11-14-2022 BPU RPT 09 - Laserfiche WebLink

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RIVERSIDE PUBLIC UTILITIES P U B L I C U T I L I T I E S Board Memorandum BOARD OF PUBLIC UTILITIES DATE: NOVEMBER 14, 2022 SUBJECT: 2022 STATE ENERGY LEGISLATIVE UPDATE ISSUE: Receive an update on 2022 state energy legislation. RECOMMENDATION: That the Board of Public Utilities receive and file a 2022 state energy legislative update. BACKGROUND: The Legislative Affairs Manager actively engages with state legislators, and stakeholder and community organizations on policy issues to advance and protect the interests of Riverside Public Utilities (RPU) and its customers as policy and budget bills progress through the legislative process. While a number of policy and budget bills passed this year that will affect RPU, this report will review key energy legislation signed into law from the 2022 legislative cycle. For this year's session, most of the legislation that applies to RPU reflects California's aggressive climate policy. All of the legislation discussed in this report is based on the State's evaluation of climate -related science — much of which is reflected in the actual bill language. To inform the state's climate policy and ensure that it is based on scientific evidence, Governor Schwarzenegger, by Executive Order S-13-08 in 2008, directed the California Natural Resources Agency to develop and prepare a climate adaptation strategy in collaboration with local, regional, state, and federal entities. In order to prepare the adaptation strategy, the State develops a science -based and peer reviewed climate assessment every four years that identifies vulnerabilities and impacts as well as recommended solutions that eventually make their way into legislation and regulation. These assessments clearly indicate that climate change is an existential threat to our planet, and that California is susceptible to its impacts, including increasing extreme heat events, drought, wildfire, sea level rise, coastal flooding, and coastal erosion. According to the Fourth California Climate Change Assessment (2018), by 2100, the average annual maximum daily temperature is projected to increase by 5.6-8.8°F, water supply from snowpack is projected to decline by two- thirds, the average area burned in wildfires could increase by 77%, and 31-67% of Southern California beaches may completely erode without large-scale human intervention, all under business as usual and even moderate greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction pathways.