criteria to include, among other things, multiyear commitments, including cost-of-living adjustments. This bill would specify that the multiyear commitments are for only the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would require the state board, on or before March 1, 2027, to amend specified related regulations, as provided, and would require the State Department of Education to modify the Standardized Account Code Structure reporting software infrastructure to eliminate reporting fields for a 2nd subsequent fiscal year and, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, ensure that the system reflects a 2-year operational and forecasting structure. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district and each county board of education, on or before July 1 of each year, to adopt a budget, as specified, and requires that budget to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, as applicable, to, among other things, examine the adopted budget to determine whether it complies with the standards and criteria adopted by the state board for local educational agency budgets and determine whether the adopted budget (1) will allow the school district or county office of education to meet its financial obligations during the fiscal year and (2) is consistent with a financial plan that will enable the school district or county office of education to satisfy its multiyear financial commitments. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools to certify whether the school district or county office of education is able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year and for the subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires (1) a negative certification to be assigned to any school district or county office of education that will be unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year or the subsequent fiscal year, (2) a qualified certification to be assigned to the school district or county office of education that may not meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year or 2 subsequent fiscal years, and (3) a positive certification to be assigned to a school district or county office of education that will meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires a copy of the school district's or county superintendent's certification to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. The bill would instead only require certification for the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year, and would require determinations for qualified and positive certifications to instead be assigned based only on the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions.