As CA Governor Issues Legislative Update, AEE Applauds Past Efforts

National business group Advanced Energy Economy (AEE) has publicly applauded Governor Jerry Brown for signing a range of laws this year that will accelerate California’s advanced energy market and “solidify the state’s leadership in expanding clean energy,” the group says. Sunday, September 30, was the last day for Gov. Brown to approve or veto bills passed by the legislature.

California is the “proving ground” that demonstrates we can pursue advanced energy options while at the same time spurring economic growth, innovation and jobs, according to AEE.

The bills most recently signed include:

• SB 700 (Wiener) extends the state’s Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) for five years incentivizing distributed energy technologies such as customer-sited energy storage (signed into law Sept. 27).
• AB 2145 (Reyes) enables new investments to modernize the state’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure (signed into law Sept. 22).
• AB 2061 (Frazier) creates a more level playing field for clean fleets (enacted Sept. 20).
• SB 237* (Hertzberg) reopens the state’s much-in-demand Direct Access program, by increasing the cap and creating a path for businesses and critical energy users statewide (including school districts, hospitals, and data centers) to access affordable clean energy, pending a CPUC assessment (enacted Sept. 20).
• SB 1131 (Hertzberg) paves the way for energy efficiency investments in two of the state’s largest energy-consuming sectors, agriculture and industry, by improving a project evaluation process (enacted Sept. 19).
• SB 1339 (Stern) creates market opportunity for microgrids and boosts necessary grid hardening and resiliency for critical infrastructure in an age of worsening natural disasters (enacted Sept. 19).
• SB 100 (de León) ratchets up the existing RPS to 60% by 2030 and requires utilities to meet a 100% clean energy standard through diverse advanced energy technologies by 2045 (enacted Sept. 10).
• AB 2127 (Ting) to enable more efficient, scalable buildout of EV charging infrastructure (across all vehicle classes) statewide by affirming the California Energy Commission’s authority to do comprehensive planning, building upon its quarterly assessment (enacted Sept. 13).
• AB 1796 (Muratsuchi) expands access to EV charging on rent-controlled properties (signed into law Aug. 20).
• SB 957 (Lara) expands ZEV access statewide by establishing a pathway for low-income drivers to be eligible for the carpool lane (signed into law Sept. 13).
• In August, AEE released employment data showing that California has more than 542,000 people working in advanced energy. Companies surveyed expect their hiring to result in job growth of 10% across the state in 2018. Earlier this year, AEE members met with gubernatorial campaigns ahead of the state primary, and released a policy roadmap to the campaigns of Democratic nominee Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom and Republican nominee John Cox outlining how advanced energy can drive economic growth in the state.