AB 137

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) Existing law, the Contractors State License Law, establishes the Contractors State License Board within the Department of Consumer Affairs and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the licensure and regulation of contractors. Existing law requires the board, with the approval of the director of the department, to appoint a registrar of contractors to be the executive officer and secretary of the board and to carry out all of the administrative duties, as specified. Existing law requires the board to receive and review complaints and consumer questions regarding solar energy systems companies and solar contractors and to receive complaints received from state agencies regarding those systems and contractors. This bill would establish the Solar Energy System Restitution Program for the purpose of providing restitution to certain consumers with a solar energy system installed by a contractor on a single-family residence, as specified. The bill would require the board to administer the program, upon appropriation of one-time resources by the Legislature. The bill would require the registrar or their designee to award moneys appropriated to the program only to consumers who are eligible claimants, as specified. The bill would authorize a consumer to claim eligibility for payment pursuant to the program by filing a specified form with the registrar that the bill would require the board to provide. The bill would authorize the registrar or their designee to request from the consumer any additional information or documentation that the registrar or their designee deems necessary to determine eligibility. The bill would require a claim that appears to include false or altered information to be automatically denied, and would make that denial the exclusive remedy. The bill would limit the amount paid pursuant to the program to a consumer to $40,000, and would require the board to deduct the amount the consumer recovered from other sources from the amount payable upon the consumer's claim. Subject to appropriation by the Legislature, the bill would authorize the board to expend up to $1,000,000 from the moneys appropriated to the program to employ or contract with persons to administer the program. The bill would require the accounting office of the Department of Consumer Affairs to prepare and submit annually to the board a statement of the condition of the moneys appropriated to the program, as specified. The bill would require the board to display a notice on the board's internet website regarding a licensee whose actions have caused the payment of an award to a consumer under the program for 7 years from the date of the payment. The bill would repeal these provisions on June 30, 2024. (2) Existing law, the Gambling Control Act, establishes the California Gambling Control Commission, which is responsible for licensing and regulating various gambling activities and establishments. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to investigate any violations of, and to enforce, the act. Existing law requires a person who deals, operates, carries on, conducts, maintains, or exposes for play any controlled game in this state, or who receives any compensation or reward, or any percentage or share of the money or property played, for keeping, running, or carrying on any controlled game in this state, to apply for and obtain a valid state gambling license, key employee license, or work permit. Existing law also requires the licensure and regulation of any party or entity that provides proposition player services at gambling establishments, known as third-party providers of proposition players. Existing law requires an applicant for a state gambling license, key employee license, work permit, or third party provider of proposition player services license to pay various annual fees, application renewal fees, and deposits to obtain and maintain those licenses and work permits. This bill would prohibit the department from collecting, and a licensee from being required to pay, any annual fees ordinarily due from a state gambling licensee between January 31, 2020, to July 31, 2021, inclusive, and would require the department to refund any annual fees already paid for a state gambling license that were due between January 31, 2020, and the effective date of the bill. The bill would also prohibit the department from collecting, and a licensee from being required to pay, any annual fees ordinarily due from a third-party provider of proposition player services between September 1, 2020, to August 31, 2022, inclusive, and would require the department to refund any annual license fees already paid by a third-party provider of proposition player services that were due between September 1, 2020, and the effective date of the bill. Additionally, the bill would prohibit the department from collecting, and a licensee or commission-issued work permittee from being required to pay, any renewal application fees or background deposits associated with a renewal application ordinarily due between March 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, inclusive, and would require the department to refund any renewal application fees or deposits associated with a renewal application already paid by a licensee or commission-issued work permittee that were due between March 1, 2020, and the effective date of this bill. This bill would make related findings and declarations. (3) Existing law, until January 1, 2025, establishes the Financial Empowerment Fund, and provides that moneys in the fund are continuously appropriated to the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation for allocation to fund financial education and financial empowerment programs and services for at-risk populations in California, as specified. Existing law provided for the transfer of $4,000,000 to the fund on July 1, 2020, plus an amount estimated to be reasonable administrative costs. Existing law requires the commissioner to administer an application process, or contract for its administration, that provides grants of up to $100,000 from the fund to applicants that meet specified criteria. Existing law authorizes grant awards of up to $1,000,000 in grant moneys per fiscal year, beginning with the 2020-21 fiscal year, pursuant to this process. This bill would increase the maximum amount of a grant that may be awarded pursuant to the above-described process to $200,000. The bill would increase the maximum amount of grant awards that may be made in a fiscal year to $2,000,000. The bill would delete the reference to the 2020–21 fiscal year and would correct obsolete. The bill would extend the operation of these provisions generally until January 1, 2030. (4) Existing law, the Debt Collection Licensing Act, prohibits a person from engaging in the business of debt collection in this state without first obtaining a license from the Commissioner of Financial Protection and Innovation. The act requires an application for a license to include certain elements, including an application fee and investigation fee, the amount of which is determined by the commissioner, to cover costs incurred in processing an application, as specified. This bill would require the application fee described above to be $350 and would require the commissioner to bill and collect the application fee and the investigation fee at the time of initial application. (5) The California Constitution generally prohibits the total annual appropriations subject to limitation of the state and each local government from exceeding the appropriations limit of the entity of government for the prior fiscal year, adjusted for the change in the cost of living and the change in population, and prescribes procedures for making adjustments to the appropriations limit. Existing statutory provisions implementing these constitutional provisions establish the procedure for establishing the appropriations limit of the state and of each local jurisdiction for each fiscal year. This bill, if the proceeds of taxes of a city, county, or city and county exceeds its appropriations limit for any fiscal year, beginning with the 2020–21 fiscal year, would require the governing body of the city, county, or city and county to calculate specified amounts, including the amount of proceeds of taxes of the city, county, or city and county attributable to funding received by the city, county, or city and county from the Local Revenue Fund and the Local Revenue Fund 2011. The bill would authorize the governing body of the city, county, or city and county to increase its appropriations limit for the applicable fiscal year based on these calculations. If the governing body of a city, county, or city and county increases its appropriations limit pursuant to these provisions, the bill would require it to notify the Director of Finance within 45 days and, commencing with the 2020–21 fiscal year, require that the appropriations limit of the state be reduced by the total amount reported by each city, county, or city and county in the fiscal year in which the change is made. The bill would make findings with respect to its provisions. By adding to the duties of local officials with respect to determining the appropriations subject to limitation of local agencies, 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, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (6) Existing law generally prohibits the state and a county, city, district, or other political subdivision, and a public officer or body, acting in their official capacity, from paying or depositing a fee for the filing of any document or paper. Existing law also specifically prohibits a county recorder from charging fees for services rendered to the state, any municipality, county, or other political subdivision, thereof, except for making a copy of a paper or record. Under existing law, the above-described prohibitions do not apply to any fee or charge for recording full releases executed or recorded pursuant to specified law, where there is full satisfaction of the amount due under the lien that is released. Existing law requires that the fee for recording full releases, full releases for any document relating to an agreement to reimburse a county for public aid granted by the county, and full releases for filing any judgment that was in favor of a government agency under these provisions be $6. This bill would, instead, require that the fee for recording full releases as described above be 2 times the fee charged to record the first page of a lien, encumbrance, or notice under specified law, as prescribed in specified provisions. Existing law requires the county recorder to charge and collect specified fees for services performed by the recorder's office. Existing law authorizes a fee for recording and indexing every instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded to reimburse the county for the costs of specified services related to recording those documents, not to exceed $10 for recording the first page and $3 for each additional page. Existing law authorizes various additional recording fees, to be charged in connection with filing an instrument, paper, or notice, for specified purposes. This bill, except as specified with respect to certain fees for recording a notice of state tax lien and a certificate of release, would expressly prohibit charging the above-described fees for recording, indexing, or filing an instrument, paper, or notice to those entities expressly exempted from the payment of recording fees under specified law. Existing law authorizes a county board of supervisors to adopt a resolution providing for a fee of up to $10 for recording each real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded, which is in addition to any other recording fees under specified law, and defines the term "real estate instrument" for these purposes. Existing law requires that the fees paid under these provisions, after deduction for actual and necessary administrative costs, be paid quarterly to the county auditor or director of finance, to be placed in the Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Trust Fund and used for specified purposes. Existing law exempts from this fee any real estate instrument, paper, or notice accompanied by a declaration stating that the transfer is subject to a documentary transfer tax, is recorded concurrently with a transfer subject to a documentary transfer tax, or is presented for recording within the same business day as, and is related to the recording of, a transfer subject to a documentary transfer tax. This bill would additionally exempt from this fee any real estate instrument, paper, or notice presented for recording for the benefit of the state or any county, municipality, or other political subdivision of the state. (7) Existing law, until January 1, 2025, authorizes the Department of General Services, the Military Department, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and, in a specified instance, the Department of Water Resources to use the design-build procurement process for specified public works. This bill would authorize the Director of General Services to use the progressive design-build procurement process for the construction of up to 3 public works projects, as jointly determined by the Department of General Services and the Department of Finance, and would prescribe that process. Pursuant to the process, after selection of a design-build entity, the bill would authorize the Department of General Services to contract for design and preconstruction services sufficient to establish a guaranteed maximum price, as defined. Upon agreement on a guaranteed maximum price, the bill would authorize the department to amend the contract in its sole discretion, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit, on or before January 1, 2026, to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee a report containing specified information regarding the public works projects, completed during a specified time period, that used the progressive design-build procurement process. The bill would require specified information to be verified under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Existing law grants the Department of Finance certain powers in connection with appropriations on design-build construction projects. In this regard, existing law prohibits a state agency from expending funds appropriated for a design-build project until the Department of Finance and the California Public Works Board have approved related performance criteria. This bill would generally apply these provisions to projects delivered by the progressive design-build procurement process and make a variety of conforming changes in connection with these projects. 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. (8) Existing law establishes, within the Government Operations Agency, the Department of Technology under the supervision of the Director of Technology, who also serves as the State Chief Information Officer. Under existing law, the Department of Technology is responsible for the approval and oversight of information technology projects, as specified. Existing law requires the chief information officer of each state agency to develop the enterprise architecture for their agency to rationalize, standardize, and consolidate information technology applications, assets, infrastructure, data, and procedures for the agency. Existing law subjects each chief information officer's enterprise architecture to the review and approval of the Department of Technology. Existing law requires that a state agency service contract, which would otherwise not be reviewed by the Department of Technology, be subject to review, approval, and oversight by the department if the contract contains an information technology component that would be subject to oversight by the department if it were a separate information technology project. This bill would require the Department of Technology to identify, assess, and prioritize high-risk, critical information technology services and systems across state government, as determined by the Department of Technology, for modernization, stabilization, or remediation. The bill would require state agencies and state entities to submit information relating to their information technology service contracts to the Department of Technology before February 1, 2022, and annually thereafter. The bill would require the department to analyze and report this information to the Legislature, as specified. The bill would also require the Department of Technology to implement a plan to establish centralized contracts for identified shared services, as defined. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (9) Existing law establishes the Office of Information Security within the Department of Technology for the purpose of ensuring the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of state systems and applications and to promote and protect privacy as part of the development and operations of state systems and applications to ensure the trust of the residents of the state. Existing law requires the Chief of the Office of Information Security to establish an information security program, as specified. Existing law authorizes the office to conduct, or require to be conducted, an audit of information security to ensure program compliance and requires the audited entity to fund that audit. This bill would repeal the requirement that the audited entity fund an audit described above. (10) Existing law establishes the Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, known as "GO-Biz," within the Governor's office to serve the Governor as the lead entity for economic strategy and the marketing of California on issues relating to business development, private sector investment, and economic growth. This bill would create the Energy Unit within GO-Biz to accelerate the planning, financing, and execution of critical energy infrastructure projects that are necessary for the state to reach its climate, energy, and sustainability policy goals, including by identifying barriers, making recommendations, creating a working group, coordinating between the state's climate and energy agencies, and cooperating with local, regional, federal, and California public and private businesses and investors, as specified. The bill would require the Governor to appoint a deputy director who would have direct authority over the Energy Unit and serve at the pleasure of the Governor. The bill would require the Energy Unit, on or before February 1 of each year, to annually submit a report to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature with specified information relating to infrastructure priorities and the Energy Unit's work in the prior calendar year and recommendations to accelerate the Energy Unit's progress. (11) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services in the Health and Welfare Agency and sets forth its powers and duties relating to the administration of various programs relating to public social services. Existing law establishes in state government the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs that, among other things, provides assistance to policymakers and state agencies on identifying the needs or problems affecting Asian and Pacific Islander American communities and in developing appropriate responses and programs. Existing law, the Administrative Procedure Act, generally governs the procedure for the adoption, amendment, or repeal of regulations by state agencies and for the review of those regulatory actions by the Office of Administrative Law. This bill would require the State Department of Social Services, in consultation with the Commission on Asian and Pacific Islander American Affairs, to administer a grant program that provides support and services to victims and survivors of hate crimes and their families and facilitates hate crime prevention measures, as provided. The bill would require the department, in consultation with the commission, to develop a process to award grants to qualified grantees, as specified. The bill would require that, beginning on October 1, 2022, and annually thereafter until October 1, 2025, the department and the commission submit a report for the prior fiscal year containing information about the grant program to the budget committees of both houses. The bill would authorize the department to enter into a contract with an independent evaluation and research agency to evaluate the impacts of the program and would exempt contracts issued pursuant to these provisions from, among other things, the State Contracting Manual. The bill would exempt these provisions from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act. The bill would make these provisions operative upon appropriation, as specified, and would repeal these provisions on June 30, 2026. (12) Existing law classifies certain controlled substances into Schedules I to V, inclusive. Existing law requires the Department of Justice to maintain the Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) database for the electronic monitoring of the prescribing and dispensing of Schedule II, Schedule III, Schedule IV, and Schedule V controlled substances by a health care practitioner authorized to prescribe, order, administer, furnish, or dispense those controlled substances. Existing law, operative on July 1, 2021, or upon the date the department promulgates regulations to implement this provision and posts those regulations on its internet website, whichever date is earlier, requires the above health care practitioner upon receipt of a federal Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) registration, and a pharmacist upon licensure, and authorizes a licensed physician and surgeon who does not hold a DEA registration, to submit an application developed by the department to obtain approval to electronically access information regarding the controlled substance history of a patient that is maintained by the department. Upon approval, existing law requires the department to release to the applicant or their delegate the electronic history of the person under their care based on data contained in the CURES Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. This bill would require the department to implement its duties described in the above provision upon completion of any technological changes to the CURES database necessary to support that provision, or by October 1, 2022, whichever is sooner. (13) Existing law prohibits sterilization of a person with developmental disabilities without the person's consent, if the person has the ability to consent to sterilization, as defined, unless a limited conservator authorized to consent to the sterilization of an adult with a developmental disability is appointed and obtains court authorization to consent to the sterilization, as specified. Existing law prohibits sterilization for the purpose of birth control in county jails and state prison facilities, as specified. Existing law establishes a procedure for the compensation of victims and derivative victims of certain crimes by the California Victim Compensation Board from the Restitution Fund, a continuously appropriated fund consisting of General Fund moneys, for specified losses suffered as a result of those crimes. Existing law sets forth eligibility requirements and specified limits on the amount of compensation the board may award, and requires applications for compensation to be verified under penalty of perjury. Under existing law, certain property is exempt from enforcement of money judgments, including benefits from a disability or health insurance policy or program. Subject to an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or any other act by the Legislature for this express purpose, the bill would establish the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, to be administered by the California Victim Compensation Board for the purpose of providing victim compensation to survivors of state-sponsored sterilization conducted pursuant to eugenics laws that existed in California between 1909 and 1979 and to survivors of coercive sterilization performed in prisons after 1979. The bill would establish the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Account in the State Treasury, to be administered by the board, and would require funds appropriated for the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program to be held in the account and used for the purpose of this program. The bill would require the board to, among other things in order to implement the program, conduct outreach to locate qualified recipients, as defined, disclose a coerced sterilization to that person if the person was sterilized while imprisoned, notify that person of the process to apply for victim compensation, and review and verify all applications for victim compensation. The bill would require the board to keep confidential, and not disclose to the public, a record pertaining to a person's application for victim compensation or the board's verification of the application. The bill would exempt victim compensation payments from, among other things, being considered taxable income for state tax purposes or being subject to enforcement of a money judgment. The bill would require the board and specified departments, including the State Department of State Hospitals, to post a notice on their internet websites, once the appropriation described above is made, to inform the public of the operative date of the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program. Existing law provides that information and records obtained in the course of providing specified mental health and developmental services are confidential, but allows the disclosure of the information and records under specified circumstances. This bill would additionally authorize the State Department of Developmental Services and the State Department of State Hospitals to disclose the above-described information and records to authorized employees of the board for the purposes of verifying the identity and eligibility of individuals claiming compensation under the Forced or Involuntary Sterilization Compensation Program, or to an attorney for a person who was sterilized or alleges a person was sterilized. The bill would require the board to maintain the confidentiality of any information or records received from these departments. Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest. This bill would make legislative findings to that effect. (14) Existing law requires the Department of Veterans Affairs to establish a competitive grant program, to be administered by the department with existing funds, as defined, for purposes of awarding grant moneys to certified California veteran service providers for purposes of providing services that improve the quality of life for veterans and their families, as specified. Under existing law, the department is authorized to enter into memoranda of understanding with other state departments and agencies to implement these provisions. Existing law requires competitive grants to be awarded in support of the state's strategic plan for providing veterans with transition assistance. Existing law requires the department to adopt regulations to implement the program and define criteria for supporting the state's strategic plan. This bill would establish the Certified Veteran Service Provider Program Fund. The bill would require that funds appropriated for the competitive grant program be deposited in the fund and available for expenditure by the department exclusively for the support of the department in carrying out its duties relative to the competitive grant program. (15) Existing law, the Buy Clean California Act, requires the Department of General Services, by January 1, 2021, to establish and publish in the State Contracting Manual, in a department management memorandum, or on the department's internet website a maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible materials, set at the industry average of facility-specific global warming potential emissions for that material. Existing law requires the department to determine the industry average by consulting recognized databases of environmental product declarations. Existing law requires the department, by January 1, 2021, to submit a report to the Legislature describing the method the department used to develop the maximum global warming potential for each category of eligible materials. Existing law requires the department, by January 1, 2024, and every 3 years thereafter, to review the maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible materials and authorizes the department to adjust the number downward for any eligible material to reflect industry improvements, as provided. This bill would extend the date by which the department is to establish and publish the required information in the State Contracting Manual, in a department management memorandum, or on its internet website to January 1, 2022, and require the department to consult with the State Air Resources Board. The bill, with regard to setting the maximum acceptable global warming potential, would provide that, if the department determines that the facility-specific environmental product declarations available do not adequately represent the industry as a whole, it may use the industrywide environmental product declarations based on domestic production data in its calculation of the industry average. The bill also would extend the date for submitting to the Legislature a report describing the method the department used to develop the maximum global warming potential for each category of eligible materials, and the initial date for reviewing the maximum acceptable global warming potential for each category of eligible materials, to January 1, 2022, and January 1, 2025, respectively. Existing law, among other things, requires an awarding authority, for contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2021, to include in a specification for bids that the facility-specific global warming potential for any eligible material shall not exceed the maximum acceptable global warming potential for that material, as provided, and requires the successful bidder to submit specified information regarding the life cycle of each eligible material proposed to be used. This bill would instead provide that these requirements apply beginning with contracts entered into on or after July 1, 2022. Existing law requires the department, by January 1, 2022, to submit a report to the Legislature on any obstacles to the implementation of the Buy Clean California Act and the effectiveness of the act to reduce global warming potential. This bill would extend the date for submission of the report to July 1, 2023. (16) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law requires the PUC to review and accept, modify, or reject a procurement plan for each electrical corporation in accordance with specified elements, incentive mechanisms, and objectives. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective electricity efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for electrical corporations to achieve pursuant to their procurement plan. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to identify all potentially achievable cost-effective natural gas efficiency savings and to establish efficiency targets for gas corporations to achieve and requires that a gas corporation first meet its unmet resource needs through all available gas efficiency and demand reduction resources that are cost effective, reliable, and feasible. Pursuant to these requirements, electrical corporations and gas corporations have filed, and the PUC approved, various plans to undertake actions to promote energy efficiency that are administered by the utilities or third-party administrators, either individually, regionally, or statewide, as defined. Existing law requires the PUC to require those electrical corporations with 250,000 customer accounts in the state, and those gas corporations with 400,000 or more customer accounts in the state, to establish the joint School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program within each of their energy efficiency portfolios and to file a joint advice letter by February 1, 2021, to fund the program as part of each of their energy efficiency portfolios. Existing law requires that the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program be a joint program among all the participating utilities, be consistent across the utility territories, and be designed, administered, and implemented by the Energy Commission as the third-party program administrator. Existing law requires the PUC to approve the advice letter by March 1, 2021, and to require those large electrical corporations and gas corporations to allocate a specific portion of their energy efficiency budget for program the 2021, 2022, and 2023 calender years to fund the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program, as specified. Existing law requires all allocated funds to be spent or returned to the electrical corporation or gas corporation by December 1, 2026. Existing law requires the Energy Commission, in collaboration with those large electrical and gas corporations, to develop and administer the School Reopening Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification and Repair Program and the School Noncompliant Plumbing Fixture and Appliance Program as components of the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program. Existing law repeals these provisions on January 1, 2027. This bill would revise the program's definition of "local educational agency" to include certain regional occupational centers, thereby making those regional occupational centers eligible to receive program grants. The bill would provide that the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program Fund was administratively established for the Energy Commission to receive funds allocated pursuant to the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program and would provide that the fund is continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal years for the purposes of the program, including paying the costs of program administration, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would require the Energy Commission, by March 1, 2022, and by each March 1 thereafter, until March 1, 2027, to submit a report to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee describing programmatic activities and spending pursuant to the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program. (17) Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) , in consultation with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) , the State Air Resources Board, and the Independent System Operator, by January 1, 2021, to assess the potential for the state to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases in the state's residential and commercial building stock by at least 40% below 1990 levels by January 1, 2030. Existing law requires the PUC, in consultation with the Energy Commission, to develop and supervise the administration of the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development (BUILD) Program to require gas corporations to provide incentives to eligible applicants, as defined, for the deployment of near-zero-emission building technologies to significantly reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases from buildings, as specified. Under existing law, the PUC designated the Energy Commission as the administrator for the BUILD Program. This bill would require the Energy Commission, using moneys appropriated pursuant to specified items in the Budget Act of 2021, to implement and administer a new statewide program to incentivize the construction of new multifamily and single-family market-rate residential buildings as all-electric buildings or with energy storage systems, as specified. The bill would name this new program the Building Initiative for Low-Emissions Development Program Phase 2, which would be a separate program from the BUILD Program described above. The bill would require the Energy Commission to develop and approve program guidelines in a public process before June 30, 2022, and to ensure, to the extent reasonable, that the new program incentivizes the construction of all-electric buildings and the installation of energy storage systems and other technologies that would not otherwise be constructed or installed, as specified. (18) Existing property tax law requires county boards to meet to equalize the assessment of property on the local roll, as provided, and authorizes a taxpayer to apply to the county board for an assessment reduction under a variety of circumstances, including for a reduction of the base year value, as defined, of real property. Existing property tax law requires that the applicant's opinion of value, as reflected on a timely filed application for reduction in an assessment of property, be the basis for the calculation of property taxes, where the county board has failed to hear evidence and make a final determination on that application within either 2 years of the filing of that application or an extension of that 2-year period. Existing property tax law extends this deadline until March 31, 2021, with respect to applications with a deadline occurring during the period beginning on March 4, 2020, and before March 31, 2021. This bill would further extend the above-described March 31, 2021, extension date to December 31, 2021. (19) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as a bill providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill.