BILL ANALYSIS 1
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SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
MARTHA M. ESCUTIA, CHAIRWOMAN
AB 1585 - Blakeslee
Hearing Date: June 30, 2005 A
As Amended: April 20, 2005 FISCAL B
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DESCRIPTION
Existing law , the "Renewables Portfolio Standard" (RPS),
requires each investor-owned utility (IOU) to increase its
existing level of renewable energy resources by one percent
of sales per year until renewable energy resources account
for 20 percent of its portfolio, with a deadline of 2017
for achieving 20 percent.
This bill requires the California Energy Commission (CEC)
to review the feasibility of increasing the RPS target to
33 percent by 2020.
BACKGROUND
The RPS requires IOUs and certain other retail energy
providers, collectively referred to as "retail sellers," to
buy renewable electricity to the extent Public Goods Charge
funds are available to pay for any costs exceeding a market
price set by the California Public Utilities Commission
(CPUC).
Each IOU is required to increase its renewable procurement
each year by at least one percent of total sales, so that
20 percent of its sales are renewable energy resources by
December 31, 2017. With some exceptions, renewable energy
resources must be located in California to be counted
toward an IOU's RPS requirements.
The "Energy Action Plan" adopted by the CPUC, the CEC and
the California Power Authority pledges that the agencies
will accelerate RPS implementation to meet the 20 percent
goal by 2010, instead of 2017. In his statements on
energy, the Governor has endorsed "20 percent by 2010" and
proposed an additional goal of 33 percent by 2020.
However, the Governor vetoed SB 1478 (Sher) last year,
which amended the RPS statutes to reflect the 2010
deadline. SB 107 (Simitian), which does the same thing, is
pending in the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee.
SB 107 also includes a provision to study feasibility of
the 33 percent goal which is similar to this bill.
COMMENTS
1. Related legislation. SB 107 and AB 1362 (Levine)
both advance the 20% RPS deadline from 2017 to 2010.
SB 107 also contains essentially the same report as
this bill. The author and the committee may wish to
consider whether a second bill should be approved on
the same subject and, if so, whether the overlapping
provisions should be made consistent in both bills.
2. Technical amendments. The author and the committee
may wish consider incorporating the CEC report
required by this bill into the CEC's current
Integrated Energy Policy Report process, as was done
with the similar provision in SB 107.
ASSEMBLY VOTES
Assembly Floor (77-1)
Assembly Appropriations Committee (18-0)
Assembly Natural Resources Committee(10-0)
Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee(11-0)
POSITIONS
Sponsor:
The Schwarzenegger Administration
Support:
California Public Utilities Commission
Southern California Edison
The Utility Reform Network
Oppose:
None on file
Lawrence Lingbloom
AB 1585 Analysis
Hearing Date: June 30, 2005