Establishes energy efficiency measures by the public service commission and NYSERDA including requiring utilities to hire and train employees who are from priority populations or living in areas designated as environmental justice communities.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2655
SPONSOR: Hunter TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the public service law and the public authorities law,
in relation to establishing energy efficiency measures by the public
service commission and the New York energy research and development
authority
PURPOSE:
The proposed legislation would help provide equity and jobs by prior-
itizing communities most likely to be affected by this State's increase
climate-related initiatives.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1. Amends the public service law by adding a new section 66-u.
The public service commission is directed to establish an energy effi-
ciency program for utilities, in order to stimulate the growth and
adoption of more efficient use of energy and to promote the hiring and
training of employees by such utilities. The commission will develop,
oversee and issue guidelines to be used as part of any energy efficiency
or utility program and will set requirements for the hiring of individ-
uals from priority populations.'
Section 2. Amends the public service law to outline reporting require-
ments when hiring within a priority population cannot be accomplished as
required by section 66-u of this article.
Section 3 provides a standard severability clause. Section 4 sets forth
the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
As New York moves forward to the clean energy demands of the future, it
is imperative that we are mindful of those residents whose livelihood
depends upon the currently dominant source of energy supply, addi-
tionally, we also must be conscious of those whose communities that will
be most affected by the new energy rules and regulations. This bill aims
to provide equity and jobs to the people in those communities.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022: A3996C - COMMITTED TO RULES
2020: A.10640
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
To be determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2655
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 26, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HUNTER, LUPARDO, CLARK, BURDICK, MITAYNES, MAMDA-
NI, KELLES, PHEFFER AMATO, FAHY, CARROLL, ANDERSON, FORREST, RIVERA,
REYES, GLICK, EPSTEIN, L. ROSENTHAL, SIMON, HEVESI, JACOBSON, BURGOS,
WALKER, DICKENS, COLTON, GUNTHER, GONZALEZ-ROJAS -- read once and
referred to the Committee on Energy
AN ACT to amend the public service law and the public authorities law,
in relation to establishing energy efficiency measures by the public
service commission and the New York energy research and development
authority
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The public service law is amended by adding a new section
2 66-u to read as follows:
3 § 66-u. Energy efficiency program. 1. As used in this section, the
4 following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "energy efficiency" means the reduction in overall energy use,
6 expressed as a percentage against a prior baseline of historical use, or
7 in British thermal units (BTUs). Energy efficiency shall include envi-
8 ronmentally beneficial electrification;
9 (b) "energy efficiency measure" means a particular good or practice
10 that provides an energy efficiency benefit;
11 (c) "environmentally beneficial electrification" means a replacement
12 of direct fossil fuel use with electricity such that the replacement
13 reduces overall emissions;
14 (d) "disadvantaged communities" shall have the same meaning as subdi-
15 vision five of section 75-0101 of the environmental conservation law;
16 (e) "residential building" means a building having primary use as a
17 domicile;
18 (f) "small commercial building" means a building operated by a busi-
19 ness or not-for-profit organization with one hundred employees or fewer;
20 provided they (i) own their building or (ii) lease or manage all or part
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06250-01-3
A. 2655 2
1 of the building and have a release from the building owner to apply for
2 financing through the program; and
3 (g) "priority populations" means groups that include veterans, indi-
4 viduals with disabilities, low-income individuals, unemployed power
5 plant workers, previously incarcerated individuals, persons aged eigh-
6 teen through twenty-four participating in work preparedness training
7 programs, or residents of disadvantaged communities.
8 2. In order to stimulate the growth and adoption of a more efficient
9 use of energy in disadvantaged communities and to promote the hiring and
10 training of employees from disadvantaged communities and priority popu-
11 lations, the commission shall develop, oversee and issue guidelines to
12 be used as part of any energy efficiency proceeding or utility program,
13 which shall include the following elements:
14 (a) any job training funding administered by utilities for energy
15 efficiency implementation shall serve individuals from priority popu-
16 lations or trainees living in disadvantaged communities, at a minimum
17 proportional to these areas' percentage share of the total residential
18 housing and small commercial building stock within the state;
19 (b) beginning three years after the effective date of this paragraph,
20 installers, technicians, crew leaders, construction workers and appren-
21 tices hired for implementation of utility energy efficiency programs
22 shall be from priority populations or disadvantaged communities, at a
23 minimum proportional to these areas' percentage share of the total resi-
24 dential housing and small commercial building stock within the state, or
25 from other priority populations and disadvantaged communities within one
26 hundred miles of target work sites; and
27 (c) beginning three years after the effective date of this paragraph,
28 require that any residential and/or small business energy efficiency
29 program funding used directly for energy efficiency measures adminis-
30 tered by utilities shall be allocated to disadvantaged communities,
31 proportional to these areas' percentage share of the total residential
32 housing and small commercial building stock within the state.
33 3. (a) In any calendar year that a utility is unable to meet the job
34 training or hiring requirements pursuant to subdivision two of this
35 section, such utility shall file with the public service commission a
36 detailed report describing the activities and efforts made to
37 comply with such requirements, including but not limited to information
38 about outreach conducted in disadvantaged communities and among priori-
39 ty populations and areas where the utility publicized job and training
40 opportunities. The utility shall also include a draft plan for how it
41 will work with community partners and stakeholders to build up the qual-
42 ified applicant pool to comply with such requirements during the next
43 calendar year. The plan will be subject to a sixty-day public
44 comment period after which a final plan that incorporates the public
45 comments will be filed with the commission.
46 (b) The commission shall conduct a periodic performance audit ensuring
47 that disadvantaged communities have access to the utility workforce
48 development training, jobs, and opportunities pursuant to this section.
49 The commission shall publish the results of each performance audit on
50 the commission's website.
51 (c) The commission shall have the authority to adjudicate complaints
52 and conduct investigations for violation of this section in the manner
53 provided by the provisions of this article and shall have the authority
54 to enforce the provisions of this section in accordance with section
55 twenty-six of this chapter.
A. 2655 3
1 § 2. The public authorities law is amended by adding a new section
2 1885 to read as follows:
3 § 1885. Efficiency requirements. 1. As used in this section, the
4 following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "energy efficiency" means the reduction in overall energy use,
6 expressed as a percentage against a prior baseline of historical use, or
7 in British Thermal Units (BTUs). Energy efficiency shall include envi-
8 ronmentally beneficial electrification;
9 (b) "environmentally beneficial electrification" means a replacement
10 of direct fossil fuel use with electricity such that the replacement
11 reduces overall emissions;
12 (c) "disadvantaged communities" shall have the same meaning as subdi-
13 vision five of section 75-0101 of the environmental conservation law;
14 (d) "authority" means the New York state energy research and develop-
15 ment authority;
16 (e) "small commercial building" means a building operated by a busi-
17 ness or not-for-profit organization with one hundred employees or fewer,
18 provided such business or not-for-profit organization (i) own the build-
19 ing; or (ii) lease or manage all or part of the building and have a
20 release from the building owner to apply for financing through the
21 authority;
22 (f) "priority population" means groups that include veterans, Native
23 Americans, individuals with disabilities, low-income individuals, unem-
24 ployed power plant workers, previously incarcerated individuals, persons
25 aged eighteen through twenty-four participating in work preparedness
26 training programs, or residents of disadvantaged communities.
27 2. In order to stimulate the growth and adoption of a more efficient
28 use of energy in disadvantaged communities and to promote the equitable
29 distribution of energy efficiency benefits, the authority may allocate
30 funds to the non-energy related interventions in conjunction with energy
31 interventions, including but not limited to mold, lead, and asbestos
32 remediation pursuant to the recommendations of an integrated physical
33 needs assessment performed by the division of housing and community
34 renewal or other qualified agency; the authority shall further require
35 that:
36 (a) any program funding for the installation of end-use energy effi-
37 ciency measures administered by the authority with the goal of achieving
38 the one hundred eighty-five trillion BTUs of end-use energy below the
39 year two thousand twenty-five energy use forecast goal shall be allo-
40 cated to disadvantaged communities at a minimum proportional to such
41 areas' share of the state housing and small commercial building stock;
42 and
43 (b) any job training program funding administered by the authority
44 for energy efficiency implementation serve individuals from priority
45 populations or trainees living in disadvantaged communities proportional
46 to such areas' share of the state housing and small commercial building
47 stock; and
48 (c) employees hired for implementation of authority programs for ener-
49 gy efficiency implementation are from disadvantaged communities propor-
50 tional to these areas' share of the state housing and small commercial
51 building stock.
52 3. The authority shall include resource impacts, non-energy impacts,
53 distribution impacts and economic development impacts in any cost-bene-
54 fit analysis utilized in designing or implementing any energy efficiency
55 program initiated, updated, or revised subsequent to the effective date
56 of this section.
A. 2655 4
1 4. The authority shall publish on its website data on non-energy bene-
2 fits (NEBs) of home and building-scale energy efficiency programming as
3 evaluated by the authority in cost-benefit analyses.
4 5. The authority shall perform a geographic analysis within disadvan-
5 taged communities to map and identify where workforce opportunities and
6 gaps exist in energy efficiency and shall work with the existing work-
7 force development programs, union apprenticeships, community organiza-
8 tions and regional hubs to fund pre-apprenticeship programs and communi-
9 ty training for energy efficiency jobs based on the findings of such
10 analysis.
11 6. The authority shall measure tenant displacement rates and rent
12 increases incurred as a result of any energy efficiency funding received
13 under this section. The authority shall publish any findings on its
14 website and shall recommend to the legislature any necessary actions to
15 avoid the displacement of tenants as a result of the energy efficiency
16 funding received pursuant to this section.
17 § 3. Severability clause. If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivi-
18 sion, section or part of this act shall be adjudged by any court of
19 competent jurisdiction to be invalid, such judgment shall not affect,
20 impair, or invalidate the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in
21 its operation to the clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section
22 or part thereof directly involved in the controversy in which such judg-
23 ment shall have been rendered. It is hereby declared to be the intent of
24 the legislature that this act would have been enacted even if such
25 invalid provisions had not been included herein.
26 § 4. This act shall take effect one year after it shall have become a
27 law. Effective immediately, the addition, amendment and/or repeal of any
28 rule or regulation necessary for the implementation of this act on its
29 effective date are authorized to be made and completed on or before such
30 effective date.
