California Senate Advances Key Climate Package

May 26th, 2022  – South San Francisco, CA

For Immediate Release from the Office of State Senator Josh Becker 

California Senate Passes Key Climate Action Bills Ahead of Deadline

The 12-bill Senate Climate Workgroup package includes 3 Senator Becker bills

SACRAMENTO – Twelve bills making up the landmark Senate Climate Workgroup package passed the Senate today ahead of tomorrow’s deadline. The bills now head to the Assembly for consideration.

The Senate Climate Workgroup, of which Senator Josh Becker is a member, has been meeting with stakeholders since December to draft and pass a broad set of bills aimed at furthering the state’s efforts against climate change.

“California must lead the nation and the world in fighting climate change,” said Senator Becker (D–Peninsula) after the final vote. “We have 420 million metric tons of CO2 and we have to get to zero.”

“This package is a significant step in that direction – putting us more firmly on the path to 100 percent clean energy, building critically needed clean energy transmission, having our state government get to net-zero by 2035, and significantly accelerating our move to EVs – and doing it in an equitable way.

“All these are critical priorities that will be advanced by this package.”

The workgroup package includes:

• SB 1020 (Senate Climate Workgroup) – Clean Energy, Jobs, and Affordability Act of 2022: establishes interim targets to reach SB 100 clean energy goals and require state agencies to purchase 100 percent zero carbon electricity by 2030 to serve their load. Also establishes a California Affordable Decarbonization Authority as a nonprofit public benefit organization as a mechanism to help fund various electric utility-related programs and activities while reducing energy costs for ratepayers.
• SB 887 (Becker) – Accelerating Renewable Energy Delivery: accelerates the construction of that needed transmission by requiring the Public Utility Commission (PUC) and the Energy Commission (CEC) to provide long-term forecasts, consistent with SB 100 and other decarbonization goals, so that the Independent System Operator (CAISO) can plan and authorize the necessary transmission projects.
• SB 1145 (Laird) – GHG Emissions Dashboard: requires the California Air Resources Board to create and maintain a greenhouse gas emission dashboard to provide the public and policymakers with information regarding how the state is progressing towards meeting its climate goals.
• SB 1158 (Becker) – 24/7 Clean Energy Reporting: establishes reporting requirements for electricity suppliers so that we can measure progress against their GHG emissions targets and ensure that the electricity sector is on track to achieve our 100% clean energy goals.
• SB 1174 (Hertzberg) – Clean Energy Transmission: requires specified reporting related to electric transmission projects, and also requires the California Public Utilities Commission in coordination with other state agencies to expedite interconnection transmission projects and prioritize necessary approvals.
• SB 1203 (Becker) – State Agencies Net-Zero GHG Emissions by 2035: establishes a goal for all state agencies to achieve zero net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their own operations by 2035. It also requires state agencies to publish inventories of their current emissions, establish interim targets, and create a plan for achieving these targets, with the ultimate goal of leveraging the state’s procurement power to jumpstart clean tech solutions.The centerpiece of Senator Becker’s 2022 climate bill portfolio, Senator Becker announced this legislation when speaking at COP26 last year. As more companies and cities set net zero targets, the California state government would lead by example and demonstrate how to achieve net zero a full 10 years in advance of the net zero target for the whole economy.
• SB 1230 (Limon) – ZEV Incentive Programs: makes specified changes to the Clean Cars 4 All Program to expand the pool of eligible applicants. This bill also applies new, uniform requirements to clean vehicle incentive programs in the state.
• SB 1251 (Gonzalez) – Office of the ZEV Equity Advocate: establishes the Office of the Zero-Emission Vehicle Equity Advocate to steer the development of a shared, cross-agency definition of equity; set an equity agenda for the deployment of ZEVs, its supporting infrastructure, and related workforce development efforts; and publish progress updates.
• SB 1258 (Allen) – Clean Transportation Program: clarifies that light-duty autonomous vehicle fleets are eligible for grants from the California Energy Commission Clean Transportation Program.
• SB 1295 (Limon) – Orphan Well Cleanup: increases the funding available, from fees imposed on the oil & gas industry, for the plugging and abandonment of hazardous or idle-deserted oil or gas wells to reduce pollution and GHG emissions.  It also requires work funded by this program to meet certain labor standards, such as paying prevailing wages and using a skilled and trained workforce.
• SB 1382 (Gonzalez) – Clean Cars 4 All Equity Measures: directs the California Air Resources Board to identify barriers and develop outreach protocols to accessing the Clean Cars 4 All program, and it exempts those vehicles from the state sales and use tax. Senator Becker is a joint author of this bill, having introduced the sales tax exemption idea as SB 771 in 2021.
• SB 1482 (Allen) – EV Charging Infrastructure: requires access to an electric vehicle charging infrastructure for each dwelling unit with access to a parking space in a multifamily dwelling.Notably, this bill is a result of work by people in Senate District 13 who have been championing this issue from the beginning.

In addition to the Climate Workgroup package, the Senate also passed 3 other Becker climate action bills this week:

• SB 1032 (Becker) – Faster & Cheaper Transmission Development Study: CAISO estimated that the state needs to build about $30B in new transmission infrastructure by 2040, at a pace much faster than ever done before.  If we need to build that much, we had better consider whether there are ways to get it done more rapidly and efficiently and at lower cost. The bill directs the PUC to study options and make recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature onways to accelerate development and reduce ratepayers’ cost of expanding California’s electrical transmission in order to achieve the state’s GHG goals.
• SB 1112 (Becker) – Low-Cost Financing for Building Decarbonization: supports equitable financing for climate-beneficial building upgrades. The legislation enables and encourages utilities to offer Tariffed On-Bill (TOB) investment programs, also known as inclusive utility investment programs, by making a technical fix in existing law that could otherwise impede the roll-out of these programs. The bill also directs the California Energy Commission to explore how the state and its utilities can leverage federal financing and existing state programs to make low-cost financing available to TOB investment programs.
• SB 1301 (Becker) – California Clean Energy Manufacturing Tax Credit: establishes the state’s first manufacturing tax credit specifically for clean energy products. As California and the world shift to clean energy alternatives, the demand for clean energy products will skyrocket. This presents an immense opportunity for California. A clean energy manufacturing tax credit will not only spur the production of clean energy products needed to meet our own benchmarks, but create thousands of future-proof manufacturing jobs in California.

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Senator Becker chairs the Senate Subcommittee on the Clean Energy Future and serves as co-chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies.