AB1301 - Electricity.

Amended IN Senate August 13, 2026 Amended IN Senate June 18, 2026 Amended IN Senate June 04, 2026 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION Assembly Bill No. 1301 Introduced by Assembly Member Petrie-Norris February 21, 2025 An act to amend Sections 25217.1, 25301, 25302, 25334, 25421, and 25660.2 of, and to repeal Section 25665.7 of, the Public Resources Code, and to amend Sections 309.5, 330, 331, 337, 341.5, 348, 361, 365, 367, 372, 373, 376, 390, 464, 739.12, and 2778 of, and to repeal Sections 335, 336, 338, 339, 340, 341, 341.1, 341.2, 341.3, 341.4, and 367.7 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity, and making an appropriation therefor. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1301, as amended, Petrie-Norris. Electricity. (1) Existing law establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires the Energy Commission to nominate, and the Governor to appoint, an attorney admitted to the practice of law to serve as a public advisor to the Energy Commission, as specified. This bill would eliminate the requirement that the public advisor be an attorney. (2) Existing law provides for the establishment of an Independent System Operator, referred to as the ISO, as an incorporated nonprofit public benefit corporation. The ISO is required to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the transmission grid consistent with achieving certain planning and operating criteria. Existing law establishes the Electricity Oversight Board to, among other duties, oversee the Independent System Operator and the Power Exchange. This bill would abolish the Electricity Oversight Board and would make various conforming changes. (3) Existing law establishes a Power Exchange as a nonprofit public benefit corporation to provide an efficient competitive auction, open on a nondiscriminatory basis to all suppliers of electricity, that meets the loads of all of its customers at efficient prices. This bill would abolish the Power Exchange and would make various conforming changes. (4) Existing law, the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979, requires the Energy Commission to provide grants and loans to local governments and public institutions to maximize energy use savings, expand installation of energy storage systems, and expand the availability of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. Existing law creates various continuously appropriated accounts for purposes of the act. Existing law repeals the act on January 1, 2028. This bill would, instead, repeal the Energy Conservation Assistance Act of 1979 on January 1, 2038. By extending the operation of those continuously appropriated accounts, the bill would make an appropriation. (5) Existing law requires the Energy Commission, on or before March 1, to annually publish on its internet website and report to the budget and relevant policy committees of the Legislature specific information about specified clean energy programs, including the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program. This bill would expand that reporting requirement to also include additional information about the Equitable Building Decarbonization Program, including its progress, status, budget, and impacts, as provided. (6) Existing law establishes within the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) an independent Public Advocate’s Office to represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of public utility customers and subscribers within the jurisdiction of the PUC. Existing law requires the office, on or before January 10 of each year, to provide specific information to the chairperson of the fiscal committee of each house of the Legislature and to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. This bill would, instead, require the independent Public Advocate’s Office to provide that information on or before February 1 of each year. (7) (6) Existing law requires the PUC to continue the Family Electric Rate Assistance program (FERA) to provide a discount to residential customers of the state’s 3 largest electrical corporations consisting of households with total household annual gross income levels between 200% and 250% of the federal poverty guideline level. Existing law requires the PUC, on or before March 1 of each year, to require the state’s 3 largest electrical corporations to report on their efforts to enroll customers in the FERA program and requires the PUC to review those reports on or before June 1 of each year. This bill would, instead, require the PUC, on or before May 1 of each year, to require the state’s 3 largest electrical corporations to report on their efforts to enroll customers in the FERA program and require the PUC to review those reports on or before December 1 of each year. (8) (7) Existing law defines an “electrical cooperative” to mean any private corporation or association organized for the purposes of transmitting or distributing electricity exclusively to its stockholders or members at cost. Existing law specifies that every electrical cooperative is subject to the Public Utilities Act, except as specified. This bill would exempt an electrical cooperative from any provision of the Public Utilities Act that becomes effective after January 1, 2027, that does not expressly provide that it applies to an electrical cooperative. (9) (8) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act, or of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the PUC, is a crime. Because certain provisions of this bill would be part of the act, and a violation of a PUC action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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. Digest Key Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: YES Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YES Bill Text The people of the State of California do enact as follows: SECTION 1. Section 25217.1 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 25217.1. The commission shall nominate and the Governor shall appoint for a term of three years a public advisor to the commission who shall carry out Section 25222 and other duties prescribed by this division or by the commission. The public advisor may be removed from office only upon the joint concurrence of four commissioners and the Governor. SEC. 2. Section 25301 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 25301. (a) At least every two years, the commission shall conduct assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply, production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices. The commission shall use these assessments and forecasts to develop and evaluate energy policies and programs that conserve resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability, enhance the state’s economy, and protect public health and safety. To perform these assessments and forecasts, the commission may require the submission of demand forecasts, resource plans, market assessments, related outlooks, individual customer historical electrical or gas service usage, or both, and individual customer historical billing data, in a format and level of granularity specified by the commission from electrical and natural gas utilities, transportation fuel and technology suppliers, and other market participants. These assessments and forecasts shall be done in consultation with the appropriate state and federal agencies, including, but not limited to, the Public Utilities Commission, the Public Advocate’s Office of the Public Utilities Commission, the State Air Resources Board, the Independent System Operator, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Motor Vehicles. The commission shall maintain reasonable policies and procedures to protect customer information from unauthorized disclosure. (b) In developing the assessments and forecasts prepared pursuant to subdivision (a), the commission shall do all of the following: (1) Provide information about the performance of energy industries. (2) Develop and maintain the analytical capability sufficient to answer inquiries about energy issues from the government, market participants, and the public. (3) Analyze, develop, and evaluate energy policies and programs. (4) Provide an analytical foundation for regulatory and policy decisionmaking. (5) Facilitate efficient and reliable energy markets. SEC. 3. Section 25302 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 25302. (a) Beginning November 1, 2003, and every two years thereafter, the commission shall adopt an integrated energy policy report. This integrated report shall contain an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the state, including, but not limited to, supply, demand, pricing, reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the economy, resources, and the environment. The integrated energy policy report shall present policy recommendations based on an in-depth and integrated analysis of the most current and pressing energy issues facing the state. The analyses supporting this integrated energy policy report shall explicitly address interfuel and intermarket effects to provide a more informed evaluation of potential tradeoffs when developing energy policy across different markets and systems. (b) The integrated energy policy report shall include an assessment and forecast of system reliability and the need for resource additions, efficiency, and conservation that considers all aspects of energy industries and markets that are essential for the state economy, general welfare, public health and safety, energy diversity, and protection of the environment. This assessment shall be based on the determinations made pursuant to this chapter. (c) Beginning November 1, 2004, and every two years thereafter, the commission shall prepare an energy policy review to update analyses from the integrated energy policy report prepared pursuant to subdivisions (a) and (b), or to raise energy issues that have emerged since the release of the integrated energy policy report. The commission may also periodically prepare and release technical analyses and assessments of energy issues and concerns to provide timely and relevant information for the Governor, the Legislature, market participants, and the public. (d) In the preparation of the report, the commission shall consult with the following entities: the Public Utilities Commission, the Public Advocate’s Office of the Public Utilities Commission, the State Air Resources Board, the Independent System Operator, the Department of Water Resources, the Department of Transportation, and the Department of Motor Vehicles, and any federal, state, and local agencies it deems necessary in preparation of the integrated energy policy report. To ensure the collaborative development of state energy policies, these agencies shall make a good faith effort to provide data, assessment, and proposed recommendations for review by the commission. (e) The commission shall provide the report to the Public Utilities Commission, the Public Advocate’s Office of the Public Utilities Commission, the State Air Resources Board, the Independent System Operator, the Department of Water Resources, and the Department of Transportation. For the purpose of ensuring consistency in the underlying information that forms the foundation of energy policies and decisions affecting the state, those entities shall carry out their energy-related duties and responsibilities based upon the information and analyses contained in the report. If an entity listed in this subdivision objects to information contained in the report and has a reasonable basis for that objection, the entity shall not be required to consider that information in carrying out its energy-related duties. (f) The commission shall make the report accessible to state, local, and federal entities and to the general public. SEC. 4. Section 25334 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 25334. (a) Upon receipt of an application or upon its own motion for designation of a transmission corridor zone, the commission shall arrange for the publication of a summary of the application in a newspaper of general circulation in each county where the proposed transmission corridor zone would be located, and shall notify all property owners within, or adjacent to, the transmission corridor zone. The commission shall transmit a copy of the application for designation to all cities, counties, and state and federal agencies having an interest in the proposed transmission corridor zone. The commission shall publish the application for designation on its internet website and notify members of the public that the application is available on the commission’s internet website. (b) As soon as practicable after the receipt of an application or upon its own motion for designation of a transmission corridor zone, the commission shall notify cities, counties, state and federal agencies, and California Native American tribes in whose jurisdictions the proposed transmission corridor zone would be located regarding the proposed transmission corridor zone and the objectives of the most recent strategic plan for the state’s electrical transmission grid. The commission’s notice shall solicit information from, and the commission shall confer with, all interested cities, counties, state and federal agencies, and California Native American tribes regarding their land use plans, existing land uses, and other factors in which they have expertise or interest with respect to the proposed transmission corridor zone. The commission shall provide any interested city, county, state or federal agency, California Native American tribe, or member of the public, including any property owner within the proposed transmission corridor zone, ample opportunity to participate in the commission’s review of a proposed transmission corridor zone. (c) The commission shall request affected cities, counties, state and federal agencies, the Independent System Operator, interested California Native American tribes, and members of the public, including any property owner within the proposed transmission corridor zone, to provide comments on the suitability of the proposed transmission corridor zone with respect to environmental, public health and safety, land use, economic, and transmission-system impacts or other factors on which they may have expertise. (d) The commission shall require a person who files an application for the designation of a transmission corridor zone to pay a fee sufficient to reimburse the commission for all costs associated with reviewing the application. If the commission initiates the designation of a transmission co [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]