Existing law requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to adopt regulations for the identification and management of hazardous wastes. Existing law authorizes the department to adopt regulations designating end-of-life photovoltaic modules that are identified as hazardous waste as a universal waste and subject to regulations applicable to universal waste management. Federal regulations identify solid wastes which are subject to regulation as hazardous wastes. Federal regulations exclude from the definition of solid waste for that purpose hazardous secondary material that is generated and then transferred to another person for the purpose of reclamation under specified circumstances. This bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2028, to convene one or more public workshops for interested parties to comment on the applicability of the above-described federal regulations to hazardous waste streams, including, but not limited to, solar photovoltaic modules, generated in California. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2029, to consider the feedback received and evaluate the applicability of those federal regulations to end-of-life solar photovoltaic modules as an alternative to one or more of the state standards governing hazardous waste and universal waste management. The bill would authorize the department, based on findings of the evaluation, to adopt, by regulation, the federal regulations, subject to revision as necessary, and apply them to end-of-life solar photovoltaic modules that are identified as hazardous waste under existing state law.
The California Land Conservation Act of 1965 (act) , otherwise known as the Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to contract with a landowner to limit the use of agricultural land to agricultural use if the land is located in an agricultural preserve designated by the city or county, as specified. Existing law authorizes the county or city to cancel a contract under certain circumstances and conditions. Existing law requires the city or county to determine the amount of the cancellation fee, based on the assessor's determination of the fair market value of the land as though it were free of the contractual restriction, that the landowner shall pay if the city and county approves a cancellation of a contract, as specified. Existing law authorizes the city or county to waive the payment or extend the time for making payment if the cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or change in the use which may be made of land, the county or city has determined that it is in the best interest of the program to conserve agricultural land use that the payment be either deferred or not required, and the extension is approved by the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, as provided. This bill would remove the ability of a city or county to waive payment or extend the time for making payment, as described above. The bill would instead authorize the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency, upon application by the landowner, to waive payment or extend the time for making payment, as described above, if either the cancellation is caused by an involuntary transfer or change in the use which may be made of the land, as described above, or the cancellation is to facilitate a photovoltaic solar facility that meets specified conditions. The bill, until January 1, 2037, would require the secretary to approve a completed application for extension of making the payment by a landowner if it includes certain items, as provided, and would require the secretary to waive payment if the landowner attests and provides proof to the secretary that a solar project has been constructed on the property. The act deems a contract null and void upon acquisition of the land subject to the contract in an eminent domain action or upon acquisition of land in lieu of eminent domain, as provided. The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021 authorizes the Governor, until January 1, 2032, to certify, among other projects, a clean renewable energy project that generates electricity exclusively through wind or solar, as specified, for certain streamlining benefits. This bill would additionally deem a contract null and void when that land is approved for use as a photovoltaic solar facility certified under the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021, as provided.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission, local publicly owned electric utilities, and interested members of the public, to establish eligibility criteria for solar energy systems receiving ratepayer-funded incentives, as specified. Existing law requires the Energy Commission to adopt guidelines for solar energy systems receiving ratepayer-funded incentives, as provided. This bill would authorize the Energy Commission to establish distributed energy resource equipment lists with rating standards for equipment and components for solar energy systems, distributed energy storage systems, and electric vehicle service equipment, as specified. The bill would define various terms for these purposes. The bill would require the Energy Commission to also adopt guidelines for the distributed energy resource equipment lists, as provided.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to evaluate each customer renewable energy subscription program to determine if the program meets certain goals and determine whether it would be beneficial to ratepayers to establish a new tariff or program or modify an existing tariff or program to establish a community renewable energy program consistent with certain requirements, including a requirement that the program provides bill credits to subscribers based on the avoided costs of the program's facilities, as provided. Pursuant to this requirement, the PUC has adopted a community renewable energy program. This bill would revise and recast the requirements for the customer renewable energy subscription program to, among other things, specify that the avoided costs include certain avoided cost values. The bill would impose additional requirements that the program is required to meet, including requiring facilities participating in the program to have no more than 5 megawatts of generation capacity and no more than 5 megawatts of storage, and capping the total program capacity at 5 gigawatts or ending program subscription after 7 years, when either limit is first reached. The bill would require the PUC, on or before September 1, 2026, to adopt or modify the community renewable energy program to ensure consistency with certain requirements, as provided. The bill would require each community choice aggregator and electric service provider, within 180 days of the adoption or modification of the program, to notify the PUC regarding whether it will participate in the program. The bill would authorize a community choice aggregator or electric service provider to begin participating in, or end its participation in, the program at any time by notifying the PUC. The bill would require the PUC, beginning 2 years from the adoption or modification of the program, to evaluate the program to ensure consistency with the program's requirements and would require the PUC to authorize the termination or modification of the program if the PUC determines that the program does not meet those requirements. The bill would require the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to evaluate community solar and storage projects as a load-modifying resource so that those projects may be counted as a load-modifying resource. The bill would require the Energy Commission to undertake the evaluation and issue a determination on or before September 1, 2026, as provided. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission, beginning November 1, 2003, and biennially thereafter, to adopt an integrated energy policy report that contains an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, presents policy recommendations based on an in-depth and integrated analysis of the most current and pressing energy issues facing the state, and includes an assessment and forecast of system reliability and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation, as specified. Existing law also requires the commission, beginning November 1, 2004, and biennially thereafter, to prepare an energy policy review to update analyses from the integrated energy policy report or to raise energy issues that have emerged since the release of the integrated energy policy report, as specified. This bill would require the commission, as part of the 2027 edition of the integrated energy policy report, to include an assessment of the potential for using curtailed solar and wind generation to produce hydrogen, as provided. The bill would define curtailed solar and wind generation for this purpose and require the assessment to do specified things, including to provide an estimate of how much hydrogen could feasibly and reliably be produced using energy from curtailed solar and wind generation. The bill would repeal its provisions on January 1, 2029.
The California Constitution generally limits the maximum rate of ad valorem tax on real property to 1% of the full cash value of the property and defines "full cash value" for these purposes as the appraised value of real property when purchased, newly constructed, or a change in ownership has occurred after the 1975 assessment. Pursuant to constitutional authorization, existing property tax law excludes from the definition of "newly constructed" for these purposes the construction or addition of any active solar energy system, as defined, through the 2025–26 fiscal year. Under existing property tax law, this exclusion remains in effect only until there is a subsequent change in ownership, but an active solar energy system that qualifies for the exclusion before January 1, 2027, continues to receive the exclusion until there is a subsequent change in ownership. Existing law repeals these exclusion provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would make a technical change to the existing active solar energy system exclusion by instead making the repeal date of January 1, 2027, the date the exclusion becomes inoperative. This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 73 of the Revenue and Taxation Code proposed by AB 1516 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1516 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
(1) Existing law requires each electrical utility or other entity that offers electrical service, except as specified, to develop a standard contract or tariff that provides for net energy metering (NEM) , that, among other things, compensates each eligible customer-generator, as defined, for the electricity it generated, as provided. Existing law requires each electrical utility to make the contract or tariff, commonly known as NEM 1.0, available to eligible customer-generators, upon request, as specified. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to develop an additional standard contract or tariff, and requires each large electrical corporation to offer that standard contract or tariff, commonly known as NEM 2.0, to its eligible customer-generators, as provided. Existing law authorizes the commission to revise the standard contract or tariff, as specified. Pursuant to its authority, the commission adopted Decision 22-12-056 (December 19, 2022) , commonly known as the net billing tariff, which creates a successor tariff to NEM 1.0 and NEM 2.0 and includes specified elements. Existing law requires that, except as specified, not less than the general prevailing rate of per diem wages, determined by the Director of Industrial Relations, be paid to workers employed on public works projects. Existing law defines "public works" for purposes of requirements regarding the payment of prevailing wages to include construction, alteration, demolition, installation, or repair work done under contract and paid for using public funds, except as specified. Existing law requires the awarding body, as defined, of a contract for public work to do specified things, including to withhold and retain all amounts required to satisfy any civil wage and penalty assessments issued by the Labor Commissioner from payments made to the contractor, as specified. Existing law requires an awarding body to provide notice, containing certain information, to the Department of Industrial Relations of any public works contract subject to the public works requirements, within 30 days of the award, as provided. Existing law constitutes, beginning December 31, 2023, the construction of any renewable electrical generation facility and any associated battery storage that receives service pursuant to NEM 1.0, NEM 2.0, or the net billing tariff, except as specified, as a public works project. This bill would specify that an entity that engaged a contractor for construction of a renewable electrical generation facility and associated battery storage, as described above, is not an awarding body and that certain public works project requirements do not apply to that entity. The bill would also specify that the contractor who enters into a contract with that entity for those construction services is the awarding body only for purposes of the above-described requirement to provide notice to the Department of Industrial Relations. Existing law provides for various enforcement mechanisms related to ensuring a contractor pays each construction worker the prevailing rate of per diem wages, and provides that enforcement of a willful violation of any of these mechanisms against a contractor for the construction of a renewable electrical generation facility disqualifies that facility from being eligible to receive service pursuant to NEM 1.0, NEM 2.0, or the net billing tariff. This bill instead would specify that a renewable electrical generation facility remains eligible to receive service pursuant to NEM 1.0, NEM 2.0, or the net billing tariff despite enforcement of a willful violation against a contractor for the construction of the facility, as described above, if restitution has been made to the affected workers and all associated penalties and fines have been paid. (2) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the above-described provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to prescribe, by regulation, lighting, insulation, climate control system, and other building design and construction standards that increase efficiency in the use of energy and water for new residential and new nonresidential buildings, and energy and water conservation design standards for new residential and new nonresidential buildings. Pursuant to this authority, the commission has adopted regulations requiring solar-ready buildings and for the installation of photovoltaic systems meeting certain requirements for low-rise residential buildings built on or after January 1, 2020. This bill would, until January 1, 2028, require residential construction intended to repair, restore, or replace a residential building damaged or destroyed as a result of a disaster in an area in which a state of emergency has been proclaimed by the Governor to comply only with the requirements regarding photovoltaic systems pursuant to those regulations, if any, that were in effect at the time the damaged or destroyed building was originally constructed and would prohibit that construction from being required to comply with any additional or conflicting photovoltaic system requirements in effect at the time of repair, restoration, or replacement. The bill would only apply to the construction of a building if certain conditions are met with respect to the building owner's income and insurance coverage and to the location and square footage of the construction. Because a local agency would be required to determine whether any older applicable photovoltaic requirements are met, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
