Bill Text: CA AB796 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Financial assistance: Clean Energy Economy and Jobs

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2012-09-27 - Consideration of Governor's veto pending. [AB796 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB796-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 796	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 2, 2011
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JULY 13, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 11, 2011
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 25, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blumenfield
   (Coauthor: Assembly Member Wieckowski)

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2011

   An act to amend Section 44559.3 of the Health and Safety Code,
  and to add and repeal Division 16.1 (commencing with Section
26050) of the Public Resources Code,   relating to financial
assistance.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 796, as amended, Blumenfield. Financial assistance: Capital
Access Loan  Program.   Program: Clean Energy
Economy and Jobs Incentive Program. 
   Existing law establishes the Capital Access Loan Program for small
businesses, administered by the California Pollution Control
Financing Authority (authority), which provides loans through
participating financial institutions to qualifying small businesses.
Existing law requires the authority to create a loss reserve account
for each financial institution in order to provide protection against
loss. The loss reserve account for a financial institution consists
of moneys paid as fees by borrowers and the financial institution,
moneys transferred to the account from a small business assistance
fund, matching federal moneys, and other moneys provided by the
authority or other source. Existing law requires the combined amount
to be deposited by the participating financial institution into any
individual loss reserve account over a 3-year period, in connection
with any single borrower or any group of borrowers among which a
common enterprise exists, to be not more than $100,000.
   This bill would increase this maximum contribution by the
financial institution to $200,000, if the matching contribution made
by the authority is funded exclusively from funds made available
pursuant to the federal Small Business Jobs Act of 2010. The bill
would limit the amount of those funds used for matching contributions
for deposits exceeding $100,000 to not more than 50% of the
available funds. 
   Existing law establishes the California Alternative Energy and
Advanced Transportation Financing Authority and requires the
authority to provide financial assistance in the form of a sale and
use tax exclusion for applicants to promote the creation of
California-based manufacturing, California-based jobs, the reduction
of greenhouse gases, or reductions in air and water pollution or
energy consumption.  
   This bill would require the authority to establish the Clean
Energy Economy and Jobs Incentive Program to provide financial
assistance in the form of specified financing mechanisms for an
applicant to promote the commercialization and manufacturing of a
project in eligible clean energy technology areas. The bill would
establish the Clean Energy Economy and Jobs Incentive Program Fund in
the State Treasury and would, upon appropriation by the Legislature,
authorize the authority to expend moneys in the fund to implement
the program. The bill would repeal the program on January 1, 2018.

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 44559.3 of the Health and Safety Code is
amended to read:
   44559.3.  (a) The authority shall establish a loss reserve account
for each financial institution with which the authority makes a
contract.
   (b) The loss reserve account for a financial institution shall
consist of moneys paid as fees by borrowers and the financial
institution, moneys transferred to the account from a small business
assistance fund, any matching federal moneys, and any other moneys
provided by the authority or other source.
   (c) Notwithstanding any other law, the authority may establish and
maintain loss reserve accounts with a financial institution under
 such policies   any policies that  as the
authority may adopt.
   (d) All moneys in a loss reserve account established pursuant to
this article are the exclusive property of, and solely controlled by,
the authority. Interest or income earned on moneys credited to the
loss reserve account shall be deemed to be part of the loss reserve
account. The authority may withdraw from the loss reserve account
 all   or a portion of the  interest or
other income that has been credited to the loss reserve account.
 A   Any  withdrawal made pursuant to this
subdivision may be made prior to paying any claim and shall be used
for the sole purpose of offsetting costs associated with carrying out
the program, including administrative costs and loss reserve account
contributions.
   (e) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the combined amount
to be deposited by the participating financial institution into an
individual loss reserve account over a three-year period, in
connection with a single borrower or a group of borrowers among which
a common enterprise exists, shall be not more than one hundred
thousand dollars ($100,000).
   (2) (A) The combined amount to be deposited by the participating
financial institution into an individual loss reserve account over a
three-year period, in connection with a single borrower or any group
of borrowers among which a common enterprise exists, shall be not
more than two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000), if the matching
contribution made by the authority is funded exclusively from funds
made available pursuant to the federal Small Business Jobs Act of
2010 (Public Law 111-240).
   (B) The authority shall not use more than 50 percent of the total
funds made available for matching contribution purposes of
subparagraph (A) pursuant to the federal Small Business Jobs Act of
2010 (Public Law 111-240) for deposits exceeding one hundred thousand
dollars ($100,000).
   SEC. 2.    Division 16.1 (commencing with Section
26050) is added to the   Public Resources Code   ,
to read:  

      DIVISION 16.1.  CLEAN ENERGY ECONOMY AND JOBS INCENTIVE PROGRAM


   26050.  As used in this division, the following terms mean the
following:
   (a) "Authority" means the California Alternative Energy and
Advanced Transportation Financing Authority established pursuant to
Section 26004.
   (b) "Biogas" means digester gas, landfill gas, and any gas derived
from an eligible biomass feedstock.
   (c) "Biomass" means an organic material not derived from fossil
fuels, including, but not limited to, agricultural crops,
agricultural wastes and residues, waste pallets, crates, dunnage,
manufacturing and construction wood wastes, landscape and
right-of-way tree trimmings, mill residues that result from milling
lumber, rangeland maintenance residues, biosolids, sludge derived
from organic matter, and wood and wood waste from timbering
operations.
   (1) Agricultural wastes and residues include, but are not limited
to, animal wastes, remains, and tallow, food wastes, recycled cooking
oils, and pure cooking oils.
   (2) Landscape or right-of-way tree trimmings include all solid
waste materials that result from tree or vegetation trimming or
removal to establish or maintain right-of-way on public or private
land for the following purposes:
   (A) Provision of public utilities, including, but not limited to,
natural gas, water, electricity, and telecommunications.
   (B) Fuel hazard reduction resulting in fire protection and
prevention.
   (C) Recreational use.
   (d) "California-based entity" means a corporation or other
business form organized for the transaction of business in California
that has an office in California, and manufactures or plans to
manufacture in California, a product in an eligible technology that
qualifies for financial assistance as determined by the authority.
   (e) "Eligible clean energy technology" means a technology in any
of the following areas:
   (1) A technology that conserves, produces, or processes heat,
space heating, water heating, steam, space cooling, refrigeration,
mechanical energy, electricity, or energy in any form convertible to
those uses that does not expend or use conventional energy fuels and
that uses any of the following energy generating technologies:
   (A) Biogas.
   (B) Biomass.
   (C) Geothermal.
   (D) Solar photovoltaic.
   (E) Solar thermal.
   (F) Wind.
   (2) Emerging commercially competitive transportation-related
technologies that use any of the following:
   (A) Intelligent vehicle highway systems.
   (B) Command, control, and communications for public transit
vehicles and systems.
   (C) Vehicle electrification and related components.
   (D) Transportation fuels that meet or exceed the goal of the
California Low Carbon Fuel Standard pursuant to Executive Order
S/01/07.
   (3) Energy storage technology as defined in subdivision (a) of
Section 2835 of the Public Utilities Code.
   (4) Fuel cells designed for renewable fuel use.
   (f) "Financial assistance" means loans, loan loss reserves,
interest rate reductions, insurance, guarantees or other credit
enhancements or liquidity facilities, contributions of money,
property, labor, or other terms of value, or any combination thereof,
as determined by the resolutions of the authority.
   (g) "Financial institution" means an insured depository
institution or insured credit union, as those terms are defined in
Section 103 of the Riegle Community Development and Regulatory
Improvement Act of 1994 (12 U.S.C. Sec. 4702).
   (h) "Manufacture" means to make, process, prepare, alter, repair,
or finish in whole or in part, or to assemble.
   (i) "Program" means the Clean Energy Economy and Jobs Incentive
Program established pursuant to Section 26051.
   (j) "Project total" means the total capital expenses for an
applicant's project.
   26051.  (a) The authority shall establish the Clean Energy Economy
and Jobs Incentive Program to provide financial assistance to
eligible California-based entities for the manufacturing of eligible
technologies.
   (b) The authority shall only provide financial assistance to a
project that meets all of the following requirements:
   (1) Meets or exceeds the state's energy and environmental goals.
   (2) Promotes instate commercialization and manufacturing capacity
that will establish California as a leader in clean energy
technologies.
   (3) Supports instate manufacturing of eligible clean energy
technology on a scale that is capable of meeting a market demand.
   (4) Maximizes the leveraging of other funding sources.
   (c) A project is eligible for financial assistance if the
applicant demonstrates, to the satisfaction of the authority, all of
the following:
   (1) The eligible clean energy technology is significantly more
energy efficient or cost effective than current comparable products
commercially available and has been researched and developed.
   (2) The project is for the full-scale commercialization or
manufacture of a product to be used as a part of an eligible clean
energy technology within three years of the date of the submission of
the application.
   (3) The financial assistance would accelerate the construction or
expansion of the project.
   (4) The eligible clean technology is manufactured by a
California-based entity that is transitioning from product
development to commercialization.
   (5) Any other criteria established by the authority.
   (d) (1) The financial assistance provided to an applicant shall
not exceed five million dollars ($5,000,000), and shall not be worth
more than 25 percent of the project total as provided by the
applicant.
   (2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the authority may provide
financial assistance of up to ten million dollars ($10,000,000) if
the authority provides notice to the chair of the Joint Legislative
Budget Committee and the chair concurs with the provision of the
financial assistance within 30 days of the notice.
   (e) The financial assistance shall only be provided in partnership
with a financial institution.
   26052.  (a) This division does not require the authority to
promulgate regulations to implement this division until the
Legislature appropriates funds to the authority for the purposes of
this division.
   (b) The implementation of this division is contingent on the
availability of the nonbypassable system benefits charge collected
pursuant to Section 399.8 of the Public Utilities Code, and private
and federal funds for the purpose of developing clean energy
technology.
   (c) On or before January 1, 2015, the Legislative Analyst's Office
shall report to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee on the
effectiveness of the program by evaluating factors, including, but
not limited to, all of the following:
   (1) The number of jobs created by the program in California.
   (2) The number of businesses that have remained in, or relocated
to, California as a result of the program.
   (3) The amount of state and local revenue and economic activity
generated by the program.
   (4) The amount of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, air
pollution, water pollution, and energy consumption.
   26053.  The authority shall make every effort to expedite the
operation of this division, and shall adopt regulations for purposes
of this division and Section 26011.5 as emergency regulations in
accordance with Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. For purposes of
that chapter, including Section 11349.6 of the Government Code, the
adoption of the regulations shall be considered by the Office of
Administrative Law to be necessary for the immediate preservation of
the public peace, health and safety, and general welfare.
   26054.  (a) The Clean Energy Economy and Jobs Incentive Program
Fund is hereby established in the State Treasury, and upon
appropriation by the Legislature, shall be expended by the authority
for the purposes of this division.
   (b) Of the moneys appropriated pursuant to subdivision (a), up to
three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) may be expended by the
authority for the initial administrative costs in implementing this
division.
   (c) The authority may fix fees and other charges to reimburse the
costs of the authority in its administration of this division.
   26055.  This division shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends
that date.