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SB-429 Public utilities: women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises: microgrids.(2021-2022)



Current Version: 03/10/21 - Amended Senate

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SB429:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Senate  March 10, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 429

Introduced by Senator Bradford

February 12, 2021

An act to amend Section 399.13 8283 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 429, as amended, Bradford. California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program Public utilities: women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises: microgrids.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to require each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, wireless telecommunication service provider, electric service provider, and telephone corporation with gross annual California revenues exceeding $25,000,000 and their commission-regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, to submit annually a detailed and verifiable plan for increasing procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises in all categories. That law specifies certain categories of procurement that are expressly required to be included in the plan, like renewable energy projects and smart grid projects. Existing law requires those entities with gross annual California revenues between $15,000,000 and $25,000,000 to annually submit data to the commission on its procurement from enterprises in all categories, expressly including all of the same categories as are required for the higher grossing regulated entities.
This bill would expressly include microgrids as one of the categories for purposes of this annual submission of procurement data to the commission.

Under existing law the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to review and accept, modify, or reject a procurement plan for each electrical corporation based on whether it includes specified elements or incentive mechanisms, and whether it accomplishes certain objectives. The California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program, within the act, requires retail sellers, including electrical corporations, and local publicly owned electric utilities to purchase specified minimum quantities of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, as defined, for specified compliance periods. The program requires the commission to direct each electrical corporation to annually prepare a renewable energy procurement plan to satisfy its procurement requirements pursuant to the program. To the extent feasible, the renewable energy procurement plan is to be proposed, reviewed, and adopted, as part of, and pursuant to, the general procurement plan process applicable to electrical corporations.

This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to the provisions relating to renewable energy procurement plans.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 8283 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

8283.
 (a) The commission shall require each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, wireless telecommunications service provider, electric service provider, and telephone corporation with gross annual California revenues exceeding twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000), and their commission-regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, to submit annually a detailed and verifiable plan for increasing procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises in all categories, including, but not limited to, renewable energy, energy storage system, wireless telecommunications, broadband, smart grid, vegetation management, microgrid, and rail projects.
(b) These annual plans shall include short- and long-term goals and timetables, but not quotas, and shall include methods for encouraging both prime contractors and grantees to engage women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises in subcontracts in all categories that provide subcontracting opportunities, including, but not limited to, renewable energy, energy storage system, wireless telecommunications, broadband, smart grid, vegetation management, microgrid, and rail projects.
(c) The commission shall establish guidelines for all electrical corporations, gas corporations, water corporations, wireless telecommunications service providers, electric service providers, and telephone corporations with gross annual California revenues exceeding twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000), and their commission-regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, to be utilized in establishing programs pursuant to this article.
(d) Every electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, wireless telecommunications service provider, electric service provider, and telephone corporation with gross annual California revenues exceeding twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000) shall furnish an annual report to the commission regarding the implementation of programs established pursuant to this article in a form that the commission shall require, and at the time that the commission shall annually designate.
(e) (1) The Legislature declares that each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, mobile telephony service provider, electric service provider, and telephone corporation that is not required to submit a plan pursuant to subdivision (a) is encouraged to voluntarily adopt a plan for increasing women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprise procurement in all categories.
(2) The Legislature declares that each cable television corporation, direct broadcast satellite provider, exempt wholesale generator contracting to sell electricity to a retail seller, distributed energy resource contractor, and energy storage system company is encouraged to voluntarily adopt a plan for increasing women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprise procurement and to voluntarily report activity in this area to the Legislature on an annual basis.
(f) The commission shall require each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, wireless telecommunications service provider, electric service provider, and telephone corporation with gross annual California revenues exceeding fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000), but not more than twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000), to annually submit data in a simplified form to the commission on its procurement from women, minority, disabled veteran, and LGBT business enterprises in all categories, including, but not limited to, renewable energy, energy storage system, wireless telecommunications, broadband, smart grid, vegetation management, microgrid, and rail projects.
(g) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Distributed energy resource contractor” means any corporation or other business entity that employs anyone licensed by the Contractors’ State License Board to perform installations of distributed energy resources, as defined in Section 8370.
(2) “Energy storage system company” means any person or corporation operating a centralized or distributed energy storage system, as defined in Section 2835, that furnishes electricity to an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, community choice aggregator, or electric service provider within California, or that supplies electricity to a retail end-use customer of an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, community choice aggregator, or electric service provider within California.
(3) “Other business entity” has the same meaning as defined in Section 174.5 of the Corporations Code.