Bill Text: CA SB1380 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Amended
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 |
Senate Bill | No. 1380 |
Introduced by Senator Stern |
February 16, 2018 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: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.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).
(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.