Sacramento – Yesterday, the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy passed AB 523 on a vote of 9-3. The bill requires the California Energy Commission to allocate at least 25% of the money used for the deployment of renewable technologies to be used in disadvantaged communities and another 10% to be used in low-income communities.
“For too long disadvantaged and low income communities have not benefited from the success of the green economy” said Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes. “AB 523 mandates equity in investment, ensuring communities like my own will not be ignored.”
In December 2011, the CPUC established the EPIC fund with the purpose of investing in research projects as described in their 2016 report, “create and advance new energy solutions, foster regional innovation, and bring ideas from the lab to the marketplace.”
AB 523 will be heard next and voted upon on the Assembly floor. For more information on the bill, click here.
Assemblymember Eloise Gómez Reyes represents Assembly District 47 which includes the cities of Fontana, Rialto, Colton, Grand Terrace, San Bernardino and the unincorporated areas of Muscoy and Bloomington.
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Contact: Galen Dobbins, (916) 319-2047, galen.dobbins@asm.ca.gov