Section 636 - Request for analysis(a) The Legislature requests the California Council on Science and Technology, upon request pursuant to subdivision (b), and if the council determines it has sufficient funds, to undertake and complete an analysis of the effects of legislation proposing to mandate procurement of electricity products, gas products, energy storage resources, or electrical or gas infrastructure by an electrical corporation, gas corporation, community choice aggregator, electric service provider, local publicly owned electric or gas utility, or any state-level energy procurement entity. The California Council on Science and Technology is authorized to work with its partner institutions to carry out the provisions of this section. The Legislature requests that the analysis be in writing and include relevant data to present to the Legislature on all of the following: (1) The potential costs and benefits to all categories of ratepayers resulting from the proposed legislation, costs and benefits beyond the electricity market, nonmonetary benefits such as improvements in environmental quality, public health, and climate stability, and costs and benefits to communities disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and hazards that are either identified as disadvantaged communities pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code or are low-income communities as defined in Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.(2) All procurement mandates applicable at the time of the analysis, the costs associated with those procurement mandates, and each procurement mandate's consistency with the state's greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals and the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3).(3) Whether the legislation is the most cost-effective means to achieve the desired outcomes, including costs and benefits beyond the electricity market and nonmonetary benefits such as improvements in environmental quality, public health, and climate stability.(4) The impact of the proposed legislation on jobs, the economy, and communities disproportionately affected by environmental pollution and hazards that are either identified as disadvantaged communities pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code or are low-income communities as defined in Section 39713 of the Health and Safety Code.(5) The potential effects of the proposed legislation on the electrical grid or gas delivering system.(b) A request for a written analysis pursuant to this section shall be made by the chairperson of a fiscal or policy committee with jurisdiction over energy or public utilities issues of either the Assembly or Senate, the Speaker of the Assembly, or the President pro Tempore of the Senate. The request shall be made with a copy of the proposed legislation that the requester wishes to have analyzed. The requester may ask that matters in addition to those identified in subdivision (a) be analyzed.(c) The Legislature requests that the California Council on Science and Technology provide the written analysis to the committees of the Legislature described in subdivision (b) not later than 60 days after receiving a request made pursuant to subdivision (b), or consistent with a timeline agreed upon by the California Council on Science and Technology and the requester. The Legislature requests that upon providing the written analysis to those committees, the California Council on Science and Technology contemporaneously post the analysis on its internet website and make a copy of the analysis available to a member of the public upon request.(d) In order to avoid conflicts of interest, the Legislature requests that the California Council on Science and Technology implement its existing conflict of interest requirements when analyzing the legislation. The conflict of interest requirements should not prohibit a person with an interest in proposed legislation from providing information or ideas for consideration by the persons preparing an analysis pursuant to this section.(e) The California Council on Science and Technology shall establish a private fund to collect money to fund the analysis required by this section. Funding may come from the state, public utilities, local publicly owned utilities, private funds, and other sources.(f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2023, and as of that date is repealed.Ca. Pub. Util. Code § 636
Added by Stats 2019 ch 818 (AB 1083),s 2, eff. 1/1/2020.