HomeMy WebLinkAbout7-11-2022 SB 1393 - Oppose
July 11, 2022
The Honorable Eduardo Garcia
Chair, Assembly Utilities and Energy
1021 O Street, Room 8120
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 1393 (Archuleta) Energy. Appliances. Local Requirements
Notice of OPPOSITION (As Amended on June 30, 2022)
Dear Senator Garcia,
The City of San Luis Obispo respectfully opposes SB 1393 (Archuleta), which would
create a new statewide review process for local governments to receive approval from
the California Energy Commission (CEC) to adopt local ordinances regarding
decarbonizing buildings switching from the use of fossil fuels to electricity for heating
and other building energy uses.
Climate change is an urgent threat to the health and well-being of California’s residents
and economy. California cities and counties are critical partners with the state in
achieving our shared climate change, emission reduction, and clean energy goals,
including residential and commercial building decarbonization. Per the updated 2022
Energy Code1, the California Energy Commission encourages building electrification as
consistent with and supportive of important statewide goals for decarbonization. SB
1393 would unnecessarily inhibit the ability of cities to accelerate the reduction of
emissions of greenhouse gases through adding additional reporting and approval
processes.
The statewide review process described in SB 1393 raises some concerns around
consistency as it only requires local electrification ordinances to undergo review by the
CEC if they do not include certain exemptions. Local electrification ordinances that
include certain exemptions, regardless of how they are drafted, would not be subject to
review or oversight. Such a double standard is atypical for statewide review processes,
and only serves to add more “green tape” as a barrier to local climate change mitigation
initiatives.
The existing CEC review process is already time consuming and technically difficult.
Few cities in the state, especially those that have not yet adopted electrification
ordinances, have the resources to conduct the additional work required to comply with
SB 1393. There is no material reason to believe that the current review process is
1 2022 Building Energy Efficiency Standards
Letter - Opposing SB 1393
July 11, 2022
Page 2
insufficient and there is no evidence that the 54 local governments that have pursued
electrification policy would have benefited from the additional review. The legislation
would have an unnecessary chilling effect on new participants and would slow down the
very policy activity the California Air Resources Board’s draft 2022 Scoping Plan has
identified as key to achieving SB32’s greenhouse gas emissions reduction goals.
Finally, existing California case law establishes that as long as there is no conflict
between municipal ordinances and state law, cities and counties may impose additional
requirements within their jurisdictions and finds that cities and counties may impose
regulatory requirements that are more stringent that state and federal statutes. As such,
The City San Luis Obispo encourages the Legislature to not add additional “green tape,”
and make it easy for local governments to have the ability to accelerate the reduction of
emissions of greenhouse gases in their communities to meet our shared climate
resiliency goals.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo opposes SB 1393 (Archuleta).
Sincerely,
Erica A. Stewart
Mayor
City of San Luis Obispo
c: The Honorable Archuleta
Senator John Laird, Fax: (916) 651-4017
Assembly Member Jordan Cunningham, Fax (916) 319-2135
Dave Mullinax, League of California Cities, dmullinax@cacities.org
League of California Cities (via email: cityletters@calcities.org)