Currents

An Energy Newsletter for Local Governments

Update on Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition

The Local Government Sustainable Energy Coalition (LGSEC) received its first signed MOU and check in March. Two other local governments and one COG are processing checks to join now. The LGSEC is a mechanism for local government representation before state agencies such as the California Public Utilities Commission, California Energy Commission and California Air Resources Board.

In their legislation implementation and regulation activities, state agencies set rules that impact local governments in one way or another, but seldom are local governments at the table as these rules are being made. Other groups, however, are well represented such as utilities, water agencies, railroads, and trade groups. The LGSEC is a way to provide input to these decisionmaking bodies with the chance to influence those decisions rather than having to react to them after they are adopted.

There is no entity currently providing this representation for local governments. The League of California Cities and California State Association of Counties focus their efforts on protecting the interests of cities and counties before the legislature. They do not have the time or resources to represent local governments before state agencies.

The LGSEC will be governed by a board comprised of local government members who will decide which proceedings to follow at the agencies. Topics we expect LGSEC will track include implementation of AB 32 (Global Warming Solutions Act), AB 117 (Community Choice Aggregation), and energy efficiency public goods charge funding.

To learn more about LGSEC, contact Pat Stoner (pstoner@lgc.org) or visit www.lgc.org/lgsec.

| Back | Next |