Bill Text: CA SB1380 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 1380 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Climate adaptation information clearinghouse.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-05-25 - May 25 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB1380 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SB1380-Amended.html

Amended IN Senate April 23, 2018

Amended IN Senate April 02, 2018

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1380

Introduced by Senator Stern

February 16, 2018

An act to ~~add Division 16.2 (commencing with Section 26100) to~~ amend Section 71360 of the Public Resources Code, relating to ~~energy.~~ climate change.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1380, as amended, Stern. ~~Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse.~~ Climate adaptation information clearinghouse.

Existing law requires the Office of Planning and Research to coordinate with appropriate entities to establish a clearinghouse for climate adaptation information for use by state, regional, and local entities.
This bill would authorize the office to include in the clearinghouse information concerning funding and financing opportunities relating to clean energy projects, as specified.
Existing law establishes various state programs pertaining to energy technologies that advance environmental protection goals, including renewable energy resources, energy efficiency, energy conservation, weatherization, energy storage, distributed generation, and transportation electrification and other low-emission transportation technologies.
This bill would establish the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse, a new office under the direction of the Treasurer, with the purposes of coordinating all government programs that invest capital in energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals to enable those programs to achieve their individual missions, making program information clear and accessible for market participants, and partnering with capital providers, investors, project developers, technology companies, and other market actors to catalyze more private investment into energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals, leveraging more private investment per public dollar used. The bill would specify functions that the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse is to perform with respect to cross-agency coordination, partnering with market actors, and partnering with capital providers.

Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) California has established aggressive targets to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, increase the use of renewable energy resources, and improve energy efficiency.

(b) Since disadvantaged and low-income communities are often disproportionately affected by pollution, California has made commitments to invest in disadvantaged communities to make an equitable transition to a low-carbon economy.

(c) To meet these targets, billions of dollars must be invested in the deployment of a broad set of energy technologies that advance environmental protection goals, including the generation of electricity from renewable energy resources, energy efficiency, energy storage, microgrids, and transportation electrification and other low-emission transportation technologies.

(d) This investment capital will necessarily come from the private sector, with public funds used as needed to spark market activity.

(e) There is also a need to integrate investments in energy technologies that advance environmental protection goals with other kinds of infrastructure investment that reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.

(f) The state has already devoted significant public resources, in the form of both subsidies and financing, to enable this deployment, with programs operated by numerous agencies.

(g) However, not all of these public resources are used to maximum efficiency, ~~nor are they~~ and they are not closely coordinated with one another.

(h) In addition, private sector participants may be unable to identify public resources that are available because of the complexity of existing programs and because the administration and oversight of existing programs is scattered across governmental entities.

SEC. 2.

Section 71360 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

71360.

(a) (1) The office shall coordinate with appropriate entities, including state, regional, or local agencies, to establish a clearinghouse for climate adaptation information for use by state, regional, and local entities.

(2) The clearinghouse shall be a centralized source of information that provides available climate data to guide decisionmakers at state, regional, and local levels when planning for and implementing climate adaptation projects to promote resiliency to climate change. The clearinghouse may include, but is not limited to, any of the following:

(A) A collection of the best-available resources that may include projections and models, vulnerability assessments, and downscaled data for climate change impacts throughout the state, when available, at statewide, regional, and local levels for both near-term and longer term timescales, including year 2050 and year 2100 projections. Climate change impacts may include, but are not limited to, impacts to public health, natural resources, environmental quality, and infrastructure.

(B) Tools that allow for the visualization or identification of regional and local impacts across the state and that integrate best-available data on vulnerable populations and infrastructure.

(C) A library of relevant white papers, case studies, research articles, and climate adaptation best practices that are searchable by relevance to region, locality, and sector.

(D) Information concerning funding opportunities for adaptation research, planning, and projects.

(E) Regionally prioritized best-practice adaptation projects that, as appropriate, integrate efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions across the state.

(F) Information concerning funding and financing opportunities relating to clean energy projects, including, but not limited to, all of the following:
(i) Energy efficiency measures, including, but not limited to, weatherization, energy conservation, energy savings, insulation, and demand reduction.
(ii) Eligible renewable energy resources pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code), except for a facility that uses biomass, which is a “clean energy” facility only if the State Air Resources Board determines that its use does not impair the state’s ability to maintain or reach federal and state ambient air quality standards.
(iii) An energy storage system, as defined in Section 2835 of the Public Utilities Code, used to ensure reliability and integrate electricity from intermittent eligible renewable energy resources.
(iv) Electrical demand response measures used to ensure reliability and integrate electricity from intermittent eligible renewable energy resources.
(v) No- and low-carbon electrical generation technologies, including fuel cells.
(vi) Advanced vehicle technology, including plug-in and hybrid electric light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
(vii) Other technologies and measures that the State Air Resources Board determines are important to utilize to maintain or reach federal and state ambient air quality standards, to meet the state’s goals for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), or to meet the state’s goals for increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 (Chapter 547 of the Statutes of 2015).

(b) The clearinghouse shall be regularly updated.

SEC. 2.Division 16.2 (commencing with Section 26100) is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
16.2.CLEAN ENERGY FINANCING CLEARINGHOUSE
26100.
~~For purposes of this division, “clean energy” includes all of the following:~~
~~(a)Energy efficiency measures, including, but not limited to, weatherization, energy conservation, energy savings, insulation, and demand reduction.~~
(b)Eligible renewable energy resources pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code), except for a facility that uses biomass, which is a “clean energy” facility only if the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, determines that its use does not impair the state’s ability to maintain or reach federal and state ambient air quality standards.
~~(c)An energy storage system, as defined in Section 2835 of the Public Utilities Code, used to ensure reliability and integrate electricity from intermittent eligible renewable energy resources.~~
~~(d)Electrical demand response measures used to ensure reliability and integrate electricity from intermittent eligible renewable energy resources.~~
~~(e)No- and low-carbon electrical generation technologies, including fuel cells.~~
~~(f)Advanced vehicle technology, including plug-in and hybrid electric light-duty, medium-duty, and heavy-duty vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.~~
(g)Other technologies and measures that the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse determines are important to utilize in order to maintain or reach federal and state ambient air quality standards, to meet the state’s goals for reducing emission of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code), or to meet the state’s goals for increasing energy efficiency and use of renewable energy in the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015 (Chapter 547 of the Statutes of 2015).
26105.
~~(a)There is hereby created, under the direction of the Treasurer, the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse, a new office with the following purposes:~~
~~(1)To coordinate all government programs that invest capital in energy technologies that advance environmental protection goals to enable them to achieve their individual missions.~~
~~(2)To make information on these programs clear and accessible for market participants.~~
(3)To partner with capital providers, investors, project developers, technology companies, and other market actors to catalyze more private investment in energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals, leveraging more private investment per public dollar used.
(b)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall consult and coordinate with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank, the Treasurer, the Public Utilities Commission, and other relevant governmental entities to achieve the purposes and functions described in this section.
~~(c)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall perform the following functions with respect to cross-agency coordination:~~
(1)Create a central information resource that is both internal and external facing, so that market actors and government entities are fully aware of all the public resources and funding available for deployment of energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals.
(2)Proactively identify areas of overlap or adjacency from existing public programs and facilitate coordination so that public funds are used at maximum effectiveness within a given energy technology project or market.
(3)Ensure that all programs meant to support adoption of energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals are made accessible to, and are well-integrated into program offerings available to, low-income and disadvantaged communities.
~~(d)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall perform the following functions with respect to partnering with market actors:~~
(1)Work with developers, technology companies, and large wholesale environmentally friendly energy deployment firms to help them identify existing public resources that can be brought to bear in their relevant markets or projects.
~~(2)Work with those market actors to increase the pipeline of investable environmentally friendly energy projects for California.~~
(3)Work with those market actors to support the growth of women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises. For purposes of this paragraph, “women business enterprise,” “minority business enterprise,” “disabled veteran business enterprise,” and “LGBT business enterprise” have the same meaning as defined in Section 8282 of the Public Utilities Code.
(4)Ensure that developers serving low-to-moderate-income communities first access all available subsidies and rebates before selling environmentally friendly energy services or financing so that households receive maximum potential benefit.
(5)Solicit proposals from market actors for innovative business models and solutions to increase deployment of energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals that rely on public resources so that the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse acts as a facilitator with public agencies and the private sector to construct a cost-effective and marketable energy finance solution. These business models and solutions may include, but are not limited to, novel approaches to deploy community solar, low-income focused clean energy technologies, distributed energy storage solutions, and other novel combinations of technology, financing, and public and private resources.
~~(6)To the extent feasible, develop materials in multiple languages to facilitate growth in the activity of market actors that may be focused on non-English speaking market segments.~~
~~(e)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall perform the following functions with respect to partnering with capital providers:~~
(1)Work with large institutional or wholesale capital providers to find efficient and innovative paths and structures for investment in energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals in California by working in coordination with other state agencies and public resources.
(2)Direct potential investors to appropriate governmental entities and programs so that those governmental entities or programs may work together to deploy public and private capital for energy technologies that advance environmental protection and environmental justice goals.
(3)Support investment by directly facilitating transactions where a capital provider is able to provide financing to a market actor who in turn finances a large portfolio of underlying projects. The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse may work with a market actor to prepare a request for capital so that it meets the needs and conditions of the capital provider while integrating available public resources.
~~(f)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall first seek to address commercial building efficiency as a priority market sector.~~
~~(g)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall have a dedicated staff of professionals that have the technical, financial, and energy industry skills required to perform its functions.~~
(h)The Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse shall work closely with markets and operate in a flexible manner in order to bridge any gap that exists between public resources and programs and the needs of the private sector.
~~(i)It is the intent of the Legislature to provide a reliable source of funding for the Clean Energy Financing Clearinghouse.~~