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<ns0:Id>20250SB__081099INT</ns0:Id>
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<ns0:ActionText>INTRODUCED</ns0:ActionText>
<ns0:ActionDate>2025-02-21</ns0:ActionDate>
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<ns0:SessionYear>2025</ns0:SessionYear>
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<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Senator Dahle</ns0:AuthorText>
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<ns0:House>SENATE</ns0:House>
<ns0:Name>Dahle</ns0:Name>
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<ns0:Title> An act to add and repeal Section 25236 of the Public Resources Code, and to add and repeal Section 913.16 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. </ns0:Title>
<ns0:RelatingClause>electricity, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately</ns0:RelatingClause>
<ns0:GeneralSubject>
<ns0:Subject>Electricity: ratepayer-funded programs: reports.</ns0:Subject>
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<html:p>Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to administer various programs, such as the Electric Program Investment Charge program, that are funded by a charge on electrical ratepayers. Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to require electrical corporations to implement various programs, such as energy efficiency programs, that are funded by electrical ratepayers. Under its authority, the Governor has issued an executive order directing the Energy Commission and the PUC to examine electrical ratepayer-funded programs under their respective jurisdictions and to identify programs and regulations that may be unduly adding to electricity rates for which the benefits provided may not be justified by the costs imposed on electrical ratepayers. The executive order requires those 2 commissions to report back to
the Governor by January 1, 2025.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would require the Energy Commission and the PUC, by July 1, 2025, to each submit to the Legislature a report containing certain information required by the executive order.</html:p>
<html:p>This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.</html:p>
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<ns0:VoteRequired>TWO_THIRDS</ns0:VoteRequired>
<ns0:Appropriation>NO</ns0:Appropriation>
<ns0:FiscalCommittee>YES</ns0:FiscalCommittee>
<ns0:LocalProgram>NO</ns0:LocalProgram>
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<ns0:ImmediateEffect>YES</ns0:ImmediateEffect>
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<ns0:Urgency>YES</ns0:Urgency>
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<ns0:Election>NO</ns0:Election>
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<ns0:BudgetBill>NO</ns0:BudgetBill>
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<ns0:Preamble>The people of the State of California do enact as follows:</ns0:Preamble>
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<ns0:Num>SECTION 1.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:</html:p>
<html:p>
(a)
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On January 7, 2025, the Legislative Analyst’s Office, pursuant to Chapter 135 of the Statues of 2017, released a report, titled “Assessing California’s Climate Policies—Residential Electricity Rates in California,” noting that the average residential electricity rates in California have grown faster than inflation in recent years, rising about 47 percent over a four-year period from 2019 through 2023 compared to the overall growth in prices of about 18 percent.
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<html:p>
(b)
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The report also noted that California has the second highest residential electricity rates after Hawaii, with average rates that are close to double
the national average.
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<html:p>
(c)
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On October 30, 2024, Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order No. N-5-24 directing the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Public Utilities Commission to examine all electrical ratepayer-funded programs overseen or administered by them and to identify programs and other regulations that may be unduly adding to rates for which the electricity system benefits may not be justified by the costs they impose on electrical ratepayers or whose funding might more appropriately come from a source other than those ratepayers.
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<html:p>
(d)
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The executive order required those commissions to report to the Governor, by January 1, 2025, the results of their examination.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 2.</ns0:Num>
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Section 25236 is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Public Resources Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:Num>25236.</ns0:Num>
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(a)
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(1)
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On or before July 1, 2025, the commission shall, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, submit to the Legislature a report that examines all electrical ratepayer-funded programs it oversees or administers and identifies programs and regulations that may be unduly adding to electricity rates for which the electricity system benefits may not be justified by the costs imposed on electrical ratepayers or whose funding might more appropriately come from sources other than those ratepayers, as requested by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. N-5-24.
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(2)
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The report shall include the results of its analysis and its recommendations for statutory or regulatory changes, including the modification or
elimination of underperforming or underused programs and whether unused ratepayer funds in those programs may be returned to ratepayers, as requested by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. N-5-24.
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(b)
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Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section shall be inoperative on July 1, 2029, and is repealed on January 1, 2030.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 3.</ns0:Num>
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Section 913.16 is added to the
<ns0:DocName>Public Utilities Code</ns0:DocName>
, to read:
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<ns0:Num>913.16.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>
(a)
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(1)
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On or before July 1, 2025, the commission shall, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, submit to the Legislature a report that examines the benefits and costs to electrical ratepayers of programs its oversees and rules and orders it has promulgated that may be unduly adding to electricity rates, as requested by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order N-5-24.
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<html:p>
(2)
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The report shall include the results of its analysis and its recommendations for modifying or repealing any statute that would reduce the costs to electrical ratepayers without compromising public health and safety or electrical grid reliability, as requested by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. N-5-24.
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(3)
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The report may include either of the following:
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<html:p>
(A)
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Actions taken by the commission under its authority to modify or eliminate underperforming or underused programs or orders with costs that exceeded the value and benefits to electrical ratepayers, as requested by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. N-5-24.
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(B)
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Actions taken by the commission to return any unused funds collected from electrical ratepayers for programs or orders identified in subparagraph (A) in the form of a bill credit, as requested by the Governor pursuant to Executive Order No. N-5-24.
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<html:p>
(b)
<html:span class="EnSpace"/>
Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this section shall be inoperative on July 1, 2029, and is repealed on January 1, 2030.
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<ns0:Num>SEC. 4.</ns0:Num>
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<html:p>This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:</html:p>
<html:p>California has the second highest residential electricity rates after Hawaii, with average rates that are close to double the national average. This will continue to worsen the current affordability crisis and decimate the California economy if not addressed. The information contained in reports prepared by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the Public Utilities Commission, pursuant to Executive Order No. N-5-24, is necessary for the Legislature to act
immediately to lower Californians’ unnecessarily high electricity rates. </html:p>
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