There is good news! Thanks to all your help, SB 1374 finally passed – restoring rooftop solar to schools and renters!!
(If you missed this issue, check it out here: https://indivisibleventura.org/2024/08/27/emergency-call-to-assemblymember-steve-bennett-yes-to-ca-sb-1374-help-schools/)
The bad news is that in the last three days of sessions, Governor Newsom has submitted six bills to pass with no vetting, no meetings, and no hearings. We don’t even know what’s in them and neither do most of our legislators. At least one, AB 3121 , has gathered experts’ opinions that it won’t work as advertised, and if fact, will harm those it professes to help.
Minimal call or email script to assemblymembers and state senators: I’m calling from [zip code] and I want [name of legislator] to vote “NO” on 6 last minute bills from the governor that have received no hearings and no vetting and were introduced in the last 3 days of session. In particular, please vote no on AB 3121 which seriously exacerbate inequities in California while giving another gift to investor-owned utility monopolies. Even with the best of intentions, hurried legislation can have terrible consequences. All these bills should come back next year and face proper vetting and public comment.
- State Assemblymember Steve Bennett: (CA-38): email, SAC (916) 319-2038, VTA (805) 485-4745
- State Senator Monique Limón (SD-19): email, SAC (916) 651-4019, SB (805) 965-0862, OX (805)988-1940
- Not your person? Don’t know who is? : findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov.
Deeper Dive
AB 3121 Asm Petrie-Norris: Energy “affordability” package (not affordable at all) Returns unspent program funds to ratepayers: Accelerates the application and encumbrance deadlines for the California Schools Healthy Air, Plumbing and Efficiency Program (CalSHAPE), returns unreserved Self-Generation Incentive Program (SGIP) and any unencumbered funds remaining in the Solar on Multifamily Affordable Housing (SOMAH) to residential and small business customers as part of the electric bill credits.
At a time when the rooftop solar market is already ruined and there is much less solar and battery storage, this bill will further decimate the industry. 17,000 lost jobs and 13 bankruptcies and counting.
This bill will particularly harm those who are most in need of energy resiliency and efficiency— renters in multi-family housing, non-profit housing developers, schools, rural communities, and many others that the state always – and rightly – claims it needs to support. These are the ones who need more tools to control their energy bills and protect themselves from blackouts.
If you want to address energy affordability, which you absolutely should, then hold the investor-owned utility monopoly accountable for the out-of-control spending that is the root of the problem to begin with. They are the problem and cause of exorbitant rates. Rooftop solar, batteries, and efficiency for schools are the solution. Don’t kill the solution.
The undersigned organizations opposing this bill were collected in a matter of hours, which underlies the serious issues that so many of your constituents have with this bill.
INDIVISIBLE VENTURA 