CA AB 127
Title: Climate change.
Author: Assembly Budget Committee
Summary
AB 127, as amended, Committee on Budget. Climate change. Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) under the direction of a chairperson. Existing law provides an annual salary for members and for the chairperson and prescribes a method by which those salaries may be increased.Existing law grants an additional salary increase of 5% in each of the 2023–24, 2024–25, and 2025–26 fiscal years for members of the Energy Commission.This bill would, similarly, grant the chairperson of the Energy Commission an additional salary increase of 5% for the 2025–26, 2026–27, and 2027–28 fiscal years.Existing law requires the Energy Commission to develop and implement the Electric Program Investment Charge (EPIC) program to award moneys for projects that will benefit electricity ratepayers, lead to technological advancement and breakthroughs, and result in a portfolio of projects that is strategically focused and sufficiently narrow to make advancement on the most significant technological challenges, as specified. Existing law, until July 1, 2025, authorizes the Energy Commission to award, through a noncompetitive method, follow-on funding for projects that meet specified criteria, including the EPIC program’s eligibility requirements and that the projects have been funded, at least in part, through the EPIC program. This bill would extend the authorization to award follow-on funding for those projects until January 1, 2028.Existing law vests the Energy Commission with the exclusive jurisdiction to certify the construction of stationary or floating electrical generating facilities using a source of thermal energy with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more and prohibits a person from constructing those facilities unless that person obtains a certificate from the commission, as provided. Existing law establishes an opt-in certification process, as provided, for solar photovoltaic, terrestrial wind electrical generation powerplants, and thermal powerplants that do not use fossil or nuclear fuels, with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more, an energy storage system capable of storing 200 megawatthours or more of electricity, or projects associated with the manufacture, production, or assembly of energy storage systems, wind systems, solar photovoltaic energy systems, or specialized products, components, or systems integral to renewable energy or energy storage technologies, that authorizes a person proposing to construct those facilities to file an application for certification with the Energy Commission. Existing law requires a person submitting an application for certification to submit a fee of $250,000 plus $500 per megawatt of gross generating capacity or per megawatthour of gross energy storage capacity, or $0.70 per square foot of those manufacturing, production, or assembly facilities. Existing law prohibits the application fee from exceeding $750,000. Existing law requires a person receiving a certification from the Energy Commission to pay an annual fee of $25,000 for each year the facility retains its certification. Existing law requires a person submitting a petition to amend an existing project that previously received certification to submit with the petition a fee of $5,000. Existing law requires that those fees be adjusted annually, as provided.This bill would instead require a person submitting an application for certification to submit with the application a nonrefundable deposit of $750,000 and would require the applicant to pay all costs incurred by the Energy Commission in processing the application. The bill would require the Energy Commission to provide invoices for additional fees, at least annually, for the actual costs incurred by the Energy Commission in excess of the deposit. The bill would increase the annual fee to $70,000 for each year the facility retains its certification. The bill would specify that the petition fee is nonrefunda
Status
From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on B. & F. R.
Bill Documents
CA AB 127 - 06/24/25 - Amended Senate
06/24/25 - CA AB 127 (06/24/25 - Amended Senate)
CA AB 127 - 01/08/25 - Introduced
01/08/25 - CA AB 127 (01/08/25 - Introduced)