Existing law establishes a state policy that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 90% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2035, 95% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2040, 100% of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2045, and 100% of electricity procured to serve all state agencies by December 31, 2035, as provided. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , and State Air Resources Board to issue a joint report to the Legislature by January 1, 2021, and every 4 years thereafter, that includes specified information relating to the implementation of that state policy. Existing law requires the PUC and the Energy Commission to undertake various actions in furtherance of meeting the state's clean energy and pollution reduction objectives. This bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with specified agencies, to develop a strategic plan for new in-state geothermal energy in California, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission to submit the strategic plan to the Natural Resources Agency and the Legislature on or before June 30, 2027. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with specified agencies, to work with stakeholders, other relevant federal, state, and local agencies, interested Native American tribes, California load-serving entities, and the geothermal energy industry to identify suitable and recommended locations for the development of new in-state geothermal energy, to establish state lands leasing goals for new in-state geothermal energy development for 2035 and 2045, as specified, and to identify opportunities to work with federal agencies on the timing, scope, and prioritization of geothermal lease sales to support geothermal development on federal lands within California, as specified. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in consultation with the PUC and the Independent System Operator (ISO) , to assess the transmission investments and upgrades necessary to support new in-state geothermal energy. The bill would require the PUC to designate new in-state geothermal energy as a long lead-time resource in its recurring input to the ISO's system need scoring for the interconnection and transmission planning process. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with specified entities, to develop and produce a permitting roadmap that describes timeframes and milestones for a coordinated, comprehensive, and efficient permitting process for new in-state geothermal energy exploration and field development and associated electricity and transmission infrastructure, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in coordination with the State Lands Commission, the Department of Conservation, and the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, to assess the level at which new and existing geothermal rentals and royalties would best support California's long-term renewable energy and greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals while maintaining competitiveness with rentals and rates on federal lands and in other states, as provided. The bill would require the information described in this paragraph, an assessment of known impacts to Native American and Indigenous peoples and biological resources, and strategies for addressing those impacts, and an assessment, led by the Geologic Energy Management Division, using the best available data, of the in-state geothermal resource potential, to be included in the strategic plan, as specified.
Senate Resolution 36 is a symbolic resolution affirming California's commitment to the Paris Agreement on climate change. It does not create new laws or funding but formally expresses the state's dedication to achieving net-zero carbon emissions and upholding the Paris Accords' goals. The resolution highlights California's existing climate policies, including emission reduction targets (50-52% below 2005 levels by 2030) and clean energy initiatives, and directs the resolution to be sent to state and federal climate officials. It has no direct impact on residents or businesses, as it serves only to reaffirm existing policy priorities.
Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction, the Controller, and the Director of Finance to develop and update as necessary, standards and criteria to be reviewed and adopted by the State Board of Education and to be used by local educational agencies in the development of annual budgets and the management of subsequent expenditures from that budget, as specified. Existing law requires these standards and criteria to include, among other things, multiyear commitments, including cost-of-living adjustments. This bill would specify that the multiyear commitments are for only the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would require the state board, on or before March 1, 2027, to amend specified related regulations, as provided, and would require the State Department of Education to modify the Standardized Account Code Structure reporting software infrastructure to eliminate reporting fields for a 2nd subsequent fiscal year and, commencing with the 2027–28 fiscal year, ensure that the system reflects a 2-year operational and forecasting structure. Existing law requires the governing board of a school district and each county board of education, on or before July 1 of each year, to adopt a budget, as specified, and requires that budget to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. Existing law requires the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, as applicable, to, among other things, examine the adopted budget to determine whether it complies with the standards and criteria adopted by the state board for local educational agency budgets and determine whether the adopted budget (1) will allow the school district or county office of education to meet its financial obligations during the fiscal year and (2) is consistent with a financial plan that will enable the school district or county office of education to satisfy its multiyear financial commitments. Existing law requires the governing board of each school district and each county superintendent of schools to certify whether the school district or county office of education is able to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year and for the subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires (1) a negative certification to be assigned to any school district or county office of education that will be unable to meet its financial obligations for the remainder of the fiscal year or the subsequent fiscal year, (2) a qualified certification to be assigned to the school district or county office of education that may not meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year or 2 subsequent fiscal years, and (3) a positive certification to be assigned to a school district or county office of education that will meet its financial obligations for the current fiscal year and subsequent 2 fiscal years. Existing law requires a copy of the school district's or county superintendent's certification to be filed with the county superintendent of schools or the Superintendent, respectively. The bill would instead only require certification for the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year, and would require determinations for qualified and positive certifications to instead be assigned based only on the current fiscal year and the subsequent fiscal year. The bill would also make conforming changes to related provisions.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Independent System Operator, to take specified actions by December 1, 2020, to facilitate the commercialization of microgrids for distribution customers of large electrical corporations, including, among other actions, by, without shifting costs between ratepayers, developing methods to reduce barriers for microgrid deployment. Under existing law, the PUC requires certain large electrical corporations to jointly develop a Microgrid Incentive Program to fund clean energy microgrids to support the critical needs of vulnerable populations impacted by a grid outage. This bill would require the PUC to require each electrical corporation to provide to the commission, on or before January 15, 2026, the status of any awarded or unallocated funds collected for the Microgrid Incentive Program. The bill would require the commission, after reviewing that information, if it determines additional actions, using funds collected on or before January 1, 2026, are needed, to consider the use of a third-party administrator and to ensure that unallocated funds are allocated to areas that have experienced 2 or more deenergization events, prioritizing vulnerable communities, including access and functional needs populations, and prioritizing customers that operate critical community infrastructure that supports resiliency during a deenergization event. The bill would require, if there are remaining unallocated funds on January 1, 2027, that those funds to be returned to ratepayers. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because a violation of a PUC 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.
(1) Existing law provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator (ISO) as a nonprofit public benefit corporation and requires the ISO to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the electrical transmission grid consistent with achieving planning and operating reserve criteria no less stringent than those established by the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and the North American Electric Reliability Council. Existing law, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, provides for the transformation of the ISO into a regional organization, with the approval of the Legislature, pursuant to a specified process. That process provides that modifications to the ISO's governance structure, through changes to its bylaws or other corporate governance documents, will not become effective until the ISO, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , the State Air Resources Board (state board) , the Governor, and the Legislature take specified actions on or before January 1, 2019. This bill would delete the above-described provisions providing for the transformation of the ISO into a regional organization. The bill would authorize the ISO and the electrical corporations that are participating transmission owners whose transmission systems are operated by the ISO to use voluntary energy markets governed by an independent regional organization, only if specified requirements are satisfied. The bill would authorize the ISO, on or after January 1, 2028, to implement tariff modifications accepted by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to operate the energy markets whose rules are governed by an independent regional organization if the governing board of the ISO adopts a resolution, as specified, finding that each of the specified requirements have been, or will be, adopted by the independent regional organization. The bill would require the ISO to maintain the necessary technical capability to operate energy markets, as specified, and would require the ISO to continue its functions and responsibilities as a balancing authority, as provided. This bill would establish the Regional Energy Market Oversight Council, which would be responsible for ensuring that participation in regional energy markets serves the interests of the state. The bill would require the council to approve or disapprove initial participation in the independent regional organization by electrical corporations and any other participating load-serving entities and determine whether electrical corporations and any other participating load-serving entities should be required to withdraw from an energy market governed by the independent regional organization. The bill would require the council to convene a duly noticed public meeting to make a finding of approval or withdrawal of participation in the independent regional organization and would require the council to disapprove of initial participation in the independent regional organization, or order withdrawal, if the council makes any of specified findings. (2) Existing law establishes the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the PUC to establish a renewables portfolio standard requiring all retail sellers, as defined, to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, at specified percentages of the total kilowatthours sold to their retail end-customers during specified compliance periods. Existing law defines "California balancing authority" and "balancing authority area" for purposes of the program. This bill would provide that the above-described independent regional organization is not a California balancing authority and its geographic footprint is not a balancing authority area for purposes of the program. The program, consistent with the goals of procuring the least-cost and best-fit eligible renewable energy resources that meet project viability principles, requires that all retail sellers procure a balanced portfolio of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as specified, referred to as the portfolio content requirements. This bill would require, in making determinations regarding the eligibility of products to satisfy the portfolio content requirements, the Energy Commission to require, at a minimum, resources that do not have a first point of interconnection to a California balancing authority to demonstrate either that the resource operates under a pseudo-tie agreement or dynamic scheduling agreement with the Independent System Operator of another California balancing authority, or that the resource has secured, and exercised its rights to, firm transmission necessary to deliver its output to a California balancing authority without substituting electricity from another source. (3) Existing law requires the Power Exchange to provide an efficient competitive auction, open on a nondiscriminatory basis to all suppliers, that meets the loads of all exchange customers at efficient prices, and authorizes the Power Exchange governing board to form appropriate technical advisory committees composed of market and nonmarket participants to advise the governing board on relevant issues. This bill would delete these provisions. (4) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be part of the act and a violation of a PUC 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 requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to adopt, on a biennial basis, an integrated energy policy report that contains an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. Existing law requires that the report present policy recommendations based on an in-depth and integrated analysis of the most current and pressing energy issues facing the state. This bill would require the Energy Commission, on or before March 1, 2027, to designate a person within the Energy Commission or identify and retain an external candidate to serve as the Senior Counselor on Industrial Policy and Clean Energy Development, and would require the senior counselor to, among other things, convene working groups that focus on certain issues, as provided. The bill would require the Energy Commission, the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, the Labor and Workforce Development Agency, the Public Utilities Commission, the Department of General Services, and the office of the Treasurer, on or before March 1, 2027, to enter into a memorandum of understanding on equitable clean energy supply chains and industrial policy in California with specified goals and provisions, as provided. The bill would require the senior counselor to track and coordinate the work under the memorandum of understanding and to prepare an annual report summarizing the key findings and recommendations resulting from that work. The bill would require that the report be presented at a public meeting of the Energy Commission and be published on the Energy Commission's internet website. The bill would establish in the State Treasury the Equitable Clean Energy Supply Chain and Industrial Policy Fund and would, upon appropriation by the Legislature, authorize the moneys in the fund to be expended for purposes of the bill.
Senate Resolution 50 designates October 8, 2025, as "California Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Day" to recognize the state's leadership in hydrogen and fuel cell technologies. The resolution highlights California's advancements in clean energy, environmental sustainability, and innovation in these fields, including applications in transportation, power generation, and industrial decarbonization. It does not create new laws or regulations but serves as a symbolic acknowledgment of the state's role in advancing clean hydrogen solutions.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires all charges demanded or received by a public utility for a product or commodity furnished or to be furnished or a service rendered or to be rendered to be just and reasonable. Existing law, except as provided, prohibits a public utility from changing a rate unless there is a showing before the PUC and a finding by the PUC that the new rate is justified. Existing law requires the PUC to publish and maintain on its internet website particular documents regarding the PUC's agendas, actions, decisions, resolutions, rules, and other information. This bill would prohibit the PUC from placing the consideration of a decision in a ratesetting proceeding that would result in an increase in rates to customers of an electrical corporation that has a revenue requirement that exceeds $1,000,000,000 on its consent agenda. The bill would, except as provided, require the PUC to provide, at a meeting to vote on a decision of a ratesetting proceeding that increases the rates of an electrical corporation's customers by more than 5%, before its vote on the decision, a public comment period of at least 30 minutes on the decision. Under existing law, the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources during certain compliance periods up to December 31, 2030. Existing law provides that a local publicly owned electric utility is not required to procure a certain amount of eligible renewable energy resources if, during a year within those compliance periods, the local publicly owned electric utility receives more than 40% of its retail sales from large hydroelectric generation under an ownership agreement or contract in effect as of January 1, 2018. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to establish appropriate multiyear compliance periods for local publicly owned electric utilities beyond December 31, 2030. This bill would provide that the provision related to the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources by local publicly owned electric utilities also applies to the compliance periods established by the Energy Commission.
(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.
(1) The Bergeson-Peace Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank Act establishes the California Infrastructure and Economic Development Bank (I-Bank) in the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, governed by a board of directors. The act, among other things, authorizes the I-Bank to make loans, issue bonds, and provide financial assistance for various types of projects that qualify as economic development or public development facilities. The Climate Catalyst Revolving Fund Act of 2020 authorizes the I-bank, under the Climate Catalyst Revolving Fund Program, to provide financial assistance to any eligible sponsor or participating party in connection with the financing or refinancing of a climate catalyst project, either directly to the sponsor or participating party or to a lending or financial institution, as provided. The act requires the I-Bank to adopt climate catalyst financing plans for specified categories of climate catalyst projects, as specified, after meeting and conferring with the appropriate consulting agencies for those specified categories of climate catalyst projects. This bill would authorize the I-bank to provide financial assistance in connection with the financing or refinancing of a new category of climate catalyst projects, those that enable the decarbonization of industrial facilities' use of heat and power, including, but not limited to, industrial heat pump and thermal energy storage projects, as specified, with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the State Air Resources Board as consulting agencies. The bill would specify conditions to be satisfied regarding these projects. The bill would make implementation of the financial assistance for this new category of climate catalyst projects contingent upon an appropriation by the Legislature. (2) Existing law requires the commission to establish and implement the Long-Duration Energy Storage Program to provide financial incentives for eligible projects, including thermal storage, that have power ratings of at least one megawatt and are capable of reaching a target of at least 8 hours of continuous discharge of electricity in order to deploy innovative energy storage systems to the electrical grid for purposes of providing critical capacity and grid services. Existing law requires the commission to give preference to eligible projects that have certain impacts, including those that increase the use of renewable energy. This bill would establish and implement an Industrial Facilities Thermal Energy Storage Program within the Long-Duration Energy Storage Program to provide financial incentives for eligible projects to decarbonize industrial facilities' use of heat and power, as specified. The bill would include thermal energy storage, as defined, rather than thermal storage, as an eligible project. The bill would require the commission to give preference to eligible projects that increase the use of renewable energy through reducing curtailment and shifting power usage from peak to off-peak times, rather than to all projects that increase the use of renewable energy. The bill would prohibit, after January 1, 2027, the commission from providing these financial incentives to projects that involve the performance of work by contractors in the construction industry unless that work is performed under a project labor agreement, as provided. (3) Existing law requires the commission to establish and administer the Industrial Grid Support and Decarbonization Program to provide financial incentives for the implementation of eligible projects at eligible industrial facilities to provide significant benefits to the electrical grid, reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, achieve the state's clean energy goals, and exceed compliance requirements. Existing law subjects projects to certain conditions of eligibility for these financial incentives. Existing law requires the commission, in providing financial incentives, to give preference to certain types of projects. This bill would rename the program the Industrial Decarbonization and Improvement of Grid Operations Program and would add, among its purposes, reducing emissions of health-harming pollutants. The bill would revise some of the conditions for eligible projects. The bill would make, after January 1, 2027, projects that involve the performance of work by contractors in the construction industry ineligible for these financial incentives unless the work is performed under a project labor agreement, as provided. The bill would require, after January 1, 2027, an eligible project for a facility that has a record of air permit violations to separately develop a plan for pollution remediation, including for ecological and public health harms. The bill would require the commission to also give preference, in providing financial incentives, to an eligible project that is located in an under-resourced community, as defined, and an eligible project that develops a community benefit fund or agrees to pursue a community benefits agreement with the surrounding community and other affected stakeholders.
