BILL NUMBER: AB 1561	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 5, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 20, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  APRIL 11, 2002
	AMENDED IN SENATE  SEPTEMBER 4, 2001
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 26, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 26, 2001
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 29, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Kelley
    (Coauthor:  Assembly Member Pavley) 

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2001

   An act to amend Section 25402 of the Public Resources Code,
relating to energy resources.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1561, as amended, Kelley.  Energy efficiency standards:
clothes washers.
   Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, after one or more public hearings, to
prescribe, by regulation, among other things, certain energy
efficiency standards, cost-effective measures, and consumer education
programs, to promote the use of energy efficient appliances whose
use, as determined by the commission, requires a significant amount
of energy on a statewide basis.
   This bill would require the commission, not later than January 1,
2004, to amend existing regulations pertaining to energy efficiency
standards for residential clothes washers to require these clothes
washers manufactured on or after January 1, 2007 to be at least as
efficient as commercial washers. The bill would also require the
commission, not later than April 1, 2004, to petition the federal
Department of Energy for an exemption from any federal regulations
governing energy efficiency standards that are applicable to
residential clothes washers,  and  to report to the
Legislature on its progress with respect to the above requirements
not later than January 1,  2004   2005  .
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated 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) Significant amounts of energy are consumed in the state
through pumping water, water treatment, and sewage treatment.
   (b) Water conservation is a proven tool that will make the most
effective use of the state's limited water supply, and will conserve
energy.
   (c) A significant portion of urban water demand in the state is
for residential clothes washers.
   (d) Section 17138 of the Revenue and Taxation Code includes in the
description of water efficient clothes washers that qualify for a
tax credit those clothes washers that meet specified water efficiency
standards, as determined by the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission.
   (e) The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission established a water energy efficiency standard for all
commercial clothes washers sold in California on and after January 1,
2007.
   (f) The federal Department of Energy regulations preempt the state
from establishing a  similar minimum 9.5 water use
efficiency   maximum water  factor for residential
clothes washers.
  SEC. 2.  Section 25402 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
   25402.  The commission shall, after one or more public hearings,
do all of the following, in order to reduce the wasteful, uneconomic,
inefficient, or unnecessary consumption of energy:
   (a) Prescribe, by regulation, lighting, insulation climate control
system, and other building design and construction standards that
increase the efficiency in the use of energy for new residential and
new nonresidential buildings.  The standards shall be cost effective,
when taken in their entirety, and when amortized over the economic
life of the structure when compared with historic practice.  The
commission shall periodically update the standards and adopt any
revision  that, in its judgment, it deems necessary.  Six months
after the commission certifies an energy conservation manual pursuant
to subdivision (c) of Section 25402.1, no city, county, city and
county, or state agency shall issue a permit for any building unless
the building satisfies the standards prescribed by the commission
pursuant to this subdivision or subdivision (b) of this section that
are in effect on the date an application for a building permit is
filed.
   (b) Prescribe, by regulation, energy conservation design standards
for new residential and new nonresidential buildings.  The standards
shall be performance standards and shall be promulgated in terms of
energy consumption per gross square foot of floorspace, but may also
include devices, systems, and techniques required to conserve energy.
  The standards shall be cost effective when taken in their entirety,
and when amortized over the economic life of the structure when
compared with historic practices.  The commission shall periodically
review the standards and adopt any revision that, in its judgment, it
deems necessary.  A building that satisfies the standards prescribed
pursuant to this subdivision need not comply with the standards
prescribed pursuant to subdivision (a).  The commission shall comply
with this subdivision before January 1, 1981.
   (c) (1) Prescribe, by regulation, standards for minimum levels of
operating efficiency, based on a reasonable use pattern, and may
prescribe other cost-effective measures, including incentive
programs, fleet averaging, energy consumption labeling not preempted
by federal labeling, and consumer education programs, to promote the
use of energy efficient appliances whose use, as determined by the
commission, requires a significant amount of energy on a statewide
basis.  The minimum levels of operating efficiency shall be based on
feasible and attainable efficiencies or feasible improved
efficiencies that will reduce the electrical energy consumption
growth rate.  The standards shall become effective no sooner than one
year after the date of adoption or revision.  No new appliance
manufactured on or after the effective date of the standards may be
sold or offered for sale in the state, unless it is certified by the
manufacturer thereof to be in compliance with the standards.  The
standards shall be drawn so that they do not result in any added
total costs to the consumer over the designed life of the appliances
concerned.
   (2) No new appliance, except for any plumbing fitting, regulated
under paragraph (1), which is manufactured on or after July 1, 1984,
may be sold, or offered for sale, in the state, unless the date of
the manufacture is permanently displayed in an accessible place on
that appliance.
   (3) During the period of five years after the commission has
adopted a standard for a particular appliance under paragraph (1), no
increase or decrease in the minimum level of operating efficiency
required by the standard for that appliance shall become effective,
unless the commission adopts other cost-effective measures for that
appliance.
   (4) Neither the commission nor any other state agency shall take
any action to decrease any standard adopted under this subdivision on
or before June 30, 1985, prescribing minimum levels of operating
efficiency or other energy conservation measures for any appliance,
unless the commission finds by a four-fifths vote that a decrease is
of benefit to ratepayers, and that there is significant evidence of
changed circumstances.  Prior to January 1, 1986, the commission
shall not take any action to increase any standard prescribing
minimum levels of operating efficiency for any appliance or adopt any
new standard under paragraph (1).  Prior to January 1, 1986, any
appliance manufacturer doing business in this state shall provide
directly, or through an appropriate trade or industry association,
information, as specified by the commission after consultation with
manufacturers doing business in the state and appropriate trade or
industry associations on sales of appliances so that the commission
may study the effects of regulations on those sales.  These
informational requirements shall remain in effect until the
information is received.  The trade or industry association may
submit sales information in an aggregated form in a manner that
allows the commission to carry out the purposes of the study.  The
commission shall treat any sales information of an individual
manufacturer as confidential and that information shall not be a
public record.  The commission shall not request any information that
cannot be reasonably produced in the exercise of due diligence by
the manufacturer.  At least one year prior to the adoption or
amendment of a standard for an appliance, the commission shall notify
the Legislature of its intent, and the justification therefor, to
adopt or amend a standard for the appliance.  Notwithstanding
paragraph (3) and this paragraph, the commission may do any of the
following:
   (A) Increase the minimum level of operating efficiency in an
existing standard up to the level of the National Voluntary Consensus
Standards 90, adopted by the American Society of Heating,
Refrigeration, and Air Conditioning Engineers or, for appliances not
covered by that standard, up to the level established in a similar
nationwide consensus standard.
   (B) Change the measure or rating of efficiency of any standard, if
the minimum level of operating efficiency remains substantially the
same.
   (C) Adjust the minimum level of operating efficiency in an
existing standard in order to reflect changes in test procedures that
the standards require manufacturers to use in certifying compliance,
if the minimum level of operating efficiency remains substantially
the same.
   (D) Readopt a standard preempted, enjoined, or otherwise found
legally defective by an administrative agency or a lower court, if
final legal action determines that the standard is valid and if the
standard that is readopted is not more stringent than the standard
that was found to be defective or preempted.
   (E) Adopt or amend any existing or new standard at any level of
operating efficiency, if the Governor has declared an energy
emergency pursuant to Section 8558 of the Government Code.
   (5) Notwithstanding paragraph (4), the commission may adopt
standards pursuant to commission order No. 84-0111-1, on or before
June 30, 1985.
   (d) Recommend minimum standards of efficiency for the operation of
any new facility at a particular site that are technically and
economically feasible.  No site and related facility shall be
certified pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 25500),
unless the applicant certifies that standards recommended by the
commission have been considered, which certification shall include a
statement specifying the extent to which conformance with the
recommended standards will be achieved.
   Whenever this section and Chapter 11.5 (commencing with Section
19878) of Part 3 of Division 13 of the Health and Safety Code are in
conflict, the commission shall be governed by that chapter of the
Health and Safety Code to the extent of the conflict.
   (e) The commission shall do all of the following:
   (1) Not later than January 1, 2004, amend any regulations in
effect on January 1, 2003, pertaining to the energy efficiency
standards for residential clothes washers to require  that
residential clothes washers manufactured on or after January 1, 2007,
be at least as water efficient as commercial clothes washers.
   (2) Not later than April 1,  2004, petition the federal Department
of Energy for an exemption from any relevant federal regulations
governing energy efficiency standards that are applicable to
residential clothes washers.
   (3) Not later than January 1,  2004   2005
 , report to the Legislature on its progress with respect to the
requirements of paragraphs (1) and (2).