BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1585
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 11, 2005

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                   Judy Chu, Chair

                  AB 1585 (Blakeslee) - As Amended:  April 20, 2005 

          Policy Committee:                             UtilitiesVote:11-0
                       Natural Resources                      10-0  
          (Consent) 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to  
          review the feasibility of increasing the renewable portfolio  
          standard (RPS) target to 33% by 2017 and to report the results  
          of this review to the Legislature and the governor by July 1,  
          2007.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Absorbable costs to the CEC, which indicates it is already  
          conducting such an evaluation.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background and Purpose  . SB 1078 (Sher), Statutes of 2002,  
            created California's RPS, under which 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 Public Utilities Commission (PUC) is required  
            to adopt comparable requirements for direct access providers  
            and community choice aggregators. 

            The "Energy Action Plan" adopted by the PUC, the CEC and the  
            state Power Authority pledges that the agencies will  
            accelerate RPS implementation to meet the 20% goal by 2010,  
            instead of 2017.  In the 2004 update to its Integrated Energy  
            Policy Report, the CEC recommended further advancing the  
            state's commitment to renewable resources by requiring retail  








                                                                  AB 1585
                                                                  Page  2

            sellers of electricity to achieve a 33% RPS by 2017.  This  
            bill addresses this recommendation by requiring the CEC to  
            further study the feasibility of mandating that goal and  
            reporting to the Legislature and the governor by July 1, 2007.  


           2)Related Legislation  . AB 1362, also on today's committee  
            agenda, accelerates the RPS to 20% by 2010 instead of 2017.


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