Today's Law As Amended


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SB-134 Public contracts: bid preferences: solar photovoltaic system.(2011-2012)



As Amends the Law Today


SECTION 1.
 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California faces the most severe economic downturn since the Great Depression. Over two million Californians are out of work and California’s unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation.
(b) At a time of scarce state resources, state purchases should be used to stimulate our state economy and put people back to work.
(c) Former Governor Schwarzenegger’s Green Building Executive Order (S-20-04) mandated that state agencies evaluate the merits of using clean and renewable onsite energy generation technologies in all new building or large renovation projects.
(d) California has several companies that manufacture solar panels in the state, employing Californians and helping our economy.
(e) In the manufacturing of solar panels, it is the creation of the solar cells that convert sunlight into electrical power that generates the most value to the economy. Production of solar cells requires the highest percentage of skilled workers, the highest capital investment, and supports the highest amount of collateral infrastructure in the form of additional local businesses and jobs.
(f) California is the nation’s largest clean economy. More than 12,000 clean technology companies, including solar manufacturers, call California home and are creating jobs at nearly 10 times the rate as the state’s other industries. A number of these companies have developed novel solar cell technologies and it is in the interest of the state to incentivize these companies to establish and grow manufacturing operations within the state. This will create both construction and permanent manufacturing jobs in California.
(g) It is the intent of the Legislature that whenever a solar photovoltaic system is placed on state buildings or property, there should be a preference for a solar photovoltaic system manufactured in California.

SEC. 2.

 Article 7 (commencing with Section 10390) is added to Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 2 of the Public Contract Code, to read:

Article  7. Preference for California-Manufactured Solar Panels on State Property
10390.
 For the purposes of this article:
(a) “Assemble,” “assembled,” or “assembler” means connecting individual solar cells into larger groups whereby the solar panel or module is the end product.
(b) “Manufacture,” “manufactured,” or “manufacturing” means the transformation of raw materials into a solar panel, including the manufacture of solar wafers, the postprocessing of solar cells, or the manufacture of solar cells.
(c) “Power purchase agreement” means a financial arrangement in which a third-party developer owns, operates, and maintains a solar photovoltaic system, and a state agency agrees to site the system on its roof or elsewhere on its property and purchases the system’s electric output, not the system itself, from the third-party developer for a predetermined period of time.
(d) “Solar cells” means the basic building block of photovoltaic (PV) technologies. “Solar cells” are functional semiconductors, made by processing and treating crystalline silicon or other photosensitive materials to create a layered product that generates electricity by absorbing light photons.
(e) “Solar panels” means individual solar cells assembled into larger groups whereby the solar panel or module is the end product, and consists of a series of solar cells to capture and transfer solar-generated electricity, a backing surface, and a covering to protect the cells from weather and other types of damage, and may include an affixed power quality, product efficiency, power conversion, balance of systems (BOS), and enhancements to the panel.
(f) “Solar photovoltaic system” means a system created by installing multiple solar panels in the same location to increase the electrical generating capacity. In a “solar photovoltaic system” the solar panels and solar cells represent the highest intellectual content and dollar-value items associated with solar photovoltaic energy generation.
10391.
 (a) A state agency that accepts bids or proposals for a contract for the purchase or installation of a solar photovoltaic system through a power purchase agreement, or through a direct purchase, shall provide a preference of 5 percent to a business that certifies that all of the solar panels installed as part of such a solar photovoltaic system have been manufactured or assembled in this state. The preference shall be provided as follows:
(1) For solicitations to be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications, the preference to a business that certifies that all of the solar panels installed as part of the solar photovoltaic system have been manufactured or assembled in this state shall be 5 percent of the bid price of the lowest responsible bidder meeting specifications.
(2) For solicitations to be awarded to the highest scored bidder based on evaluation factors in addition to price, the preference to a business that certifies that all of the solar panels installed as part of the solar photovoltaic system have been manufactured or assembled in this state shall be 5 percent of the total score of the highest scored bidder.
(3) A preference awarded pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) shall not be awarded to a noncompliant bidder and shall not be used to satisfy any applicable minimum requirements.
(4) In order to be eligible for the 5-percent preference authorized pursuant to this section, a business shall submit all required substantiating documentation and information needed by the state agency to determine if the business is eligible for the preference, including, but not limited to, documentation regarding who the manufacturer or assembler of the solar photovoltaic system will be and the location or locations where the solar photovoltaic system will be manufactured or assembled.
(5) If, after application of the preferences set forth in this section, the bids are tied as the lowest responsible bid or the highest scored bid, then the tie shall be resolved in favor of the entity that has the higher number of full-time assembly or manufacturing employees in California at the time of the tie.
(b) The Department of General Services shall establish a process to verify that a business meets the criteria for the 5-percent preference.