Legislative Update: California CLEAN bills Advance in Lawmaking Process
SB 1332 and AB 1990, also known as the “Solar for All” bill, will help support clean local energy in the state.
Two important CLEAN bills are closer to becoming law in California. Senate Bill (SB) 1332, which is designed to speed up the implementation of SB 32 CLEAN Programs, passed the State Assembly on August 20 by a vote of 49-26. In addition, Assembly Bill (AB) 1990, which would create a CLEAN Program targeting low-income California communities, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee on August 16 and will now go to the Senate floor for a full vote by August 31. After passing both the Assembly and Senate, bills then go to Governor Brown for his signature, upon which they become official law.
SB 1332 – introduced by Gloria Negrete McLeod of Chino, CA and sponsored by the Clean Coalition – requires that Publicly Owned Utilities (POUs) launch their SB 32 CLEAN Programs by July 1, 2013. Additionally, SB 1332 directs POUs to consider locational and environmental benefits in their SB 32 pricing, much like has been done in the Palo Alto CLEAN Program, where clean local energy is shown to avoid more than 3 cents/kWh in transmission-related costs. Since the bill does not create any new programs or impact the state budget, the Clean Coalition expects a successful outcome.
AB 1990, also known as the “Solar for All” bill, passed the Senate Appropriations Committee and now heads to the Senate Floor for consideration. AB 1990 – introduced by Paul Fong of Cupertino, CA and sponsored by the California Environmental Justice Alliance – adds 190 MW to the SB 32 CLEAN Program to bring distributed renewable energy to low-income communities throughout the state. The Clean Coalition has been a key supporter of AB 1990 and recently participated in an August 16th lobby day to help advance the bill.
