AB1273 - Public utilities: ratesetting proceedings: local publicly owned electric utilities: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program.

Enrolled September 16, 2025 Passed IN Senate September 12, 2025 Passed IN Assembly September 13, 2025 Amended IN Senate September 04, 2025 Amended IN Senate July 22, 2025 Amended IN Senate July 07, 2025 Amended IN Assembly April 07, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 1273 Introduced by Assembly Member Patterson February 21, 2025 An act to amend Sections 311.5 and 399.30 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1273, Patterson. Public utilities: ratesetting proceedings: local publicly owned electric utilities: California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires all charges demanded or received by a public utility for a product or commodity furnished or to be furnished or a service rendered or to be rendered to be just and reasonable. Existing law, except as provided, prohibits a public utility from changing a rate unless there is a showing before the PUC and a finding by the PUC that the new rate is justified. Existing law requires the PUC to publish and maintain on its internet website particular documents regarding the PUC’s agendas, actions, decisions, resolutions, rules, and other information. This bill would prohibit the PUC from placing the consideration of a decision in a ratesetting proceeding that would result in an increase in rates to customers of an electrical corporation that has a revenue requirement that exceeds $1,000,000,000 on its consent agenda. The bill would, except as provided, require the PUC to provide, at a meeting to vote on a decision of a ratesetting proceeding that increases the rates of an electrical corporation’s customers by more than 5%, before its vote on the decision, a public comment period of at least 30 minutes on the decision. Under existing law, the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program requires retail sellers and local publicly owned electric utilities to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources during certain compliance periods up to December 31, 2030. Existing law provides that a local publicly owned electric utility is not required to procure a certain amount of eligible renewable energy resources if, during a year within those compliance periods, the local publicly owned electric utility receives more than 40% of its retail sales from large hydroelectric generation under an ownership agreement or contract in effect as of January 1, 2018. Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to establish appropriate multiyear compliance periods for local publicly owned electric utilities beyond December 31, 2030. This bill would provide that the provision related to the procurement of eligible renewable energy resources by local publicly owned electric utilities also applies to the compliance periods established by the Energy Commission. Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 311.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read: 311.5. (a) (1) Before a meeting at which the commission considers any action or decision, the commission shall make available to the public copies of the agenda and, upon request, documents related to an agenda item that is proposed to be considered by the commission. (2) The commission shall publish the agenda, documents related to agenda items, and adopted commission decisions in a manner that makes copies of those materials easily available to the public, including publishing those materials on the commission’s internet website at the same time as the written agenda and documents related to agenda items are made available to the public. (b) The commission shall publish and maintain all of the following documents on the commission’s internet website: (1) Until a decision or resolution is adopted and published, all of the commission’s proposed and alternate proposed decisions and resolutions. (2) On or before 10 days following the commission’s adoption of a decision or resolution, a copy of that decision or resolution. (3) The then-current version of the commission’s general orders and Rules of Practice and Procedure. (4) Until final disposition, including disposition of any judicial appeals, of a proceeding in which a ruling is issued, a copy of that ruling. (5) Until final disposition, including disposition of any judicial appeals, a docket card that lists, by title and date of filing or issuance, all documents filed and all decisions or rulings issued in a proceeding, including the public versions of all prepared oral and written testimony and advice letter filings, protests, and responses. (c) The commission shall make all of the following information available on the commission’s internet website: (1) Information on how members of the public and ratepayers can gain access to the commission’s ratemaking process and information regarding the specific matters to be decided by the commission. (2) Information on the operation of the office of the public advisor established pursuant to Section 321, and how the public advisor can connect members of the public to persons responsible for specific cases and matters to be decided. (d) (1) The commission shall not place on its consent agenda of a meeting to vote on the consideration of a decision in a ratesetting proceeding that would result in an increase in rates to customers of an electrical corporation that has a revenue requirement that exceeds one billion dollars ($1,000,000,000). (2) To ensure that an open discussion of a decision in a ratesetting proceeding that increases the rates of an electrical corporation’s customers by more than 5 percent occurs, at a meeting to vote on the decision, before its vote on the decision, the commission shall provide a public comment period of at least 30 minutes on the decision, unless there is an insufficient number of members of the public wishing to speak on the decision to require a 30-minute comment period. SEC. 2. Section 399.30 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read: 399.30. (a) (1) To fulfill unmet long-term generation resource needs, each local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt and implement a renewable energy resources procurement plan that requires the utility to procure a minimum quantity of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources, including renewable energy credits, as a specified percentage of total kilowatthours sold to the utility’s retail end-use customers, each compliance period, to achieve the targets of subdivision (c). (2) Beginning January 1, 2019, a local publicly owned electric utility subject to Section 9621 shall incorporate the renewable energy resources procurement plan required by this section as part of a broader integrated resource plan developed and adopted pursuant to Section 9621. (b) The governing board shall implement procurement targets for a local publicly owned electric utility that require the utility to procure a minimum quantity of eligible renewable energy resources for each of the following compliance periods: (1) January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, inclusive. (2) January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016, inclusive. (3) January 1, 2017, to December 31, 2020, inclusive. (4) January 1, 2021, to December 31, 2024, inclusive. (5) January 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027, inclusive. (6) January 1, 2028, to December 31, 2030, inclusive. (c) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility shall ensure all of the following: (1) The quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be procured for the compliance period from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2013, inclusive, are equal to an average of 20 percent of retail sales. (2) The quantities of eligible renewable energy resources to be procured for all other compliance periods reflect reasonable progress in each of the intervening years sufficient to ensure that the procurement of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources achieves 25 percent of retail sales by December 31, 2016, 33 percent by December 31, 2020, 44 percent by December 31, 2024, 52 percent by December 31, 2027, and 60 percent by December 31, 2030. The Energy Commission shall establish appropriate multiyear compliance periods for all subsequent years that require the local publicly owned electric utility to procure not less than 60 percent of retail sales of electricity products from eligible renewable energy resources. (3) A local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt procurement requirements consistent with Section 399.16. (4) Beginning January 1, 2014, in calculating the procurement requirements under this article, a local publicly owned electric utility may exclude from its total retail sales the kilowatthours generated by an eligible renewable energy resource that is credited to a participating customer pursuant to a voluntary green pricing or shared renewable generation program. Any exclusion shall be limited to electricity products that do not meet the portfolio content criteria set forth in paragraph (2) or (3) of subdivision (b) of Section 399.16. Any renewable energy credits associated with electricity credited to a participating customer shall not be used for compliance with procurement requirements under this article, shall be retired on behalf of the participating customer, and shall not be further sold, transferred, or otherwise monetized for any purpose. To the extent possible for generation that is excluded from retail sales under this subdivision, a local publicly owned electric utility shall seek to procure those eligible renewable energy resources that are located in reasonable proximity to program participants. (d) (1) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt procurement requirements consistent with subparagraph (B) of paragraph (5) of subdivision (a) of, and paragraph (1) of subdivision (b) of, Section 399.13. (2) The governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility may adopt the following measures: (A) Conditions that allow for delaying timely compliance consistent with subdivision (b) of Section 399.15. (B) Cost limitations for procurement expenditures consistent with subdivision (c) of Section 399.15. (e) The governing board of the local publicly owned electric utility shall adopt a program for the enforcement of this article. The program shall be adopted at a publicly noticed meeting offering all interested parties an opportunity to comment. Not less than 30 days’ notice shall be given to the public of any meeting held for purposes of adopting the program. Not less than 10 days’ notice shall be given to the public before any meeting is held to make a substantive change to the program. (f) Each local publicly owned electric utility shall annually post notice, in accordance with the Ralph M. Brown Act (Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 54950) of Part 1 of Division 2 of Title 5 of the Government Code), whenever its governing body will deliberate in public on its renewable energy resources procurement plan. (g) A public utility district that receives all of its electricity pursuant to a preference right adopted and authorized by the United States Congress pursuant to Section 4 of the Trinity River Division Act of August 12, 1955 (Public Law 84-386), shall be in compliance with the renewable energy procurement requirements of this article. (h) For a local publicly owned electric utility that was in existence on or before January 1, 2009, that provides retail electric service to 15,000 or fewer customer accounts in California, and is interconnected to a balancing authority located outside this state but within the WECC, an eligible renewable energy resource includes a facility that is located outside California that is connected to the WECC transmission system, if all of the following conditions are met: (1) The electricity generated by the facility is procured by the local publicly owned electric utility, is delivered to the balancing authority area in which the local publicly owned electric utility is located, and is not used to fulfill renewable energy procurement requirements of other states. (2) The local publicly owned electric utility participates in, and complies with, the accounting system administered by the Energy Commission pursuant to this article. (3) The Energy Commission verifies that the electricity generated by the facility is eligible to meet the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements. (i) Notwithstanding subdivision (a), for a local publicly owned electric utility that is a joint powers authority of districts established pursuant to state law on or before January 1, 2005, that furnishes electric services other than to residential customers, and is formed pursuant to the Irrigation District Law (Division 11 (commencing with Section 20500) of the Water Code), the percentage of total kilowatthours sold to the district’s retail end-use customers, upon which the renewables portfolio standard procurement requirements in subdivision (b) are calculated, shall be based on the authority’s average retail sales over the previous seven years. If the authority has not furnished electric service for seven years, then the calculation shall be based on average retail sales over the number of completed years during which the authority has provided electric service. (j) A local publicly owned electric utility in a city and county that only receives greater than 67 percent of its electricity sources from hydroelectric generation located within the state that it owns and operates, and that does not meet the definition of a “renewable electrical generation facility” pursuant to Section 25741 of the Public Resources Code, shall be required to procure eligible renewable energy resources, including renewable energy credits, to meet only the electricity demands unsatisfied by its hydroelectric generation in any given year, in order to satisfy its renewable energy procurement requirements. (k) (1) For purposes of this subdivision, “large hydroelectric generation” means electricity generated from an existing hydroelectric facility located within the state that does not qualify as an eligible renewable energy resource and, as of January 1, 2018, was owned by a local publicly owned electric utility, the federal government as a part of the federal Central Valley Project, or a joint powers agency formed and created pursuant to the Joint Exercise of Powers Act (Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 6500) of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code). (2) If, during a year within a compliance period set forth in subdivision (b) or (c), a local publicly owned electric [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]