SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

(a) Under the California Infrastructure Planning Act (Chapter 606 of the Statutes of 1999), the Governor is required to annually submit a five-year infrastructure plan to the Legislature in conjunction with the Governor’s Budget. Existing law states the intent of the Legislature that this plan be updated annually and identify state infrastructure needs and set out priorities for funding. Under existing law, “the plan need not identify specific infrastructure projects to be funded, but it shall be sufficiently detailed to provide a clear understanding of the type and amount of infrastructure to be funded and the programmatic objectives to be achieved by this funding.” Under existing law, the infrastructure plan is required to contain, among other things, information on support for infrastructure needs and an evaluation of the impact of the new state debt on the state’s existing overall debt position if the plan proposes the issuance of new state debt.

(b) Under existing law, “infrastructure” means real property, including land and improvements to the land, structures and equipment integral to the operation of structures, easements, rights-of-way, and other forms of interest in property, roadways, and water conveyances.

(c) The infrastructure plan is required to contain specified information for the five years that it covers, including infrastructure requested by state agencies, aggregate funding for transportation, infrastructure needs for public schools and instructional support facility needs for public higher education institutions, as provided, the estimated cost of providing this infrastructure, and a proposal for funding the infrastructure.

(d) The 100 Percent Clean Energy Act of 2018 enacted by Senate Bill 100 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018) amended the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program in order to attain targets for total retail sales generation, and required that eligible renewable energy resources and zero-carbon resources supply 60 percent of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2030, and supply 100 percent of all retail sales of electricity to California end-use customers by December 31, 2045.

(e) The publication “2021 SB 100 Joint Agency Report: Achieving 100 Percent Clean Electricity in California: An Initial Assessment,” prepared by the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission), the Public Utilities Commission, and the State Air Resources Board, includes a review of the policy of supplying 100 percent of retail sales and state loads with renewable and zero-carbon resources in California by 2045, assesses various pathways to achieve the policy, and provides an initial assessment of costs and benefits.

(f) California’s offshore waters are a prime location for new floating offshore wind energy development projects that will help the state meet its bold renewable energy targets. Under existing law, the Energy Commission was required to develop a strategic plan by June 30, 2023, in preparation for advancing the development of offshore wind off the coast of California. In the Energy Commission’s report titled, “Offshore Wind Energy Development off the California Coast: Maximum Feasible Capacity and Megawatt Planning Goals for 2030 and 2045,” preliminary findings of the report set planning goals of 2,000 to 5,000 megawatts of offshore wind by 2030, and 25,000 megawatts by 2045.

(g) On January 19, 2024, the Energy Commission submitted the draft “Assembly Bill 525 Offshore Wind Strategic Plan” to the Natural Resources Agency and the Legislature. The draft strategic plan discusses various aspects of offshore wind energy potential in California, including economic and workforce development benefits, transmission technology, transmission planning and interconnection, offshore wind permitting, potential impacts from offshore wind projects, identification of port space and infrastructure, and port infrastructure needs. Under existing law, the strategic plan is required to include a detailed assessment of the necessary investments in California seaports to support offshore wind energy activities, including construction, assembly, operations, and maintenance. The assessment is required to consider the potential availability of land and water acreage at each port, including competing and current uses, infrastructure feasibility, deep water access, bridge height restrictions, and the potential impact to natural and cultural resources, including coastal resources, fisheries, and impacts on Native American and Indigenous people.

(h) The strategic plan is also required to strive for compatibility with other harbor tenants and ocean users to ensure that the local benefits related to offshore wind energy construction complement other local industries when considering port retrofits, and it is required to emphasize and prioritize actions that will improve port infrastructure to support land-based work for the local workforce.

(i) A key finding from the draft strategic plan focuses on the necessary upgrades for port and waterfront infrastructure to accommodate the offshore wind industry in California, which will require specialized seaport and waterfront facilities to build, assemble, and service the wind turbines needed to meet the Assembly Bill 525 offshore wind planning goals. Without a port site to assemble the turbine components, the industry will not be able to develop in California.

(j) The draft strategic plan also notes that no port site in California can serve all the needs of the offshore wind industry. Instead, a coordinated multiport strategy will be needed and could require more than 16 large and 10 small port sites, including staging, integration, operations, and maintenance sites, to support offshore wind development over the next decade or more. These sites are required to be developed as soon as possible, and have an estimated cost between $11 billion and of at least $12 billion.

(k) Without significant state, federal, and private investment, the state will risk not meeting the goal of building 5 gigawatts of offshore wind energy by 2030, and 25 gigawatts by 2045.