BILL NUMBER: AB 33 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 18, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 6, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk
DECEMBER 1, 2014
An act to add Section 38561.5 to the Health and Safety Code,
relating to greenhouse gases.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 33, as amended, Quirk. California Global Warming Solutions Act
of 2006: Energy Sector Emissions Reduction Advisory Council.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 establishes
the State Air Resources Board as the state agency responsible for
monitoring and regulating sources emitting greenhouse gases. The act
requires the state board to prepare and approve a scoping plan for
achieving the maximum technologically feasible and cost-effective
reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and to update the scoping plan
at least once every 5 years.
This bill would establish the Energy Sector Emissions Reduction
Advisory Council in state government and would require the council to
recommend strategies for the electricity sector for incorporation
into the scoping plan prepared by the state board, based on
conclusions of specified analyses, including, among others, an
analysis of the various strategies that could be implemented to
reduce emissions of greenhouse gases from the electricity sector and
integrate increasing amounts of renewable energy into the electricity
grid. The bill would require the council to first convene by
February 1, 2016, and to develop a schedule that ensures the
recommendations and analyses are delivered to the state board early
enough to be considered during development of the next scoping plan
update. The bill would provide that the council shall cease to exist
as of the end of the following December 31 after the council delivers
its recommendations and analyses to the state board.
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. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) Several state agencies, boards, commissions, and other
entities possess expertise on how to reduce emissions of greenhouse
gases from the electricity sector, in furtherance of the state's mid-
and long-term greenhouse gas reduction goals.
(2) These agencies and entities have completed and are performing
analyses of the changes that will be needed in how electricity is
generated, delivered, and consumed throughout the state, and the
technologies and other strategies that can be used to help achieve
those goals.
(3) The State Air Resources Board is charged by the California
Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (Division 25.5 (commencing with
Section 38500) of the Health and Safety Code) with developing and
updating a scoping plan to achieve the state's greenhouse gas
emission reduction goals.
(4) In developing the next scoping plan update, the State Air
Resources Board should consider the best information, modeling, and
analysis produced by the relevant state agencies on available
strategies that could be implemented to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions from the state's power supply, while ensuring the
reliability of the electricity grid, and the technical feasibility
and cost-effectiveness of those strategies.
(b) The purpose and intent of this act is to complement the
relevant state agencies' ongoing efforts and ensure that these
agencies coordinate, through a public process and in furtherance of
the state's greenhouse gas emission reduction goals, to develop and
deliver a complete and coherent set of recommendations to the State
Air Resources Board before the next scoping plan update on
technically feasible strategies that will achieve the required
reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases from the electricity
sector in a manner that is cost-effective and maintains reliability,
including those strategies that will be needed to integrate
increasing amounts of renewable energy into the electricity grid
while minimizing over-generation.
SEC. 2. Section 38561.5 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
38561.5. (a) The Energy Sector Emissions Reduction Advisory
Council is hereby established in state government, and it shall
consist of all of the following members:
(1) The chair of the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, or his or her designee.
(2) The president of the Public Utilities Commission, or his or
her designee.
(3) The president of the California Independent System Operator,
or his or her designee.
(4) The chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, or his
or her designee.
(5) The chair of the state board, or his or her designee.
(b) The council shall recommend strategies for the electricity
sector, other than and in addition to any market-based mechanisms
established pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 38562 or Section
38570, for incorporation into the scoping plan developed pursuant to
Section 38561, based on the conclusions of all of the following
analyses that the council shall complete:
(1) An analysis of the various
strategies that could be implemented to reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases from the electricity sector and integrate increasing
amounts of renewable energy into the electricity grid, which
evaluates and compares these strategies based upon their technical
feasibility, cost-effectiveness, and the extent to which their
implementation would minimize over-generation, maintain the
reliability of the electricity grid, and reduce emissions of
greenhouse gases. The analysis shall consider, at a minimum, all of
the following strategies in light of the criteria indicated in this
paragraph:
(A) Increasing the volume of renewable energy generation by the
amounts required by state law or otherwise needed to achieve
the goals established pursuant to Section 38550.
statewide greenhouse gas emissions limits.
(B) Deepening regional coordination in the Western
Interconnection.
(C) Increasing energy storage, including pumped-hydroelectric
storage.
(D) Retrofitting existing natural gas-fired electrical generation
facilities to increase their operational flexibility.
(E) Using renewable energy generation facilities to provide
operational flexibility.
(F) Deploying carbon capture and storage and other greenhouse gas
emissions reduction technology at existing fossil fuel-fired
electrical generation facilities.
(G) Increasing the role of demand response through all of the
following:
(i) Transitioning to time-of-use or real-time pricing, or both,
for all customer classes.
(ii) Increasing market integration of, and opportunities for,
supply-side demand response.
(iii) Increasing customer access to real-time or near-real-time
energy usage and wholesale price data, enhancing the sharing of these
data with third parties, and enabling the market for programmable
devices that use these data.
(H) Increasing energy efficiency.
(I) Ensuring that adequate generating capacity remains available
to meet demand through measures such as multi-year capacity or
reliability payments.
(2) An economic analysis using the best available economic models
and data of the various strategies required to be analyzed pursuant
to paragraph (1).
(3) An analysis of the benefits to the health, safety, and welfare
of state residents, worker safety, the state's environment and
quality of life, and any other benefits associated with the various
strategies required to be analyzed pursuant to paragraph (1).
(c) The council shall first convene no later than February 1,
2016, and, at that time, develop a schedule in consultation with the
chair of the state board for delivery of the recommendations and
analyses required by subdivision (b) that shall ensure the
recommendations and analyses are delivered to the staff of the state
board early enough to be considered during development of the next
scoping plan update required by Section 38561. The council's
preliminary recommendations and analyses shall be made available for
public comment for no less than thirty days. After considering
comments received, the council shall finalize and deliver the
recommendations and analyses required by subdivision (b) to the state
board, at which time the council's duties shall be completed, and
the council shall cease to exist as of the end of the following
December 31.
(d) The recommendations made and analyses completed pursuant to
subdivision (b) are intended to assist in updating the scoping plan
pursuant to Section 38561 and to inform the regulations and
approaches of the represented agencies and do not change any statute,
regulation, or regulatory decision.