The Barbed Wire - December 20, 2019

December 20, 2019
RCRC Requests the California Air Resources Board Revise Advanced Clean Trucks Rulemaking to Accommodate Rural Exemptions
New Additions to SGIP Program Benefit RCRC Member Counties
Broadband Mapping Bills Passed in House
Appropriations Update
SRS Update
Disaster Tax Relief
Water Infrastructure Update
Cannabis Banking Update
BULLETIN BOARD

RCRC Requests the California Air Resources Board Revise Advanced Clean Trucks Rulemaking to Accommodate Rural Exemptions

On December 13, 2019, RCRC submitted a letter to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) following a public workshop on the Advanced Clean Trucks (ACT) Proposed Rulemaking.  During the six-hour workshop, CARB staff clarified that the “Large Entity” one-time reporting requirements extend to all local government municipalities – regardless of fleet size – to collect data for future regulations to increase the use and procurement of heavy-duty zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs).  

An example of the reporting requirements as currently proposed for a county’s fleet, as well as all transportation services contracted for, can be accessed here.  These reports are expected to be due to CARB in April 2021, pending CARB’s approval.

In September 2019, Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order requiring CARB to increase demand and new markets for ZEVs to achieve necessary greenhouse gas (GHG) reductions in the transportation sector.  In turn, CARB has fast-tracked ACT regulations with limited public outreach to local government and business sectors alike.  RCRC has concerns with ZEVs, particularly around CARB’s ambitious future procurement mandates it is proposing, the lack of infrastructure and state investment for heavy-duty ZEVs, and the inability to simultaneously comply with other costly state mandates, such as the Senate Bill 1383 organic waste diversions from landfills.  SB 1383 implementation relies on effective organic waste diversion such as the conversion of methane from landfills into low carbon renewable natural gas.  An all-electric fleet, for example, would exacerbate the insurmountable challenges already being pushed by a competing state agency and create more conflict with the limited investments local governments can make into its public fleets.  RCRC also has serious concerns with the lack of outreach to local governments during the ACT rulemaking process, particularly since the applicability to municipal fleets has been unclear from the start.

RCRC’s letter can be accessed here.  Detailed information about the Advanced Clean Trucks Rulemaking can be accessed here.

New Additions to SGIP Program Benefit RCRC Member Counties

On December 11th, the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) issued a Proposed Decision extending the ratepayer-funded Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) through 2024, and prioritizing $1.2 billion to increase the resilience of residents and local critical infrastructure to Public Safety Power Shutoff (PSPS) events.  Funding for the program has been significantly increased, and the applicant base now includes residents in RCRC member counties with medical needs, in addition to critical infrastructure.  

The SGIP program collects $166 million annually, and uses those funds for distributed generation and energy storage projects.  A recent CPUC decision redirected $100 million in unutilized SGIP funding to PSPS resiliency projects for critical infrastructure and low-income and medically sensitive customers.  Under the new Proposed Decision funds collected between 2020-2024 will be allocated as follows:

  • 63% ($512.8 million of funds collected 2020-2024) to an Equity Resiliency Budget for residential and nonresidential energy storage projects for customers with critical resiliency needs.  Total funding for this pot rises to $612.8 million through 2025 after factoring in the $100 million reallocation noted above.
    • Residential customers eligible for funding include those residing in a Tier 3 or Tier 2 High Fire Threat District (or whose electricity was shut off during two or more PSPS events) and who are low income, eligible for the medical baseline program, or who have notified the utility of a serious illness or condition that could become life threatening if electricity is disconnected. 
      • Households relying on electric pump wells for water supplies are eligible if located in a Tier 3 or Tier 2 High Fire Threat District or if the electricity was shut off during two or more PSPS events.
    • Nonresidential customers eligible for funding are those who provide critical facilities or infrastructure to a low-income or CalEnviroScreen community located in a Tier 3 or Tier 2 High Fire Threat District (or whose electricity was shut off during two or more PSPS events). 
      • Critical facilities and infrastructure eligible for funding include police stations; fire stations; emergency response providers; emergency operations centers; 911 call centers; medical facilities (hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, nursing homes, blood banks, health care facilities, dialysis centers, and hospice facilities); public and private gas, electric, water, wastewater, or flood control facilities; jails and prisons; locations designated by utilities to provide assistance during PSPS events; locally designated cooling centers; homeless shelters; grocery stores, corner stores, markets, and supermarkets with average annual gross receipts of $15 million or less; independent living centers; and food banks.
  • 12% ($122.1 million of funds collected 2020-2024) for large energy storage systems over 10 kilowatt hours.  Total funding for this pot is $314 million after factoring in previously unexpended allocations. 
  • 7% ($57 million of funds collected 2020-2024) for small residential energy storage systems, with a “soft target” that half of those funds go to residential customers living in Tier 3 or Tier 2 High Fire Threat Districts or whose electricity has been turned off during two or more PSPS events.  Total funding for this pot is $60.1 million after factoring in previously unexpended allocations.
  • 3% ($24.4 million of funds collected 2020-2024) for energy storage systems for low income residential customers.  Total funding available for this pot is $31.7 million after factoring in previously unexpended allocations.
  • 15% ($122.1 million through 2025) for renewable generation. 

The CPUC made many notable changes to improve SGIP Program effectiveness, including significantly increasing subsidy levels to ensure that low-income and medically sensitive residents and rural communities can utilize the program.  Several other new mechanisms increase funding for longer-duration energy storage systems and provide additional incentives for large scale storage projects for non-residential customers with critical resiliency needs.  These important changes help better tailor the SGIP program to the types of projects needed to cope with longer-term PSPS events.

Applications for small-scale residential equity resiliency budget funds will be accepted beginning no later than March 1, 2020.  Applications for nonresidential energy storage projects for customers with critical resiliency needs will be accepted beginning April 1, 2020. 

RCRC supported AB 1144 (Friedman, Chapter 394, Statutes of 2019), which directed the CPUC to allocate at least $16.6 million in 2020 to support PSPS resiliency projects at critical facilities.  Since then, RCRC has strongly advocated for additional funding to mitigate the impact of PSPS events on critical facilities and infrastructure and medically sensitive residents.  The CPUC’s Proposed Decision increases that allocation to $202.6 million for 2020 alone (including $100 million that was rededicated for these purposes from a previously unutilized set-aside for equity projects) and dedicates $613 million for these purposes through 2025. 

Broadband Mapping Bills Passed in House

On Monday, the House passed by voice vote two broadband mapping bills, the Mapping Accuracy Promotes Services (MAPS) Act (H.R. 4227) and the Broadband Deployment Accuracy and Technological Availability (Broadband DATA) Act (H.R. 4229).  Together, these bills will work to fix the nation’s flawed broadband maps.  

The Broadband DATA Act was introduced by Representative Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) and Communications and Technology Subcommittee Ranking Member Bob Latta (R-Ohio), and calls on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to issue new rules to require the collection and dissemination of granular broadband availability data and to establish a process to verify the accuracy of such data, and more.  The MAPS Act was introduced by Representatives A. Donald McEachin (D-Virginia) and Billy Long (R-Missouri), and specifies that it is unlawful for a person to willfully, knowingly, or recklessly submit inaccurate broadband service data.

Appropriations Update

On Monday, lawmakers stuck a deal on a $1.37 trillion FY2020 appropriations package, a process that began almost three months ago.  The more than 2,300 pages of bill text have currently passed in the House and are expected to be passed by the Senate and signed into law by President Trump.  

These spending bills will fund the government through October 1, 2020.  The package is separated into two “minibuses,” the first of which contains funding for Defense, Homeland Security, Commerce-Justice-Science and Financial Services, and is slated to receive a total of $738 billion in fiscal 2020 funding.  The second minibus contains funding for the departments of Agriculture, Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Energy, Interior, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans Affairs and State, as well as the EPA, congressional operations and water projects and is slated to receive a total of $632 billion in funding.  These appropriations equates to about 5 percent increase from FY 2019 for the nondefense minibus a 4 percent increase for the defense minibus.

SRS Update

Included in the recent $1.37 trillion FY2020 appropriations package is a two-year authorization of the Secure Rural Schools (SRS) program.  

On Monday, a bipartisan group of 31 Senators, including Kamala Harris (D-California), sent a letter to Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Minority Leader Chuck Schumer requesting at least a two-year reauthorization of the program. 

Disaster Tax Relief

Following negotiations late Tuesday evening, lawmakers came to an agreement on a $426 billion tax cut plan to be added to the year-end spending package.  Included in the bill were a variety of “tax-extenders” for a wide range of tax breaks ranging from biodiesel to distilleries.  

Of note for RCRC member counties was the inclusion of several provisions allowing tax relief for individuals and businesses in federally designated disaster areas.  

Full text of the bill can be accessed here.

Water Infrastructure Update

On Wednesday, Representative TJ Cox (D-Fresno) announced that he had successfully attached legislation for multiple water infrastructure projects to the 2020 spending package.  

The first project calls for $20 million in new construction funding to repair critical Bureau of Reclamation canals where land subsidence has seriously impaired carrying capacity.  Additionally, Representative Cox secured funding for the previously announced Move Water Now Act (H.R.5316), which would provide $200 million to fix the Friant-Kern Canal.

Details and the full list of investments in water storage, conveyance, and drinking water projects can be accessed here.

Cannabis Banking Update

Last week, a coalition of trade associations sent a letter to Senate Banking Committee leadership, Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Ranking Member Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), urging a vote on legislation to protect financial institutions that service state-legal marijuana businesses.  

The organizations, including the American Bankers Association and Credit Union National Association, said in the letter that advancing the Secure and Fair Enforcement (SAFE) Banking Act or similar legislation is pivotal to ensuring that stakeholders receive needed clarity and are shielded from being penalized by federal regulators.  Senator Crapo had previously expressed his interest in holding a vote on the cannabis banking issue before the end of 2019, but this did not come to fruition.

No such vote has been scheduled for 2020 either, preassembly due to the impending impeachment trial in the Senate.

BULLETIN BOARD

Announcements regarding hearings, grants, and public comment notices of importance to California's rural counties.

RCRC’s Annual Installation of Officers and Rural Leadership Awards Reception

The RCRC Annual Installation of Officers and Rural Leadership Awards Reception will be held Wednesday, January 15, 2020 at 5:00 p.m. at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento.  Full details and registration can be accessed here.

 

Western Interstate Region Conference Coming to California

Join RCRC, Mariposa County, and the California State Association of Counties (CSAC) for the 2020 National Association of Counties’ (NACo) Western Interstate Region (WIR) Conference at Tenaya Lodge at Yosemite!  Mariposa County Supervisor Kevin Cann serves as WIR President, and is looking forward to hosting his colleagues from the 15 western states in Mariposa County.  Read More…

 

California Association for Local Economic Development Rural Exchange

The Rural Economic Development Exchange will be held in Sacramento on Tuesday, January 21, 2020 at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento.

Click here

 

UCANR Hosts California Forest Stewardship Workshops

Click here

 

Northern California Water Association (NCWA) Seeks Nominations for Will S. Green Award

Click here

 

Alpine County Seeks Director of Finance

Click here

 

Tehama County Seeks Assistant Director of Public Works

Click here