Active Legislation

 Offshore Wind Port Infrastructure Plan. AB 3006 (Zbur-D) would require the Governor to prepare an Offshore Wind Port Infrastructure Plan and include offshore wind in the state’s existing five-year infrastructure planning process, which would assess funding opportunities for offshore wind port infrastructure. As the sponsor of the bill, OWC and KP are leading a coalition and has gained bipartisan support but is cognizant that the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development (GO-Biz) has expressed fiscal concerns. To that end, the author is considering potential amendments that would clarify the purpose of the bill to specifically ensure that it only addresses port offshore wind infrastructure and not designed to study other port infrastructure issues. In addition, the bill may need clarification to ensure that local ports not rely solely on the state’s infrastructure assessment and that they should also conduct local analyses about their individual infrastructure needs. Status: In Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Offshore Wind Equity Fund During Procurement. AB 2537 (Addis-D) would create a “Community Capacity Building Fund” provide grants to local and tribal communities for the purpose of addressing equity and justice issues surrounding offshore wind development during the procurement process. The bill, which OWC supports, would require California’s offshore wind leaseholders to provide financial assistance to fund the grants for a three-year period after the leaseholder executes an offshore wind lease in which the financial assistance could be satisfied through one or more payments. Status: In Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Construction Design Standard for POLB. AB 2235 (Lowenthal-D) is sponsored by Port of Long Beach, which would authorize the City of Long Beach to procure contracts relating to the terminal development project at known as Pier Wind by allowing POLB to use alternative project delivery methods such as design-build to help expedite construction of Pier Wind (offshore wind port upgrade project). An agreement was reached between labor groups to address concerns about jurisdictional issues. Status: In Senate Appropriations Committee. 

Energy Affordability. AB 3264 (Petrie Norris-D) would state the intent of the Legislature that the California Energy Commission (CEC), in consultation with the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), review all feasible options for the allocation to ratepayers of costs required to meet the needs of the state’s electrical grid. The bill would state the intent of the Legislature that the CPUC, in collaboration with the CEC, produce an affordability metric for use in general rate cases and any application for the recovery of costs from ratepayers. Status: In Senate Appropriations Committee.

Transmission Planning. AB 3246 (Garcia-D) would streamline permitting for newer power line conductors, expected to increase grid capacity by 10 to 30 percent by directing the CPUC to allow an investor-owned utility (IOU) to use a simplified permitting process to install advanced reconductoring on its existing electrical transmission lines. Status: In Senate Appropriations Committee.