Proposition Summary

RENEWABLE ENERGY GENERATION. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Requires utilities, including government-owned utilities, to generate 20% of their power from renewable energy by 2010, a standard currently applicable only to private electrical corporations. Raises requirement for utilities to 40% by 2020 and 50% by 2025. Imposes penalties, subject to waiver, for noncompliance. Transfers some jurisdiction of regulatory matters from Public Utilities Commission to Energy Commission. Fast-tracks approval for new renewable energy plants. Requires utilities to sign longer contracts (20 year minimum) to procure renewable energy. Creates account to purchase rights-of-way and facilities for the transmission of renewable energy. Summary of Legislative Analyst’s Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact: Increased state administrative costs of up to $3.4 million annually for the regulatory activities of the California Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission, paid for by fee revenues. Unknown impact on state and local government costs and revenues due to the measure’s uncertain impact on retail electricity rates. In the short term, the prospects for higher rates—and therefore higher costs, lower sales and income tax revenues, and higher local utility tax revenues—are more likely. In the long term, the impact on electricity rates, and therefore state and local government costs and revenues, is unknown.

Proposition Number

7

Year

2008

Document Type

Proposition

Pass/Fail

Fail

Popular Vote Results

Y:4502235;A:35.5;N:8155181;B:64.5

Election Type

General Election

Proposition Type

Initiative STATUTE

For Author

DR. DONALD W. AITKEN, Ph.D., Renewable Energy Scientist; JOHN L. BURTON, California State Senate, President Pro Tem (Ret.); JIM GONZALEZ, Chair, Californians for Solar and Clean Energy

Against Author

SUE KATELEY, Executive Director, California Solar Energy Industries Association; TOM ADAMS, Board President, California League of Conservation Voters; TERESA CASAZZA, President, California Taxpayers' Association

Rebuttal Author

TOM ADAMS, Board President, California League of Conservation Voters; GARY T. GERBER, President, Sun Light & Power; BETTY JO TOCCOLI, President, California Small Business Association

Rebuttal Against Author

DOLORES HUERTA, Co-Founder, United Farmworkers Union; CONGRESSMAN PAUL "PETE" McCLOSKEY JR. (Ret.); JIM GONZALEZ, Chair, Californians for Solar and Clean Energy

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