Governor Brown Issues Legislative Update

Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. announced that he has signed the following bill:

• ABX1 13 by Assemblymember V. Manuel Pérez (D-Coachella) – Energy: renewable resources: endangered species.

(1)The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species, and requires the Department of Fish and Game to recommend, and the commission to adopt, criteria for determining if a species is endangered or threatened. CESA authorizes the department to authorize the take of threatened species, endangered species, or candidate species by permit if certain requirements are met. CESA authorizes the department, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and, to the extent practicable, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Bureau of Land Management, to design and implement actions to protect, restore, or enhance the habitat of plants and wildlife that can be used to fully mitigate the impacts of the take of endangered, threatened, or candidate species (mitigation actions) resulting from certain solar thermal and photovoltaic powerplants in the planning area of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.

This bill additionally would authorize the department to design and implement these mitigation actions for proposed wind and geothermal powerplants in the planning area subject to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.
(2)Existing law requires the department to collect, and requires the owner or developer of an eligible project to pay, a one-time permit application fee of $75,000 to the department for deposit into the Fish and Game Preservation Fund. Existing law requires the department to utilize the permit application fee to pay for all or a portion of the department’s cost of processing incidental take permit applications pursuant to CESA.
This bill would additionally require the department, until January 1, 2016, to collect, and an owner or developer of an eligible project to pay, a permit application fee of either $25,000, $50,000, or $75,000, as specified, to the department for deposit into the Renewable Resources Permitting Account, to be established in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, to pay for all or a portion of the department’s cost of processing incidental take permit applications and specified administrative expenses. The bill would define “eligible project” to mean an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. If the permit application fee is determined by the department to be insufficient to complete permitting work due to the complexity of a project, the bill would require the department to collect an additional fee from the owner or developer to pay for its estimated costs, not to exceed an additional $200,000. The bill would require the department and the Energy Commission to enter into a cost-sharing agreement, as specified, governing all eligible projects, as defined, that are subject to the commission’s certification requirements. The bill would appropriate $6,000,000 from the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, thereby making an appropriation.
Existing law establishes the Renewable Energy Resources Development Fee Trust Fund as a continuously appropriated fund in the State Treasury to serve, and be managed, as an optional, voluntary method for developers or owners of eligible projects, as defined, to deposit fees sufficient to complete mitigation actions established by the department and thereby meet their requirements pursuant to CESA or the certification authority of the Energy Commission. The definition of eligible projects, for purposes of these provisions and fees, is limited to certain solar thermal powerplants and photovoltaic powerplants proposed to be constructed in the planning area subject to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan.
This bill would expand the definition of eligible projects to include wind and geothermal powerplants proposed to be constructed in the planning area subject to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. By expanding the purposes for which moneys in this continuously appropriated fund may be used, this bill would make an appropriation.
(3)The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), and requires it to certify sufficient sites and related facilities that are required to provide a supply of electricity sufficient to accommodate projected demand for power statewide. The act grants the Energy Commission the exclusive authority to certify any stationary or floating electrical generating facility using any source of thermal energy, with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more, and any facilities appurtenant thereto.
Existing law requires the Energy Commission to establish a process for certain applicants for certification of a solar thermal powerplant that is proposed to be constructed in the planning area subject to the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan, as defined, that allows the applicant to elect to pay additional fees to be used by the Energy Commission to contract with 3rd parties to assist the Energy Commission staff in performing the analysis otherwise performed by staff in determining whether or not to issue a certification.
This bill would expand this process to include any applicant for certification of an eligible renewable energy resource.
The bill would require the Energy Commission to provide $7,000,000 in grants to qualified counties, as defined, for the development or revision of rules and policies, including, but not limited to, general plan elements, zoning ordinances, and a natural community conservation plan as a plan participant, to facilitate the development of eligible renewable energy resources, and their associated electric transmission facilities, and the processing of permits for eligible renewable energy resources. The bill would require a general plan element or zoning ordinance that is adopted or revised pursuant to a grant to be completed within 2 years of receipt of the grant and be consistent with the conservation strategies of any natural community conservation plan, if one has been approved or is under development. The bill would prohibit the commission from awarding a grant to a county that is not a “plan participant,” as defined, in the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. The bill would require the Energy Commission, in its initial round of grant funding, to establish a preference for a grant to a qualified county in an amount that is adequate to develop a renewable energy element in its general plan that will facilitate the development and siting of eligible renewable energy resources that utilize multiple renewable energy technologies, and to also establish a preference for a grant for those counties that have experience in geothermal energy development and have adopted a geothermal element, as defined, to its general plan.
(4)This bill would provide that Section 3 of this bill would be operative only if SB 16 of the 2011–12 Regular Session is enacted and becomes effective on or before January 1, 2012. This bill would require Section 3 of this bill to be operative on the effective date of this act or on the effective date of SB 16, whichever is later.
(5)The California Constitution authorizes the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and to call the Legislature into special session for that purpose. Governor Schwarzenegger issued a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency, and calling a special session for this purpose, on December 6, 2010. Governor Brown issued a proclamation on January 20, 2011, declaring and reaffirming that a fiscal emergency exists and stating that his proclamation supersedes the earlier proclamation for purposes of that constitutional provision.
This bill would state that it addresses the fiscal emergency declared and reaffirmed by the Governor by proclamation issued on January 20, 2011, pursuant to the California Constitution.