ENERGY and UTILITIES

• AB 14 (Aguiar-Curry) This bill extends the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) program to encourage deployment of broadband service to unserved Californians. The bill also revises the surcharge collection methodology for interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service and the Deaf and Disabled Telecommunications Program (DDTP). act to amend Sections 285, 914.7, and 2881 of, and to add Sections 281.1 and 884.2 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to communications, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

• AB 33 (Ting) Expands the list of eligible projects under the California Energy Commission’s (CEC’s) Energy Conservation Assistance Account (ECAA) to include installation of energy storage systems and electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. Also expands the eligible entities who can participate in the ECAA program to include California Native American tribes, and establishes a subaccount to track awards and repayment of loans to tribes. act to amend Sections 25410.6, 25411, 25412.5, 25413, 25414, 25415, and 25416 of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy, and making an appropriation therefor.

• AB 41 (Wood) This bill requires the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to install conduit for fiber communications lines as part of projects to build a state-owned middle-mile broadband network. This bill also requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to update broadband maps to specified information about local broadband service. act to amend Section 14051 of the Government Code, and to add Section 281.6 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to communications.

• AB 74 (Lorena Gonzalez) This bill requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to make various changes to the enrollment and recertification process for California’s Lifeline (Lifeline) program. act to add Section 878.6 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to communications.

• AB 242 (Holden) Makes technical changes to the Public Utilities Code concerning requirements for energy-related programs: 1) Consolidates overlapping reports that the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) provides to the Legislature. 2) Adjusts the deadline in the Power Source Disclosure (PSD) Program by which retail electricity suppliers must file with the California Energy Commission (CEC). 3) Allows court-approved settlements or judicial decisions to be eligible for coverage under the Wildfire Fund. act to amend Sections 398.4, 854, 913.5, 913.6, 1701.8, and 3280 of, and to repeal Sections 913.2, 913.10, and 913.11 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities, and making an appropriation therefor.

• AB 322 (Salas) Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to consider bioenergy projects for biomass conversion in its investment planning process for the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program. act to add Section 25711.9 to the Public Resources Code, relating to energy.

• AB 525 (Chiu) Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to establish 2030 and 2045 planning goals, as specified, for electricity generated by offshore wind (OSW). Additionally requires the CEC, in coordination with specified agencies, to develop a five-part strategic plan for OSW development and to submit the plan to the Natural Resources Agency (NRA) and the Legislature by June 30, 2023. act to add and repeal Chapter 14 (commencing with Section 25991) of Division 15 of the Public Resources Code, relating to energy.

• AB 758 (Nazarian) Expands the authorization for specified joint powers authorities (JPAs) to issue rate reduction bonds (RRBs) for local publicly owned water utilities to also include publicly-owned electric utilities, and makes other changes to that authorization. act to amend Sections 6585 and 6588.7 of the Government Code, relating to local government.

• AB 843 (Aguiar-Curry) Allows Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) to access the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) Bioenergy Market Adjusting Tariff (BioMAT) program. act to amend Section 399.20 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.

• AB 844 (Grayson) This bill authorizes the establishment of the Green Empowerment Zone for the Northern Waterfront area of the County of Contra Costa (Green Empowerment Zone) for the purpose of building upon the comparative advantage provided by the regional concentration of highly-skilled energy industry workers by prioritizing access to tax incentives, grants, loan programs, workforce training programs, and private sector investment in the renewable energy sector. act to add and repeal Chapter 34 (commencing with Section 7599.100) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code, relating to local government.

• AB 850 (Gallagher) Extends the deadline for the cities of El Monte, Montebello, and Willows to sell their public water utilities for consolidation by two years, from January 1, 2022, to January 1, 2024. act to amend Section 37420.5 of the Government Code, relating to local government.

• AB 896 (Bennett) Requires the Oil and Gas Supervisor (Supervisor) to establish a collections unit within the Geologic Energy Management Division (Division). Expands the Supervisor’s ability to impose a claim and lien upon the real property in the state owned by any operator or responsible party of an oil or gas well under specified conditions. act to amend Sections 3206.3, 3226, and 3420 of, and to add Sections 3243 and 3417.5 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to oil and gas wells.

• AB 1058 (Cristina Garcia) This bill authorizes a water corporation with more than 10,000 service connections to recover in rates the transaction costs relating to all payment options, including credit cards, debit cards and prepaid cards. The bill prohibits such a water corporation from recovering such transaction costs from customers participating in a water rate relief program for low-income ratepayers authorized by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). act to amend Section 755.5 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to water service.

• AB 1124 (Friedman) Revises the definition of “solar energy system” as that term is used for the purpose of local permitting of such systems, including the allowable fees a local agency may charge, and clarifies the permit fees local agencies may charge for commercial and residential solar energy systems. act to amend Section 801.5 of the Civil Code, and to amend Section 66015 of the Government Code, relating to solar energy systems.

• AB 1250 (Calderon) Establishes timeframes by which the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) is required to take action on a request for a water system consolidation. act to add Chapter 2.7 (commencing with Section 2721) to Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.

• SB 4 (Gonzalez) This bill extends the operation of the California Advanced Services Fund (CASF) through 2032, increases the annual funding cap for the CASF, and expands projects eligible for CASF grants to include fund broadband deployment at unserved locations used for emergency response. act to add Section 12096.3.5 to the Government Code, and to amend Section 281 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to communications, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

• SB 28 (Caballero) This bill expands the authority of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to collect data to enforce requirements for cable franchises and authorizes the CPUC to set customer service requirements for cable providers. act to add Section 5895 to, and to repeal Section 5960 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to communications.

• SB 47 (Limón) This bill establishes, until January 1, 2025, expedited administrative and judicial review of environmental review and approvals granted for “environmental leadership transit projects” (ELTPs) located within the County of Los Angeles that meet specified requirements. This bill increases the annual expenditure limit from the Oil, Gas and Geothermal Administration Fund, the principal source of funding for the Geologic Energy Management Division from a production fee assessed on oil and gas production in the state, for the plugging and abandonment of hazardous or idle-deserted wells to $5 million. act to amend Section 3258 of the Public Resources Code, relating to oil and gas.

• SB 52 (Dodd) This bill defines a “deenergization event” as a planned power outage, as specified, and includes a deenergization event in the list of conditions constituting a local emergency, with prescribed limitations. act to amend Sections 8557 and 8558 of the Government Code, relating to emergency services.

• SB 156 (Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review) This bill provides the statutory framework to implement the broadband provisions contained in the 2021 Budget Package. act to amend Sections 6547.7 and 53167 of, to add Section 26231 to, and to add Chapter 5.8 (commencing with Section 11549.50) to Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of, the Government Code, to add Section 21080.51 to the Public Resources Code, and to amend Sections 281, 912.2, and 914.7 of, and to add Section 281.2 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to communications, and making an appropriation therefor, to take effect immediately, bill related to the budget.

• SB 323 (Caballero) This bill establishes a 120-day statute of limitations for water and sewer rates. act to add Article 4.7 (commencing with Section 53759) to Chapter 4 of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code, relating to local government.

• SB 341 (McGuire) This bill requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish resiliency plans for backup power requirements for certain telecommunications providers to ensure that service can be maintained for at least 72 hours during an electrical outage. This bill also requires certain telecommunications providers to establish and maintain public outage maps on their websites, and it requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to adopt requirements for public outage maps established and maintained by telecommunications providers. act to amend Section 53122 of the Government Code, and to amend Section 910 of, and to add Section 776.2 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.

• SB 394 (Hueso) This bill modifies the definition of a “household” for the purposes of determining eligibility for the Lifeline Universal Service Telephone (“Lifeline”) program. This bill clarifies that individuals with the same physical address can have separate Lifeline subscriptions if they are separate economic units. act to amend Section 878 of, and to repeal Section 872 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications.

• SB 406 (Stern) This bill makes numerous changes to existing oil and gas conservation law to enhance public transparency, among other things. act to amend Sections 3213, 3227, 3235, and 3412 of, to amend the heading of Article 3 (commencing with Section 690) of Chapter 2 of Division 1 of, and to add Sections 3108.5, 3115, and 3203.5 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to oil and gas.

• SB 423 (Stern) This bill requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to submit to the Legislature an assessment by December 31, 2023, of firm zero-carbon resources that support a clean, reliable, and resilient electrical grid and will help achieve the existing statutory goal of ensuring renewable energy and zero-carbon resources supply 100 percent of all retail sales of electricity to California customers by December 31, 2045. act to add Section 25305.5 to, and to add and repeal Section 25216.7 of, the Public Resources Code, relating to energy.

• SB 437 (Wieckowski) This bill requires each large publicly owned electric utility (POU) to provide details of its electric service rate design to support transportation electrification. act to amend Section 9621 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

• SB 479 (Laird) This bill expands the local government renewable energy self-generation program definition of benefiting account to include accounts meeting specified requirements located within the geographical boundaries of a California Native American tribe. act to amend Section 2830 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

• SB 533 (Stern) This bill requires electrical corporations to identify circuits that have frequently been deenergized to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken to reduce the need for future deenergization of those circuits, as specified. act to amend Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.

• SB 694 (Bradford) This bill requires an electrical corporation to notify the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) via advice letter with a detailed summary of specified workforce development efforts completed in compliance with the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program, including data regarding employment of former members of the California Conservation Corps crews, members of community conservation corps, and formerly incarcerated conservation crew members. act to amend Section 8386.3 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to fire prevention.

• SB 708 (Melendez) Adds planned power outages to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by utility equipment to the list of situations wherein a public water supply distributor can declare a water shortage emergency condition without a public hearing. act to amend Section 351 of the Water Code, relating to water.

• SB 756 (Hueso) This bill defines, beginning July 1, 2022, “low-income customers” for the purposes of eligibility for the Energy Savings Assistance (ESA) program to mean low-income persons or families with household income at or below 250 percent of federal poverty level, instead of the current 200 percent of federal poverty level. act to amend, repeal, and add Section 2790 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.

• SB 757 (Limón) This bill adds the installation of solar energy systems to the definition of “home improvement”; and adds additional regulations to the laws pertaining to home improvement sales persons related to solar energy systems. act to amend Sections 7151, 7152, 7156, 7159.5, 7162, and 7170 of the Business and Professions Code, relating to solar energy systems.