BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1585
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:  April 25, 2005

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
                                 Loni Hancock, Chair
                  AB 1585 (Blakeslee) - As Amended:  April 20, 2005
           
          SUBJECT  :  Renewable energy resources: California Renewable  
          Portfolio Standard.
           
           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to  
          review the feasibility of increasing the Renewable Portfolio  
          Standard (RPS) target to 33% by 2017 and report to the Governor  
          and the Legislature by July 1, 2007, with the results of this  
          review.


           EXISTING LAW  :   Requires retail sellers of electricity,  
          excluding local publicly owned utilities, to increase their  
          existing level of renewable resources by 1% of sales per year  
          such that 20% of their retail sales are procured from eligible  
          renewable resources by 2017.

           THIS BILL  requires the CEC to review the feasibility of  
          increasing the RPS target to 33% by 2017 and report to the  
          Governor and the Legislature by July 1, 2007, with the results  
          of this review.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  Unknown.

           COMMENTS  :

          1)   Background  

          In 2002 the Legislature approved SB 1078 (Sher), Chapter 516,  
          Statutes of 2002, which created California's RPS. Under the RPS,  
          the investor owned utilities are required to increase their  
          renewable procurement each year by at least 1% of total sales,  
          so that 20% of their sales are from renewable energy sources by  
          December 31, 2017.  Once a 20% portfolio is achieved, no further  
          increase is required.  The PUC is required to adopt comparable  
          requirements for direct access providers and community choice  
          aggregators. 

          According to the author's office, the purpose of this bill is to  
          evaluate the feasibility of accelerating the state's existing  








                                                                  AB 1585
                                                                  Page  2

          RPS requirements so that at least 33% of retail sales of  
          electricity in California come from renewable resources by the  
          year 2017.

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :

           Support  

          None on file

           Opposition  
           
          None on file
           

          Analysis Prepared by  :  Kyra Emanuels Ross / NAT. RES. / (916)  
          319-2092