Bill Text: NY S08052 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Relates to establishing energy efficiency measures by the public service commission and the New York state energy research and development authority including requiring utilities to hire and train employees who are living in areas designated as potential environmental justice areas of concern.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-03-13 - REFERRED TO ENERGY AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS [S08052 Detail]
Download: New_York-2019-S08052-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 8052 IN SENATE March 13, 2020 ___________ Introduced by Sen. PARKER -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Energy and Telecommuni- cations AN ACT to amend the public service law and the energy law, in relation to establishing energy efficiency measures by the public service commission and the New York state energy research and development authority The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section 2 66-q to read as follows: 3 § 66-q. Energy efficiency program. 1. As used in this section, the 4 following terms shall have the following meanings: 5 (a) "cost effective" means producing benefits that outweigh costs 6 pursuant to the commission's benefit-cost analysis, plus the social cost 7 of methane, and non-energy benefits as described in the "Rhode Island 8 Test" (RI. Test) or a subsequently identified benefit-cost analysis that 9 more completely accounts for externalized benefits of energy efficiency 10 spending; 11 (b) "energy efficiency" means the reduction in overall energy use, 12 expressed as a percentage against a prior baseline of historical use, or 13 in British thermal units (BTUs). Energy efficiency shall include envi- 14 ronmentally beneficial electrification; 15 (c) "energy efficiency measure" means a particular good or practice 16 that provides an energy efficiency benefit; 17 (d) "environmentally beneficial electrification" means a replacement 18 of direct fossil fuel use with electricity such that the replacement 19 reduces overall emissions and energy costs; 20 (e) "potential environmental justice areas of concern" means areas of 21 United States census block groups of two hundred fifty to five hundred 22 households each that, in the most recently released census, had popu- 23 lations that met or exceeded at least one of the following statistical 24 thresholds: EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD15864-01-0S. 8052 2 1 (i) at least 51.1 percent of the population in an urban area reported 2 themselves to be members of minority groups; or 3 (ii) at least 33.8 percent of the population in a rural area reported 4 themselves to be members of minority groups; or 5 (iii) at least 23.59 percent of the population in an urban or rural 6 area had household incomes below the federal poverty level; 7 (f) "program" means the energy efficiency program established by the 8 commission pursuant to this section; 9 (g) "residential building" means a building having primary use as a 10 domicile; 11 (h) "rural area" means all territory, population, and housing units 12 that are not classified as an urban area, or as subsequently defined by 13 the United States census bureau; 14 (i) "small commercial building" means a building operated by a busi- 15 ness with one hundred employees or fewer; provided they (i) own their 16 building or (ii) lease or manage all or part of the building and have a 17 release from the building owner to apply for financing through the 18 program; and 19 (j) "urban area" means all territory, population, and housing units 20 located in urbanized areas, which is a continuously built-up area with a 21 population of fifty thousand or more, and in places of two thousand five 22 hundred or more inhabitants outside of an urbanized area, or as subse- 23 quently defined by the United States census bureau. 24 2. The commission shall, within forty-five days of the effective date 25 of this section, commence a proceeding to establish an energy efficiency 26 program for utilities, in order to stimulate the growth and adoption of 27 more efficient use of energy and to promote the hiring and training of 28 employees by such utilities from potential environmental justice areas 29 of concern. 30 3. The commission, in collaboration with utilities and the Long Island 31 power authority, shall develop, oversee and issue guidelines establish- 32 ing rules and regulations for the program which shall include the 33 following elements: 34 (a) cost effective energy efficiency, including environmentally bene- 35 ficial electrification, shall be the primary means for meeting new ener- 36 gy demand for residential and small commercial building sectors, includ- 37 ing demand for fossil fuel; 38 (b) any job training funding administered by utilities for energy 39 efficiency implementation shall serve trainees living in areas desig- 40 nated as potential environmental justice areas of concern, proportional 41 to these areas' share of the state housing and small commercial building 42 stock; 43 (c) employees hired for implementation of utility energy efficiency 44 programs shall be from areas designated as potential environmental 45 justice areas of concern, proportional to these areas' share of the 46 state housing and small commercial building stock, or from other areas 47 designated as potential environmental justice areas of concern within 48 seventy-five miles of target work sites; and 49 (d) require any residential and small business energy efficiency 50 program funding used directly for energy efficiency measures adminis- 51 tered by utilities shall be allocated to areas designated as potential 52 environmental justice areas of concern, proportional to these areas' 53 share of the state housing and small commercial building stock. 54 4. The commission and Long Island power authority shall establish 55 escalating penalties for non-compliance with the requirements of the 56 program.S. 8052 3 1 § 2. The energy law is amended by adding a new section 5-123 to read 2 as follows: 3 § 5-123. New York state energy research and development authority 4 energy efficiency requirements. 1. As used in this section, the follow- 5 ing terms shall have the following meanings: 6 a. "energy efficiency" means the reduction in overall energy use, 7 expressed as a percentage against a prior baseline of historical use, or 8 in British Thermal Units (BTUs). Energy efficiency shall include envi- 9 ronmentally beneficial electrification; 10 b. "environmentally beneficial electrification" means a replacement of 11 direct fossil fuel use with electricity such that the replacement 12 reduces overall emissions and energy costs; 13 c. "office" means the New York state energy research and development 14 authority; 15 d. "potential environmental justice areas of concern" means areas of 16 United States census block groups of two hundred fifty to five hundred 17 households each that, in the most recently released census, had popu- 18 lations that met or exceeded at least one of the following statistical 19 thresholds: 20 (i) at least 51.1 percent of the population in an urban area reported 21 themselves to be members of minority groups; or 22 (ii) at least 33.8 percent of the population in a rural area reported 23 themselves to be members of minority groups; or 24 (iii) at least 23.59 percent of the population in an urban or rural 25 area had household incomes below the federal poverty level; 26 e. "rural area" means all territory, population, and housing units 27 that are not classified as an urban area, or as subsequently defined by 28 the United States census bureau; 29 f. "small commercial building" means a building operated by a business 30 with one hundred employees or fewer; provided they (i) own their build- 31 ing or (ii) lease or manage all or part of the building and have a 32 release from the building owner to apply for financing through the 33 office; and 34 g. "urban area" means all territory, population, and housing units 35 located in urbanized areas, which is a continuously built-up area with a 36 population of fifty thousand or more, and in places of two thousand five 37 hundred or more inhabitants outside of an urbanized area, or as subse- 38 quently defined by the United States census bureau. 39 2. In order to stimulate the growth and adoption of a more efficient 40 use of energy and to promote the hiring and training of employees by 41 utilities and other entities from potential environmental justice areas 42 of concern, the office: 43 a. shall require that any program funding for the installation of 44 end-use energy efficiency measures administered by the office with the 45 goal of achieving the one hundred eighty five trillion British thermal 46 units of end use energy below the two thousand twenty-five energy use 47 forecast goal shall be allocated to areas designated as potential envi- 48 ronmental justice areas of concern, proportional to these areas' share 49 of the state housing and small commercial building stock; 50 b. may allocate funds to non-energy related interventions in conjunc- 51 tion with energy interventions, including but not limited to mold, lead, 52 and asbestos remediation pursuant to the recommendations of an inte- 53 grated physical needs assessment performed by the division of housing 54 and community renewal or another qualified agency; 55 c. shall require any job training program funding administered by the 56 office for energy efficiency implementation serve trainees living inS. 8052 4 1 areas designated as potential environmental justice areas of concern, 2 proportional to these areas' share of the state housing and small 3 commercial building stock; and 4 d. shall require employees hired for implementation of office programs 5 for efficiency implementation are from areas designated as potential 6 environmental justice areas of concern, proportional to these areas' 7 share of the state housing and small commercial building stock. 8 3. The office shall gather and publish on its website data on non-en- 9 ergy benefits (NEBs) of home and building-scale energy efficiency 10 programming as evaluated in benefit-costs analysis by the office. 11 4. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, any person 12 who has been injured by reason of a violation of this section may bring 13 an action in his or her own name to enjoin such unlawful act. The court 14 may award reasonable attorney's fees to a prevailing plaintiff. 15 § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi- 16 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of 17 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect, 18 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in 19 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section 20 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg- 21 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of 22 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such 23 invalid provisions had not been included herein. 24 § 4. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall 25 have become a law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or 26 repeal of any rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of 27 this act on its effective date are authorized to be made and completed 28 on or before such effective date.
