BILL NUMBER: AB 590 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JULY 9, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 4, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 21, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Dahle and Salas
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Brough, Chávez, Gomez, Gordon, Olsen,
Mark Stone, and Wood)
FEBRUARY 24, 2015
An act to add Section 16428.81 to the Government Code, relating to
greenhouse gases.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 590, as amended, Dahle. Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 designates the
State Air Resources Board as the state agency charged with
monitoring and regulating sources of emissions of greenhouse gases.
The act authorizes the state board to include the use of market-based
compliance mechanisms. Existing law requires all moneys, except for
fines and penalties, collected by the state board from the auction or
sale of allowances as part of a market-based compliance mechanism to
be deposited in the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
This bill would provide that moneys in the Greenhouse Gas
Reduction Fund, upon appropriation, may be made available for
expenditure by the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission for the purposes of maintaining the current
level of biomass power generation or geothermal energy
generation in the state and revitalizing currently idle
facilities in strategically located regions. The bill would establish
requirements for an applicant to receive available funding for a
facility's eligible electrical generation.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) California leads the nation in bioenergy production, with
one-half of the industry located in this state, which has an abundant
supply of bioenergy resources.
(b) Biomass power generation provides and
geothermal energy generation provide electric ratepayers with
clean, renewable energy that supplies the grid 24 hours a day, seven
days a week regardless of atmospheric conditions. These benefits are
paid for through contracts with the state's electric utilities.
(c) Biomass power generation also provides valuable,
environmentally preferred wood waste disposal service for the
disposal of 7.5 to 8 million tons of California's annual solid waste
stream and the avoidance of 1.5 to 3.5 million tons annually of
biogenic CO2 emissions. By diverting biomass residues away from open
burning, landfill burial, and accumulation in forests, the state
benefits from reduced criteria air pollutants and greenhouse gas
emissions, landfill capacity use, forest and watershed improvement,
rural employment and economic development, and energy diversity and
security. These services have been provided without compensation in
the past, as the electricity market was able to fully underwrite the
cost.
(d) Numerous studies have shown a link between particulate matter
(PM) exposure and asthma morbidity outcomes in children, and between
exposure to ambient PM and increased heart and lung disease and death
and health effects on the central nervous system. The latest study
was provided by scientists at the California Environmental Protection
Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Diverting
wood material from open burning to biomass power production is an
essential PM reduction strategy for many air districts around the
state.
(e) The environmental services provided by biomass power
production are clearly valuable to society and therefore provide the
rationale for a state policy to pay for biomass power generation
commensurate with its provision of waste disposal services.
(f) Biomass power generation fits in the Cap and Trade Auction
Proceeds Investment Plan in the categories of forest and ecosystem
management, agricultural management, and waste diversion, and is
identified as a recommended investment.
SEC. 2. Section 16428.81 is added to the Government Code, to read:
16428.81. (a) Moneys from the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, may be made available to the State
Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission for
expenditure for the purposes of maintaining the current level of
biomass power generation and geothermal energy generation
in the state and revitalizing currently idle facilities in
strategically located regions. Protecting these existing resources
will help the state meet its goals to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions, protect existing jobs, and provide waste disposal
benefits.
(b) To be eligible for funding, a facility's solid fuel
biomass electrical generation generation facility
shall satisfy all of the following requirements:
(1) The energy is generated on and after January 1, 2016.
(2) The energy is generated using biomass wood wastes and
residues, residues or geothermal resources, and
is sold to a load-serving entity.
(3) The energy is generated at a facility with a generation
capacity of over three megawatts.
(4) The energy is generated within the state and sold to customers
within the state.
(c) In prioritizing projects eligible for grants pursuant to this
section, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission shall maximize the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions
achieved by a project for each dollar awarded.
(d) The State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission, working in consultation with the State Air Resources
Board, shall ensure that projects receiving funding pursuant to this
section achieve net reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
(c)
(e) A facility seeking available funding shall submit
an application to the commission that demonstrates that it is a solid
fuel biomass facility or a geothermal energy facility and
is California Renewables Portfolio Standard (RPS) Program certified.
An applicant shall submit monthly invoices to the commission to
document eligible generation. The commission shall review the
submitted invoices and make monthly incentive payments to each
applicant based on the eligible generation and the applicable
production incentive rate.