While some of the usual suspects who are attempting to re-open or summarily close down energy markets have re-submitted bills, a wide variety of proposed new energy laws were dumped in the California Legislature’s hopper as the deadline for submitting bills passed at midnight last Tuesday. What has emerged, even has one energy industry veteran in the state capital scratching his head trying to determine what might gain some traction this legislative session.

While the leader of the lower house Assembly, Speaker Fabian Nunez earlier offered his latest proposal for revamping the state’s electricity industry (AB 380), many of his colleagues have followed with bills that cover all of the major topics being debated: renewables, power generation and transmission construction, liquefied natural gas (LNG), energy efficiency, distributed generation, and state energy agency consolidation.

A bipartisan pair, Assembly members Keith Richman and Joe Canciamilla, revived their proposal from last year to create a core and non-core electricity market statewide and allow direct access power purchasing by any of the non-core (largest customers) who want to do so. The new bill is SB 1704 in the state Senate and AB 515 in the Assembly at this very early stage.

The twosome introduced their latest effort at mid-month (Feb. 16) before the frenzy that hit last Tuesday, with the extended deadline for proposing new legislation. There were about 1,200 new bills submitted on or near the deadline date, and the energy ones number more than four dozen. Most of the proposals were aimed at electricity, although a half-dozen deal specific with natural gas issues, a lobbyist for one of the major utilities indicated.

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