California Senate Bill SB16 Amended / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: SB 16AMENDED BILL TEXT AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 27, 2011 AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 12, 2011 AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 29, 2011 AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 15, 2011 INTRODUCED BY Senator Rubio DECEMBER 6, 2010 An act to add  Sections 2069.5 and 2099.7   Section 2099.20  to the Fish and Game Code, relating to energy, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SB 16, as amended, Rubio. Renewable energy: Department of Fish and Game: expedited permitting. (1) The California Endangered Species Act (CESA) requires the Fish and Game Commission to establish a list of endangered species and a list of threatened species, and requires the Department of Fish and Game to recommend, and the commission to adopt, criteria for determining if a species is endangered or threatened. CESA authorizes the department to authorize the take of threatened species, endangered species, or candidate species by permit if certain requirements are met. CESA authorizes the department, in consultation with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and, to the extent practicable, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and the United States Bureau of Land Management, to design and implement actions to protect, restore, or enhance the habitat of plants and wildlife that can be used to fully mitigate the impacts of the take of endangered, threatened, or candidate species resulting from certain solar thermal and photovoltaic powerplants in the planning area of the Desert Renewable Energy Conservation Plan. Existing law requires the department to collect, and requires the owner or developer of certain solar thermal powerplants or photovoltaic powerplants to pay, a one-time permit application fee of $75,000. Existing law requires the department to utilize the permit application fee to pay for all or a portion of the department's cost of processing incidental take permit applications pursuant to CESA.  This bill would require the department to collect a permit application fee of $75,000 from the owner or developer of an eligible renewable energy project to support the department's permitting and review of the project, as provided.   The bill would require the department to provide written notification to an applicant for an incidental take permit for an eligible renewable energy project within 10 days after the department has determined that the application is complete, and require the department to approve or reject an incidental take permit application for an eligible renewable energy project in 90 days or less, or within 150 days for certain projects.   This bill would require the department to take prescribed procedural steps regarding applications for certain eligible renewable energy projects, including determining whether the application is complete or incomplete, notifying the applicant of its determination, and approving or rejecting an incidental take permit application for an eligible project 60 days or less from the date the application is deemed complete, unless a longer period is agreed upon by the department and applicant.  The bill would require the department to provide an accounting to the Legislature on incidental take permit applications for eligible renewable energy projects, and to report to the Legislature on the extent to which it arranges for entities other than itself to provide all or part of the environmental review of eligible renewable energy projects.  (2) This bill would declare that it is become operative only if AB 13 of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2012.   (3) The bill would also declare that it is to become operative 30 days after the effective date of this act or 30 days after the effective date of AB 13 of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session, whichever occurs later.   (2)   (4)  This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) It is important to facilitate the permitting of renewable energy projects that are eligible renewable energy resources under the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code), including expediting the scientific evaluation by the Department of Fish and Game of the wildlife impacts of those projects with special attention to the impacts on threatened and endangered species. (b) In imposing statutory deadlines on the review of these projects, it is important not only for the department to respond more efficiently, but also important for project proponents to submit accurate information from which the department can commence a complete review without being required to obtain further information in a piecemeal manner. (c) It is reasonable to expect the department to expedite its decisionmaking in order to help achieve the renewable energy goals of the state and create jobs. (d) The Legislature expects that the department may be inundated with more than 300 applications for renewable energy projects in this calendar year because of the increasing interest in renewable energy projects and because of the investment and tax provisions contained in state and federal law. It is important to give each of those applications fair consideration by the department and absent the provisions of this act the department will simply be unable to adequately review these applications. (e) It is the intent of the Legislature to monitor closely the performance of the department in implementing this act. It is further the intent of the Legislature that the department use, upon appropriation by the Legislature, a small portion of the fees submitted to it by renewable energy applicants to provide the Legislature with an accounting of the department's review and decisionmaking process for these permit applications, to evaluate whether the process has been carried out as efficiently and as effectively as possible and in furtherance of the department's statutory responsibilities. (f) It is further the intent of the Legislature to reevaluate the performance of the department in two years, and, if necessary, to consider whether there is a need to enact legislation that would provide incentives for timely permit decisions by requiring the department to refund a portion of permit fees in the event that the department failed to meet permit decisionmaking deadlines.  SEC. 2.   Section 2069.5 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read: 2069.5. (a) For purposes of this section, an "eligible project" means an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code). (b) The department shall provide written notification to an applicant for an incidental take permit for an eligible project within 10 days after the department has determined that the application is complete. (c) The department shall approve or reject an incidental take permit application for an eligible project in 90 days or less from the date the application was deemed complete, except for projects that the department determines are eligible to obtain an incidental take permit pursuant to Section 2080.1, in which case the department shall approve or reject an incidental take permit application for these projects within 150 days after the application was deemed complete.   SEC. 2.   Section 2099.20 is added to the   Fish and Game Code   , to read:   2099.20.   (a) As used in this section, "eligible project" has the same meaning as defined in Section 2099.10.   (b) (1) At the request of the applicant, the department shall, to the extent feasible, identify and clarify information that will be needed in an application prior to its submittal to the department.   (2) Within 30 days after the department receives an application for a project subject to Section 2099.10, the department shall determine whether the application is complete or incomplete and shall notify the applicant of its determination. If the department determines that the application is incomplete, it shall concurrently identify and inform the applicant in writing of the specific information or supporting documentation that is needed to complete the application currently under review. The department shall make all reasonable efforts to consolidate its information request into a single request.   (3) Within 15 business days of receipt of the information requested of the applicant pursuant to paragraph (2), the department shall make a determination if the application is complete.  (4) If the department determines pursuant to paragraph (3) that additional information is needed to complete the application, the director shall offer to meet with the applicant to review the application and establish a plan and a timeframe to complete the application.   (c) The department shall approve or reject an incidental take permit application for an eligible project 60 days or less from the date the application is deemed complete, unless a longer period is agreed upon by the department and the applicant. If the department has not made a determination within 45 days, the director shall offer to meet with the applicant to review the status of the application.   (d) Subdivision (c) does not apply to projects that the department determines are eligible to obtain an incidental take permit pursuant to Section 2080.1, in which case the department shall approve or reject an incidental take permit application for these projects within 150 days after the application is deemed complete.   (d)   (e)  (1) By January 1, 2014, the department shall provide an accounting to the Legislature on incidental take permit applications for eligible projects. This accounting shall include, but shall not be limited to, all of the following: (A) The number of applications that have been received. (B) The number of applications that have been approved, rejected, or withdrawn. (C) The type and nature of the incidental take permits sought, including, but not limited to, the number of acres in each permit, the location of the project, the list of endangered or threatened species and whether the species were state or federally listed, the land ownership, the other permits involved in the project during the permit review period and which agencies were involved, and any relevant special resource issues. (D) The time that elapsed between when a permit was deemed complete and when it was approved, if the permit was approved. (E) The staff time spent on each permit. (F) Other information determined by the department to be relevant in assessing whether the permit approval process, including the deadlines prescribed by this section, provide for an efficient review process in furtherance of the department's statutory obligations. (2) By January 1, 2012, and annually thereafter for two years until 2014, the department shall report to the Legislature on the extent to which it arranges for entities other than itself to provide all or part of the environmental review of eligible projects. The 2014 report may be combined with the report described in paragraph (1). (3) A report to be submitted pursuant to this subdivision shall be submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code. (4) Pursuant to Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, this subdivision is inoperative on January 1, 2016.  SEC. 3.   Section 2099.7 is added to the Fish and Game Code, to read: 2099.7. (a) For purposes of this section, an "eligible project" means an eligible renewable energy resource, as defined in the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program (Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code). (b) The department shall collect a permit application fee from the owner or developer of an eligible project to support its permitting and review of eligible projects pursuant to this chapter. Except as provided in subdivision (d), the owner or developer of a proposed eligible project shall pay a one-time permit application fee of seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000) to the department. (c) The department shall collect the permit application fee at the time the owner or developer submits its permit application or, for eligible projects for which an application has already been submitted and is currently under review, on or before January 30, 2012. The department shall utilize the permit application fee to pay for all or a portion of the department's cost of processing incidental take permit applications pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 2081 and Section 2080.1. If the permit application fee is insufficient to complete permitting work due to the complexity of a project or timeline delays, the department may collect an additional fee from the owner or developer to pay for its actual costs, not to exceed an additional seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000). (d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (b) and (c), if the department's cost of processing an incidental take permit application is limited to activities pursuant to Section 2080.1, the department shall collect a fee from the owner or developer of an eligible project in an amount that does not exceed the anticipated full costs to the department for those activities. (e) The fees shall be deposited in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, and shall be eligible for expenditure by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature.   SEC. 3.   This act shall become operative only if Assembly Bill 13 of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session is enacted and takes effect on or before January 1, 2012.   SEC. 4.  The act shall become operative 30 days after the effective date of this act or 30 days after the effective date of Assembly Bill 13 of the 2011-12 First Extraordinary Session, whichever occurs later.   SEC. 4.   SEC. 5.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to expedite permitting of needed renewable energy projects as soon as possible, it is necessary for this act to take effect immediately.