Das Williams
- Democratic
Author
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including gas corporations. Existing law requires the commission to adopt, by rule or order, (1) standards for biomethane that specify the concentrations of constituents of concern that are reasonably necessary to protect public health and ensure pipeline integrity and safety, as specified, and (2) requirements for monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping relative to those constituents of concern. Existing law requires the commission to require gas corporation tariffs to condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable customer meeting those standards and requirements. Existing law requires the commission to adopt policies and programs that promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane, as defined, and requires that these policies and programs facilitate the development of a variety of sources of in-state biomethane. The commission has adopted two decisions implementing these requirements, the 2nd of which adopted a 5-year monetary incentive program effective June 11, 2015, for biomethane projects pursuant to which a qualifying project is entitled to a one-time payment of 50% of the interconnection costs incurred by the biomethane producer, up to a total payment of $1,500,000. Total cost of the monetary incentive program for biomethane projects is limited to $40,000,000 over the 5-year life of the program. This bill would require the commission to modify the monetary incentive program for biomethane projects so that the total available incentive limitation for a project, other than a dairy cluster biomethane project, as defined, is increased from $1,500,000 to $3,000,000. The bill would require the commission to increase the total available incentive limitation for a dairy cluster biomethane project to $5,000,000 and would authorize the use of incentive payments subject to this limitation for interconnection costs and costs incurred for gathering lines for transport of biogas to a centralized processing facility for the project. The bill would require the commission to extend the program, as modified, until December 31, 2021. Before the exhaustion of the funds available pursuant to the monetary incentive program, and before the expiration of the program, the bill would require the commission to consider options to promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane, including whether to allow recovery in rates of the costs of investments to (1) facilitate direct investment in the procurement and installation of utility infrastructure necessary to achieve interconnection between the natural gas transmission and distribution pipeline network and biomethane generation and collection equipment and of gathering lines for a dairy cluster biomethane project, (2) provide for the installation of utility infrastructure to achieve interconnection with facilities that generate biomethane, and (3) ensure that these investments for infrastructure are prudent and reasonable and provide a direct benefit to, and are in the interests of, all classes of ratepayers. 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 bill extends the monetary incentive program and requires action by the commission to implement certain of its requirements, and became failure to comply with these commission actions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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.
Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 571, Statutes of 2016.
Approved by the Governor.
Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2:30 p.m.
Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 59. Noes 19. Page 6449.).
In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 28 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 2. Page 5311.).
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
Read second time and amended. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended. (Ayes 6. Noes 1.) (August 11).
Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 0.) (June 27).
In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E., U., & C.
In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 57. Noes 20. Page 4896.)
Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 14. Noes 6.) (May 11).
Read second time and amended.
From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 9. Noes 4.) (April 20).
From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on U. & C. Re-referred. (Ayes 8. Noes 0.) (March 31). Re-referred to Com. on U. & C.
Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96.
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on NAT. RES. Read second time and amended.
From printer. May be heard in committee March 20.
Read first time. To print.
| Bill Text Versions | Format |
|---|---|
| AB2313 | HTML |
| 02/18/16 - Introduced | |
| 03/16/16 - Amended Assembly | |
| 04/26/16 - Amended Assembly | |
| 06/14/16 - Amended Senate | |
| 08/02/16 - Amended Senate | |
| 08/15/16 - Amended Senate | |
| 08/19/16 - Amended Senate | |
| 08/31/16 - Enrolled | |
| 09/24/16 - Chaptered |
| Document | Format |
|---|---|
| No related documents. |
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