BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
AB 549 - Longville Hearing Date:
June 26, 2001 A
As Amended: May 31, 2001 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Current law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation &
Development Commission (CEC) to prescribe lighting, insulation,
climate control system, and other building design and
construction standards which increase the efficiency in the use
of energy for new residential and non-residential buildings.
This bill requires the CEC to develop a plan to decrease
"wasteful load energy consumption" in existing residential and
non-residential building. The CEC is required to report the
plan to the Legislature by January 1, 2003 and include any
changes in law needed to implement a plan to decrease wasteful
peak load energy consumption.
This bill appropriates $500,000 from the General Fund to the CEC
to develop the plan.
This bill requires electric and gas utilities, in consultation
with the CEC, to provide support for building standards,
including appropriate research, development, and training to
implement those standards and other regulations.
BACKGROUND
The CEC recently revised its new building standards with respect
to energy efficiency. Those new standards, which are
significantly higher than standards in other states, will take
effect in June.
Most of the work of the CEC with regard to buildings has been
focused on new construction. This bill focuses on existing
buildings, requiring the CEC to consider ways to improve the
energy performance of both residential and non-residential
buildings.
According to the sponsors of this bill, the California Building
Industry Association, 80% of California's 12 million existing
homes and apartments were built prior to 1983 when the first set
of statewide energy efficiency standards took effect. That
means four out of five homes and apartments in California don't
have to comply with any statewide energy efficiency standard.
COMMENTS
1)What Is The CEC Likely To Tell Us (And Can It Tell It To Us In
A Haiku)? While 80% of California's housing stock may have
been built prior to the creation of the state's energy
efficiency standards, there's little doubt that many of those
homes have been made more energy efficient over the past 18
years. People replace furnaces, air conditioners, windows,
insulation, and other items either out of necessity (they
break down) or out of a desire to reduce their monthly energy
costs. People also plant trees or install sunscreens or
ceiling fans in an attempt to keep their homes cool and reduce
the need to use air conditioners.
Another way to reduce wasteful peak energy load consumption is
to send price signals through the use of real-time metering or
time-of-use metering, both of which charge people different
prices depending on when they use their power. These
strategies are being used for large commercial and industrial
customers (those using over 200 kilowatts) in California, but
to date haven't been implemented to apply to residential
users. It should be noted that some other utilities, most
notably Puget Power in Washington state, have gone to
time-of-use metering and pricing for residential customers in
order to encourage customers to shift their energy use to
non-peak times.
2)You Look Familiar, Have We Met Before? This bill is similar
to SB 37X (Brulte), which this committee approved on May 1 by
a 10-0 vote. (SB 37X became moot when the first extraordinary
session was adjourned, but the bill was replaced by SB 37XX
[Brulte], which is pending in the Senate Appropriations
Committee.)
This bill requires the CEC to investigate options to decrease
"wasteful load energy consumption" and develop a plan by
January 1, 200 3 . It also requires the utility companies to
provide the CEC with support for building standards developed
by the CEC, including the appropriate research, development,
and training needed to implement its building standards.
SB 37XX requires the CEC to do a similar investigation and
develop a similar plan by January 1, 200 2 . It also requires
the CEC to support the building standards it develops with the
appropriate research, development, and training needed to
implement its building standards. SB 37XX also contains a
provision unrelated to this bill which requires the CEC to
assist local building officials in determining the compliance
with building energy efficiency standards, if the local
official asks for such assistance.
The sponsor of this bill, the California Building Industry
Association, is also the sponsor of SB 37XX and has indicated
that because AB 549 is further along in the legislative
process, it and the author of SB 37XX have agreed to drop that
measure (which is currently in the Senate Appropriations
Committee).
3)Technically Speaking . On Page 2, Line 10, the reference
should be to "wasteful peak load energy consumption," not
"wasteful load energy consumption."
4) Related Legislation . SB 37XX (Brulte) is
substantially similar to this bill and is pending in the
Senate Appropriations Committee, but as noted above, is
being dropped the sponsor and author.
AB 29X (Kehoe), Chapter 8, Statutes of 2001, requires the
Department of General Services (DGS) to identify all public
buildings in the state's property inventory where it is
feasible to reduce energy consumption and achieve energy
efficiencies. This bill is pending in the Assembly
Appropriations Committee.
AB 1574 (Lowenthal) requires that a home inspection requested
by a home buyer or seller also includes an inspection of
energy efficiency. The bill also permits the CEC to adopt
regulations that prescribe minimum efficiency standards for
single family residential dwellings. This bill is pending in
the Senate Energy, Utilities, & Communications Committee.
SB 1085 (Bowen) requires state buildings to exceed the
existing energy efficiency standards and to be designed and
built on a life-cycle cost basis instead of on one that only
looks at the up-front capital costs of the building. This
bill is pending in the Assembly Business & Professions
Committee.
ASSEMBLY VOTES
Assembly Floor (76-0)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (14-7)
Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee
(16-0)
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
California Building Industry Association
Support:
California Association of Realtors
California Coalition of Home Inspectors
Oppose:
None on file
Evan Goldberg
AB 549 Analysis
Hearing Date: June 26, 2001