BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 183
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 20, 2003

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                              Darrell Steinberg, Chair

                     SB 183 (Sher) - As Amended:  July 16, 2003 

          Policy Committee:                              UtilitiesVote:9-2
                        Natural Resources                     9-2

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Repeals two code sections in the Public Utilities Code  
            relating to the funding and administration of renewable energy  
            programs at the CEC and recasts the same language in multiple  
            code sections in the Public Resources Code.

          2)Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to, at least  
            annually, publish the balance of funds available within the  
            Emerging Renewable Resources Account for incentives to develop  
            renewable energy technologies using distributed generation.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible fiscal impact to the CEC.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpose  . AB 1890 (Brulte), Chapter 854, Statutes of 1996,  
          required ratepayers to fund a variety of system reliability,  
          in-state benefit and low-income customer programs at specified  
          levels from 1998 through 2001. Among these programs are grants  
          to promote operation and development of existing, new, and  
          emerging renewable energy sources. The programs were original  
          codified by SB 90 (Sher), Chapter 905, Statutes of 1997 and were  
          extended by SB 1194 (Sher), Chapter 1050, Statutes of 2000, and  
          SB 1038 (Sher), Chapter 515, Statutes of 2002. Under the  
          programs CEC distributes grant and rebate money to develop  
          renewable energy. The code section that creates these programs  
          is unwieldy and difficult to follow. This bill recast this  








                                                                  SB 183
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          section as a series of short sections that are easier to apply.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081