Energy: equitable clean energy supply chains and industrial policy in California.

The bill text was reformatted from a formal enrolled document layout (with page numbers, chapter number placeholder, and signature lines for the Secretary of the Senate, Chief Clerk of the Assembly, and Governor) to a web page layout that includes site navigation, a quick search box, version history dropdown, and bill status metadata. The underlying legislative text of Sections 1 and 2 (including all subsections of Chapter 8.5, Sections 25730 through 25733) is substantively identical in both versions.

The deadline for the Energy Commission to designate the Senior Counselor and for agencies to enter into the memorandum of understanding was finalized as March 1, 2027, resolving prior amendment markup that showed both 2026 and 2027 as options.

The Senior Counselor designation requirement was clarified to state the commission shall 'designate a person within the commission or identify and retain an external candidate,' removing the ambiguous option of designating just 'a person' without specifying they must be within the commission.

Chapter title changed from 'Task Force on Industrial Policy and Clean Energy Development' to 'Senior Counselor on Industrial Policy and Clean Energy Development,' narrowing the institutional structure from a task force to a single designated counselor role within the Energy Commission.

New legislative findings added: one citing Chapter 314 of the Statutes of 2023 requiring a study on in-state offshore wind manufacturing; one citing reports showing battery, heat pump, and offshore wind industries are not on track for climate goals; and two stating that no existing state-led interagency or stakeholder coordination process exists for these sectors.

The senior counselor's role as central point of contact for companies was expanded from only 'siting' production facilities to 'siting, expanding, or retaining' production facilities, and now explicitly operates in partnership with the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development and the Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation.

Three Assembly members (Petrie-Norris, Ransom, and Zbur) were added as coauthors, indicating broader legislative sponsorship.

New definition of 'high road job' added, tying it to job quality standards in subdivision (s) of Section 14005 of the Unemployment Insurance Code. New definition of 'strategic industries' added, covering offshore wind, battery, and building decarbonization and heat pump industries.

New subsection 1(c) added listing ten specific market-building industrial policy tools the Legislature intends to use, including state stockpiles, advanced-purchase agreements, central and leveraged procurement, state enterprises, state authorities, public-private joint ventures, public equity stakes, price management, bond issuance, and novel forms of public financing.

The memorandum of understanding was restructured into explicit 'goals' (subdivision a) and 'provisions' (subdivision b). The word 'union' was removed from the job creation goal, changing 'high-quality union manufacturing and installation jobs' to 'high-quality manufacturing and installation jobs.' A new provision requires identifying the need for additional research including supply chain reviews, workforce needs assessments, market research, and economic and environmental impact modeling.

Senior counselor public meeting frequency reduced from at least three per year to at least two per year. Working groups now explicitly include 'vehicle batteries' and 'battery recycling' as focus areas, and may consider 'administrative, programmatic' changes in addition to statutory and regulatory changes.

The agency list for the memorandum of understanding was simplified by removing 'Secretary of Labor' as a separate party, leaving only the 'Labor and Workforce Development Agency.'

The deadline for the Energy Commission to designate the Senior Counselor on Industrial Policy and Clean Energy Development was extended from March 1, 2026 to March 1, 2027.

The deadline for the listed state agencies to enter into the memorandum of understanding on equitable clean energy supply chains and industrial policy was extended from March 1, 2026 to March 1, 2027.

The Senior Counselor position can now be filled by an external candidate retained by the Energy Commission, not just a person designated from within the commission. This broadens the pool of potential candidates for the role.

The Department of Water Resources was removed from the list of agencies required to enter into the interagency memorandum of understanding, reducing the number of signatory agencies from seven to six.

The formal Task Force on Equitable Clean Energy Supply Chains and Industrial Policy in California is eliminated entirely. This included 9 governor-appointed members (representing building trades, manufacturing, workforce development, environmental protection, electricity customers, Native American tribes, clean energy developers, academic institutions, and environmental justice communities), a Senate Rules Committee appointee, a Speaker of the Assembly appointee, and several agency heads.

The Labor and Workforce Development Agency is added as a party to the interagency memorandum of understanding alongside the Secretary of Labor, broadening the agencies involved in coordination.

The requirement for the task force to submit a report to the Legislature by June 1, 2027 (former Section 25734) is removed, eliminating a key legislative accountability checkpoint.

The requirement for the Senior Counselor on Infrastructure to convene agencies and develop a workplan by January 1, 2028 (former Section 25735) is removed, along with the annual progress reporting requirement starting June 1, 2028.

The detailed duties previously assigned to the task force (surveying spending, identifying priority industry segments, evaluating policy mechanisms, coordinating activities, developing workforce standards) are now consolidated into the MOU obligations in Section 25732 rather than being separate statutory duties of a formal body.

The fund section is renumbered from Section 25736 to Section 25733, and the definition of 'task force' is removed from Section 25730, reflecting the elimination of the task force structure.

A new memorandum of understanding (MOU) is required among the commission, Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, Secretary of Labor, Public Utilities Commission, Department of Water Resources, Department of General Services, and the office of the Treasurer. This MOU becomes the formal vehicle for carrying out the industrial policy work, replacing the introduced version where the task force simply made recommendations.

The Senior Counselor must now convene at least three public meetings per year to evaluate how state agency activities can accelerate clean energy deployment, reduce prices for ratepayers, and create high-quality jobs.

The Senior Counselor must convene working groups focused on specific issues including home batteries, grid-scale batteries, offshore wind, building decarbonization, workforce development, and affordability. These working groups may include state agency representatives, labor, private firms, environmental groups, and tribal communities, and must identify potential statutory and regulatory changes to accelerate in-state supply chain growth.

The task force's duty regarding workforce standards is changed from 'Propose' to 'Develop,' indicating a stronger mandate. The coordination duty is changed from 'Make recommendations on how to best coordinate' to 'Identify how to best coordinate,' suggesting more direct action rather than advisory output.

The Senior Counselor must track and coordinate work under the MOU and prepare an annual report summarizing key findings and recommendations. The report must be presented at a public commission meeting and published on the commission's website, creating a new transparency and accountability mechanism.

The task force's original broad duties (reviewing strategies, accelerating deployment, creating jobs, ensuring environmental justice, reducing costs) are restructured as objectives within the MOU framework rather than direct task force mandates. The task force retains coordination and analysis roles but its most prescriptive analytical work (identifying priority industry segments, analyzing policy mechanisms like state stockpiles and equity stakes) is moved to the Senior Counselor's working groups.

The chapter title is changed from 'Task Force on Equitable Clean Energy Supply Chains and Industrial Policy in California' to 'Task Force on Industrial Policy and Clean Energy Development,' reflecting a broader framing beyond just supply chains.