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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)