Amended  IN  Assembly  April 10, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 09, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 914

Introduced by Assembly Member Friedman

February 14, 2023

An act to amend Section 21100.2 of, and to add Sections Section 21080.59 and 21080.60 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to electricity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 914, as amended, Friedman. Electrical infrastructure: California Environmental Quality Act: exemptions: review time period.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) requires a lead agency, as defined, to prepare, or cause to be prepared, and certify the completion of an environmental impact report on a project that it proposes to carry out or approve that may have a significant effect on the environment or to adopt a negative declaration if it finds that the project will not have that effect. CEQA also requires a lead agency to prepare a mitigated negative declaration for a project that may have a significant effect on the environment if revisions in the project would avoid or mitigate that effect and there is no substantial evidence that the project, as revised, would have a significant effect on the environment.
This bill would exempt from CEQA certain electrical infrastructure projects intended to provide capacity or enhance reliability to accommodate the increased electrical demand or forecasted electrical demand associated with transportation electrification, building electrification, distributed energy projects, including energy storage projects, or the interconnection of a renewable generation source. specified projects relating to electrical substations and electrical line facilities owned by, and constructed by or under contract with, electrical corporations serving not less than 10,000 customers or local publicly owned electric utilities.

This bill would exempt from CEQA the construction, upgrade, modification, or expansion of a facility to store, for later transmission or distribution, electricity previously generated by, and transmitted to, the facility and certain related facilities.

By requiring a lead agency to determine the applicability of the above-described exemptions to a project, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
CEQA requires each state agency to establish, by resolution or order, time limits for completing the environmental review of a project where the state agency is the lead agency for the project, as specified.
This bill would require a state agency, acting as the lead agency, to complete its environmental review for an electrical infrastructure project and to approve or deny the project within 2 years of the submission of an application for the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use for electrical infrastructure to the state agency. If the state agency fails to meet this time period, the bill would require the state agency to submit to the Legislature a report setting forth the reasons for why the review could not be completed within the time period and identifying potential impacts to the electrical system that could result from the delay.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

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


SECTION 1.

 The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) It is the policy of the state that California’s climate goals, greater environmental protection, and improvements in public health, particularly in communities overburdened with air pollution, can be achieved through increased use of electricity as a source of power rather than continued reliance on fossil fuels. Among other things, expanded electrification of the transportation sector and equipment and appliances within buildings, as well as the increased use of energy produced from renewable sources and stored energy, would assist in meeting the state’s environmental goals.
(b) As codified in Section 25328 of the Public Resources Code, the state has established a goal of reaching 100 percent zero-emission vehicles for new passenger vehicle sales by 2035 and for medium- and heavy-duty vehicles by 2045. In addition, the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the State Air Resources Board anticipate as many as 8,000,000 electric vehicles in California by 2030. To meet the state’s climate and air quality goals, especially in areas where there is a concentration of medium- and heavy-duty vehicles and other goods movement equipment, electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities must be able to proactively plan and build electrical grid upgrades to accommodate the level of electric vehicle charging associated with these goals and projections.
(c) Decarbonized energy use in buildings, mainly by converting space and water heating from natural gas to electricity, also supports the state’s climate, environmental, and public health policies. In addition, electrifying more building energy uses reduces the emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants more effectively if the electricity comes from zero-carbon sources.
(d) Improvements in zero-carbon generation technologies are enabling cleaner electricity to be used on a greater scale, but delivering that energy to meet the anticipated increases in demand will require constructing and installing additional electrical system infrastructure.
(e) For all of these climate, environmental, and public health reasons, there is a critical need to bring new electrical grid infrastructure online more quickly. This infrastructure includes (1) expanding utility infrastructure in existing utility rights-of-way and (2) developing new utility infrastructure within two miles of a source of increased or additional electrical demand related to electric vehicle charging facilities, building electrification projects, or vehicle fleets electrification projects, or a renewable generation source, which would provide reliable transmission or transformation infrastructure to interconnect to, or deliver power from, that source.

SECTION 1.SEC. 2.

 Section 21080.59 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

21080.59.
 (a) This division does not apply to either of the following:

(a)

(1) The expansion or upgrade of an existing electrical substation, or the expansion, upgrade, or modification of existing electrical line facilities designed for operation at a voltage of 200 kilovolts or greater, if the project is intended to provide capacity or enhance reliability to accommodate the increased electrical demand or forecasted electrical demand associated with transportation electrification, building electrification, distributed energy projects, including energy storage projects, or the interconnection of a renewable generation source. within an existing right-of-way, if the substation or facilities are owned by, and will be constructed by or under contract with, an electrical corporation serving not less than 10,000 customers or a local publicly owned electric utility.

(b)

(2) The construction of a new electrical substation or new electrical line facilities, or the expansion, upgrade, or modification of an electrical substation or electrical line facilities designed for operation at a voltage less than 200 kilovolts, if the project is intended to provide capacity or enhance reliability to accommodate the increased electrical demand or forecasted electrical demand associated with transportation electrification, building electrification, distributed energy projects, including energy storage projects, or the interconnection of a renewable generation source. facilities, if the substation or facilities are owned by, and will be constructed by or under contract with, an electrical corporation serving not less than 10,000 customers or a local publicly owned electric utility, and if the substation or facilities will be located within two miles of either of the following:
(A) The location of an actual or forecasted electrical demand increase associated with transportation electrification or building electrification.
(B) A distributed energy project, energy storage project, or renewable generation source, where the electrical line facilities or substation would support the interconnection of the project or source to the electrical grid.
(b) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:
(1) “Electrical corporation” has the same meaning as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code.
(2) “Local publicly owned electric utility” has the same meaning as defined in Section 224.3 of the Public Utilities Code.

SEC. 2.Section 21080.60 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:
21080.60.

This division does not apply to either of the following:

(a)The construction, upgrade, modification, or expansion of a facility to store, for later transmission or distribution, electricity previously generated by, and transmitted to, the facility.

(b)The construction of a substation, transmission line, or tie-line, for purposes of transforming or transmitting electricity to, or from, a storage facility described in subdivision (a).

SEC. 3.

 Section 21100.2 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read:

21100.2.
 (a) (1) For projects described in subdivision (c) of Section 21065, each state agency shall establish, by resolution or order, time limits that do not exceed the following:
(A) One year for completing and certifying environmental impact reports.
(B) One hundred eighty days for completing and adopting negative declarations.
(2) The time limits specified in paragraph (1) shall apply only to those circumstances in which the state agency is the lead agency for a project. These resolutions or orders may establish different time limits for different types or classes of projects, but all limits shall be measured from the date on which an application requesting approval of the project is received and accepted as complete by the state agency.
(3) No application for a project may be deemed incomplete for lack of a waiver of time periods prescribed in state regulations.
(4) The resolutions or orders required by this section may provide for a reasonable extension of the time period in the event that compelling circumstances justify additional time and the project applicant consents to the extension.
(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this division, within two years from the date on which an application for the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use for electrical infrastructure is submitted to a state agency that is a lead agency for the project, the state agency shall complete the review of the environmental impacts of the proposed project pursuant to this division, including the completion and certification of an environmental impact report or the completion or adoption of a negative declaration or mitigated negative declaration, and shall approve or deny the application.
(2) If the state agency fails to meet the time period set forth in paragraph (1), the state agency shall, in accordance with Section 9795 of the Government Code, submit to the Legislature a report setting forth the reasons why the review could not be completed within the time period and identifying potential impacts to the electrical system that could result from the delay.
(3) The time period set forth in paragraph (1) is mandatory mandatory, not directory.
(c) If a draft environmental impact report, environmental impact report, or focused environmental impact report is prepared under a contract to a state agency, the contract shall be executed within 45 days from the date on which the state agency sends a notice of preparation pursuant to Section 21080.4. The state agency may take longer to execute the contract if the project applicant and the state agency mutually agree to an extension of the time limit provided by this subdivision.

SEC. 4.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.