Amended IN Assembly April 07, 2025
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CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2025–2026 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 832
Introduced by Assembly Member Muratsuchi
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February 19, 2025 |
An act to add Chapter 7.5 (commencing with Section 17655) to Part 10.5 of Division 1 of Title 1 of the Education Code, to amend Section 25208 of the Public Resources Code, and to amend Sections 1615, 1616, 1630, 1633, and 1640 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to school facilities, energy, and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 832, as amended, Muratsuchi. School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program: indoor air quality. Program.
(1)Existing law declares that it is the policy of the state that school facilities provide healthy indoor air quality, including adequate ventilation, to pupils, teachers, and other occupants in order to protect occupant health, reduce sick days, and improve student productivity and performance.
Existing law requires a covered school, defined as a school district, a county office of education, a charter school, a private school, the California Community Colleges, or the California State University, and requests the University of California, to ensure that facilities have heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems that meet specified minimum ventilation rate requirements, unless the existing HVAC system is not capable of safely and efficiently providing the minimum ventilation rate, in which case existing law requires a covered school, and request the University of California, to ensure that its HVAC system meets the minimum ventilation rates in effect at the time the building permit for installation of that HVAC system was issued.
This bill, on or before July 1, 2027, would require the State Department of Education, in consultation with the State Department of Public Health and the State Air Resources Board, to develop indoor air quality standards, guidelines, and recommendations for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools. To the extent the bill would impose additional duties on local educational agencies, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2)
(1)
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to require those electrical corporations with 250,000 or more customer accounts in the state, and those gas corporations with 400,000 or more customer accounts in the state, to fund as part of their energy efficiency portfolios the joint School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program, which consists of: (A) the School Reopening Ventilation and Energy Efficiency Verification and Repair Program (SRVEVR Program) to award grants to local educational agencies to reopen schools with functional ventilation systems that are tested, adjusted, and, if necessary or cost effective, repaired, upgraded, or replaced to increase efficiency and performance; and (B) the School Noncompliant Plumbing Fixture and Appliance Program (SNPFA Program) to provide grants to state agencies and local educational agencies to replace noncompliant plumbing fixtures, as defined, and noncompliant appliances, as defined, that fail to meet water efficiency standards and waste potable water and the energy used to convey that water with water-conserving plumbing fixtures and appliances.Existing law requires the PUC to require those utilities to fund the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program by allocating their energy efficiency budgets for program years 2021, 2022, and 2023 in specified amounts and requires all funds allocated to be spent or returned to each utility by December 1, 2026. Existing law requires, for each program year, that 75% of these moneys are allocated to the SRVEVR Program and that 25% of these moneys are allocated to the SNPFA Program. Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (Energy Commission) to ensure that moneys from each utility for the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program are used for projects located in the service territory of that utility from which the moneys are received and authorizes the Energy Commission to set application and encumbrance deadlines to ensure that the reversion of funds to each utility occurs by December 1, 2026. Existing law repeals the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program on January 1, 2027.
This bill would revise and recast various definitions for purposes of the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program, including, among others, by defining “noncompliant appliance” to additionally include a commercial propane, natural gas, or oil water heater. The bill would extend the date by which all funds allocated pursuant to the program are required to be spent or returned to each utility by December 1, 2030, as specified. The bill would authorize the Energy Commission to set application and encumbrance deadlines to ensure that the reversion of these funds occurs instead by December 1, 2030. The bill would additionally authorize the Energy Commission to establish the timing of grant funding, as specified. The bill would require, for the first 2 program years, that 75% of these moneys are allocated to the SRVEVR Program and that 25% of these moneys are allocated to the SNPFA Program. The bill would, after the first 2 program years, instead authorize the Energy Commission to reallocate remaining moneys between the SRVEVR and SNPFA programs based on need. The bill would instead repeal these provisions on January 1, 2031.
Under existing law, the moneys in the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program Fund are continuously appropriated. By extending the term of a continuous appropriation, the bill would make an appropriation.
(3)
(2)
Existing law requires the Energy Commission, until March 1, 2027, to annually submit a report to the relevant policy committees of the Legislature and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee describing programmatic activities and spending pursuant to the School Energy Efficiency Stimulus Program, as specified.
This bill would extend the above-described annual reporting requirement to require that report until March 1, 2031.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act is a crime.
