Bill Text: CA SB1393 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended

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

---

Bill Title: Energy: appliances: local requirements.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2022-08-11 - August 11 hearing: Held in committee and under submission. [SB1393 Detail]

Download: California-2021-SB1393-Amended.html

---

Amended  IN  Senate  April 18, 2022

Amended  IN  Senate  April 04, 2022

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 1393

---

Introduced by Senator Archuleta
(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Rodriguez)

February 18, 2022

---

An act to add Section 25233 to amend Section 25233.5 of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 1393, as amended, Archuleta. Energy: appliances: local requirements.

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to gather or develop, and publish on its internet website, guidance and best practices to help building owners, the construction industry, and local governments overcome barriers to electrification of buildings and installation of electric vehicle charging equipment that include one or more specified topics.

This bill would require the commission to gather or develop, and publish on its internet website, the guidance and best practices by July 1, 2023, and would require the guidance to include all of those specified topics and additional topics. The bill would require the commission to update biannually the guidance and best practices. The bill would require a city, including a charter city, or county, when adopting an ordinance requiring the replacement of a fossil fuel-fired appliance with an electric appliance upon the alteration or retrofit of a residential and nonresidential building, to consider the guidance published by the commission. The bill would require a local government, within 60 days of adopting that ordinance, to submit to the commission a copy of the ordinance, and other specified information and would require the commission to determine whether the local government considered the commission’s published guidance in the adoption of the ordinance. If the commission determines that the local government had not considered the guidance, the bill would require the local government to consider the guidance, make any modification of the ordinance deemed necessary by the local government, and resubmit the ordinance and other information to the commission.

The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to take specified actions to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic, inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy, including the energy associated with the use of water, and to manage energy loads to help maintain electrical grid reliability. Existing law requires the commission, in furtherance of that purpose, to prescribe, by regulation, standards for minimum levels of operating efficiency to promote the use of energy- and water-efficient appliances whose use, as determined by the commission, requires a significant amount of energy or water on a statewide basis.

This bill would require a city, including a charter city, or county to submit an application to, and receive approval from, the commission before the city or county could require that a fossil fuel-fired appliance be replaced with an electric appliance upon the alteration or retrofit of a residential or nonresidential building, except when the requirement includes specified exemptions, as specified.

The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.

Digest Key

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

---

Bill Text

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

SECTION 1.

 Section 25233.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

25233.5.

 (a) For the purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Local government” means a city, including a charter city, or county.

(2) “Low-to-moderate-income property owners” means those with annual household incomes of 130 percent or less of the area median income, as published by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, for the jurisdiction in which the requirement would apply.

To

(b) To help building owners to decarbonize buildings and add energy storage or electric vehicle charging capacity to buildings, the commission, in coordination with the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Building Standards Commission, and other relevant state agencies, shall shall, by July 1, 2023, gather or develop, and publish on the commission’s internet website, and update biannually, guidance and best practices to help building owners, the construction industry, and local governments overcome barriers to electrification of buildings and installation of electric vehicle charging equipment that include any all of the following topics:

(a)

(1) Availability of electrical equipment for replacement of the common fossil-fuel-powered equipment within buildings, including high-efficiency options that can minimize electrical service capacity requirements.

(b)

(2) Approaches for energy budgeting to fit electrical replacements and vehicle-charging equipment within the existing electrical service capacity of the building whenever possible, including guidance on how to maximize the use of the nonconcurrent electrical load that is allowed under the California Electrical Code (Part 3 (commencing with Section 89.101.1) of Title 24 of the California Code of Regulations).

(c)

(3) Technologies that allow the noncoincidental sharing of electrical circuits.

(d)

(4) The development of whole building electrification plans to help building owners prepare for future additions of electrical equipment, even if only a portion of equipment will be replaced, or energy storage or vehicle charging added, during an initial project. The plan may include wiring changes and energy planning to reduce the need for rework and help correctly size distributed energy and energy storage systems to anticipated future needs.

(e)

(5) Model permit applications, an eligibility checklist for expedited permitting, and a concise inspection list for the most common building electrification, energy storage, or vehicle charging installation projects that would be suitable for adoption by local governments seeking to streamline and standardize permitting and inspections.

(6) Ways in which local governments may assess the number of skilled installers of all electric appliances that operate within the local government’s jurisdiction.

(7) Ways in which local governments may ensure that permitting and inspection structures in the local jurisdiction adequately accommodate the need for 24-hour emergency replacement of new all electric space or water heating appliances.

(8) Ways in which local governments can establish incentives to assist low-to-moderate-income property owners in offsetting the first cost and installation of an equivalent all electric space or water heating appliance.

(9) Ways in which local governments can consider and implement limited exemptions for certain facilities, such as hospitals, acute care facilities, or other commercial facilities, particularly where any interruption in facility operations caused by an electrical outage could jeopardize public health and safety.

(10) Other topics deemed appropriate by the commission.

(c) When adopting an ordinance to require that a fossil fuel-fired appliance be replaced with an electric appliance upon the alteration or retrofit of a residential or nonresidential building, a local government shall consider the guidance published by the commission pursuant to subdivision (b). A local government shall not be required to update its ordinance when the commission updates its guidance.

(d) Within 60 days of adopting an ordinance described in subdivision (c), the local government shall submit to the commission a copy of the ordinance, a copy of the final staff report, supplemental documents, a copy of any cost-effectiveness study relied upon, and any other materials the local government deems relevant.

(e) Upon receipt of the materials described in subdivision (d), the commission shall publish and make publicly available the submitted material on the commission’s internet website.

(f) Within 30 days after the local government’s submission, the commission shall determine through written findings whether the local government considered the commission’s guidance described in subdivision (b) that is published at the time of the adoption of the ordinance. The commission shall make its written findings publicly available.

(g) If the commission determines that the local government did not consider the commission’s guidance, the commission shall provide its written findings to the local government. Upon receiving the written findings, the local government shall have 180 days to consider the guidance, make any modification to its ordinance as it deems necessary, and resubmit the ordinance and other materials pursuant to subdivision (d).

SEC. 2.

 The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act amending Section 25233.5 of the Public Resources Code addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Section 1 of this act applies to all cities, including charter cities.

SECTION 1.Section 25233 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

25233.

(a)For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1)“Local government agency” means a city, including a charter city, or county.

(2)“Low- and median-income consumers” means those consumers with annual household incomes of 130 percent or less of the area median income, as published by the Department of Housing and Community Development pursuant to Section 50093 of the Health and Safety Code, for the jurisdiction in which the requirement would apply.

(3)“Skilled and trained workforce” has the same meaning as defined in Section 2601 of the Public Contract Code.

(b)(1)Except as provided in paragraph (2), before a local government agency may require that a fossil fuel-fired appliance be replaced with an electric appliance upon the alteration or retrofit of a residential or nonresidential building, or amending that requirement, the local government agency shall submit an application to, and receive approval from, the commission pursuant to this section.

(2)Paragraph (1) does not apply if the requirement, or the amendment to that requirement, includes exemptions for all of the following:

(A)Where compliance would be technically infeasible.

(B)Where compliance would not be cost effective.

(C)Where compliance would disproportionately impact low- and median-income consumers.

(D)Where compliance would adversely impact a skilled and trained workforce.

(E)Where compliance would increase costs for ratepayers of a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation.

(3)A requirement may include exemptions in addition to those specified in paragraph (2).

(c)An application submitted pursuant to subdivision (b) shall include all of the following:

(1)The text of the requirement.

(2)A list of the jurisdictions that share a border with the local government agency and that have adopted or proposed requirements the same as or similar to the requirement.

(3)The local government agency’s findings and supporting analyses on the energy savings and life-cycle cost effectiveness of the requirement. These findings and supporting analyses shall separately analyze the economic impact of the requirement on low- and median-income consumers.

(4)A statement or finding by the local government agency that the requirement will require appliances to be designed to consume no more energy than those permitted in buildings pursuant to regulations otherwise adopted pursuant to Section 25402 or 25402.1.

(5)A finding by the local government agency that the requirement is life-cycle cost effective and technically feasible based on those products commercially available in California and will not further diminish the comparable effectiveness of the appliance being replaced.

(6)A statement or finding by the local government agency describing any exemptions from the requirement and analyzing if compliance with the requirement, in certain circumstances, could be technically infeasible, not be cost effective, disproportionately impact low- and median-income consumers, adversely impact a skilled and trained workforce, or increase costs for ratepayers of a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation.

(7)Any findings, determinations, declarations, or reports, including any negative declarations or environmental impact reports, required pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000)).

(d)(1)The authority of the commission granted pursuant to this section applies only to the approval or denial of an application by a local government agency to impose a requirement to replace a fossil fuel-fired appliance with an electric appliance upon the alteration or retrofit of a residential or nonresidential building, or amendment to that requirement.

(2)In determining whether to approve or deny an application submitted pursuant to subdivision (b), the commission shall do both of the following:

(A)Consider and analyze the totality of the requirement, including any exemptions, to determine whether the requirement would be technically feasible, be cost effective, disproportionately impact low- and median-income consumers, adversely impact a skilled and trained workforce, or increase costs for ratepayers of a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation. The commission shall not approve an application for a requirement if the commission determines that the requirement, or any portion of the requirement, is not technically feasible, is not cost effective, disproportionately impacts low- and median-income consumers, adversely impacts a skilled and trained workforce, or increases costs for ratepayers of a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical corporation.

(B)Approve the application only upon determining that the local government agency’s requirement is consistent with federal and state law.

SEC. 2.

The Legislature finds and declares that Section 1 of this act adding Section 25233 to the Public Resources Code addresses a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair as that term is used in Section 5 of Article XI of the California Constitution. Therefore, Section 2 of this act applies to all cities, including charter cities.