AB 1478

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law authorizes a governmental agency to solicit proposals and enter into agreements with private entities for the design, construction, or reconstruction of, and to lease to private entities, specified types of fee-producing infrastructure projects. Existing law prohibits a state agency or specified governmental agencies from using this authorization to design, construct, finance, or operate a state project, as specified. This bill, until December 31, 2019, would specify that a state project, for these purposes, does not include a governmental agency project financed through the State Water Pollution Control Revolving Fund or the Safe Drinking Water State Revolving Fund. (2) Existing law creates the Housing Rehabilitation Loan Fund and continuously appropriates moneys in the fund for, among other purposes, making specified deferred payment housing rehabilitation loans. Prior to June 20, 2014, existing law authorized, to the extent no other funding sources were available, $10,000,000 in the fund to be used by the department for the purpose of providing housing rental-related subsidies to persons rendered homeless, or at risk of becoming homeless, due to unemployment, underemployment, or other economic hardship resulting from the state of emergency proclaimed by the Governor based on drought conditions. This bill would, to the extent no other funding sources are available, reauthorize that $10,000,000 in the fund to be used by the department for the above-stated purposes. (3) Existing law vests with the Department of Parks and Recreation control of the state park system. Existing law authorizes the department to enter into an agreement with specified nonprofit organizations for the development, improvement, restoration, care, maintenance, administration, or operation of a unit, or portion of a unit, of the state park system, subject to certain conditions. This bill would authorize the department to enter into a restoration agreement with the Leland Stanford Mansion Foundation, a nonprofit organization, for the purpose of restoring the front staircase at the Leland Stanford Mansion State Historical Park, as specified. This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Leland Stanford Mansion State Historical Park. (4) The Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 establishes the State Energy Conservation Assistance Account, a continuously appropriated account, that is administered by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to provide grants and loans to various public entities to maximize energy use savings in existing and planned buildings and facilities. Existing law, the Budget Act of 2014, transfers, upon order of the Director of Finance, moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund to the account for those purposes. This bill would create a continuously appropriated subaccount within the State Energy Conservation Assistance Account to track the award and repayment of loans made with moneys transferred from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, as specified. The bill would authorize moneys in the subaccount to be used for loans only for projects in buildings owned and operated by a state agency or entity, including, without limitation, the University of California and California State University. (5) Existing law establishes the State Coastal Conservancy in the Natural Resources Agency with prescribed powers and responsibilities for implementing a program of agricultural land protection, area restoration, and resources enhancement within the coastal zone, as defined. Existing law authorizes the conservancy, for the purpose of implementing the provisions governing the conservancy, to award a grant to a for-profit entity to accomplish the removal or alteration of the San Clemente Dam under specified conditions. Existing law limits the total expenditures of state moneys for the removal or alteration of the San Clemente Dam and related activities to not more than $25,000,000. This bill would increase the limit on the total expenditure of state moneys for the removal or alteration of the San Clemente Dam and related activities to not more than $30,000,000. (6) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to require the administration, until January 1, 2021, of a self-generation incentive program for distributed generation resources. Existing law limits eligibility for incentives under the self-generation incentive program to distributed energy resources that the Public Utilities Commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board, determines will achieve reductions in emissions of greenhouse gases pursuant to the California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006. This bill would modify the eligibility requirements for incentives under the self-generation incentive program, as specified. The bill also would modify the performance measures used in the Public Utilities Commission's evaluation of the overall success and impact of the self-generation incentive program, as specified. (7) Existing law establishes the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, which requires the Public Utilities Commission to implement annual procurement targets for the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources for all retail sellers, as defined, to achieve the targets and goals of the program. Existing law defines an eligible renewable energy resource to include, among other things, a small hydroelectric generation unit with a nameplate capacity not exceeding 40 megawatts that meets certain qualifications. This bill would revise the qualifications for a small hydroelectric generation unit with a nameplate capacity not exceeding 40 megawatts to be an eligible renewable energy resource, as specified. (8) Existing law, the Budget Act of 2014, appropriates the unencumbered balance of specified moneys appropriated in the Budget Act of 2003 for the State Department of Public Health to the State Water Resources Control Board for encumbrance or expenditure until June 30, 2016, for the purposes of providing grants of up to $500,000 per project for public water systems to address drought-related drinking water emergencies or threatened emergencies. This bill would make those moneys available for liquidation until June 30, 2018. This bill also would make conforming changes. (9) The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates 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 adopt a statewide greenhouse gas emissions limit to be achieved by 2020 equivalent to the statewide greenhouse gas emissions levels in 1990. Existing law authorizes the state board to adopt a schedule of fees to be paid by the sources of greenhouse gas emissions regulated pursuant to the act and requires those fees to be deposited in the Cost of Implementation Account. 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. The act requires the scoping plan to be updated at least once every 5 years. This bill would appropriate $529,000 from the Cost of Implementation Account to the Secretary of the Natural Resources Agency for the purpose of implementing elements of the scoping plan adopted by the State Air Resources Board. (10) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.