Expected Makeover for Anti-Choice Bill

Legislation that could make life more difficult for counties and cities offering carbon-lite power supplies is expected to be reworked at its first committee hearing when the Legislature reconvenes in the middle of next month.

Revisions to AB 1110 by Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-SF) are in the works that are supposed to reduce procurement challenges for Marin County, Sonoma County and the City of Lancaster, all which offer their residents an alternate source of power in place of the local monopoly private utility.

Earlier this month, the bill was reworked to limit the use of renewable energy credits and out-of-state wind imports, seriously impacting community choice aggregators. The communities would be required to count their power supplies’ greenhouse gas emissions without any offset by renewable credits they purchased, much to the consternation of Sonoma, Marin, and Lancaster.

The author promised during a July 16 hearing to amend his bill to allow the use of these green credits to 2018 or 2017, around the time the REC contracts expire.

Another point of contention, according to Kate Kelly, Sonoma spokesperson, is that the bill would count wind energy imported from Washington on par with emissions attributed to natural gas imports because of differences between that state’s and California’s reporting requirement.

The expectation is that the sunset date on renewable credits will be extended to 2017 or 2018 and imported wind energy also will be counted as emissions free.

Amendments reflecting those changes are not in print and likely won’t appear until the Legislature returns from its summer recess. AB 1110 is set to be heard in late August by the Senate Appropriations Committee, but no date has been set. —Elizabeth McCarthy