NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1168 REVISED 02/22/2021
SPONSOR: Paulin TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law and the tax law, in
relation to establishing a carbon dioxide emissions price for electric
generation from carbon-based fuel and creating a carbon dioxide emis-
sions fund
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
To establish a carbon dioxide emissions price to be used in the feder-
ally designated electric bulk system operator's proposed carbon pricing
mechanism for the wholesale competitive markets and distribute the
revenue to low-income individuals and communities and to support mass
transit.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 provides legislative findings.
Section 2 amends the environmental conservation law to provide that the
social cost of carbon established for use by state agencies shall be
taken into account in carbon pricing mechanism programs in New York
State.
Section 3 amends the tax law to add a new article 12-B. 289-g sets forth
definitions. 289-h directs the department of environmental conservation
(DEC)to determine and establish a carbon dioxide emissions price and
transmit such price to the federally designated electric bulk system
operator in New York State for use in its proposal to introduce a carbon
pricing mechanism into the wholesale competitive markets, thereby
conveying support by the State of New York for the bulk system operator
to finalize the carbon pricing mechanism and submit it to the federal
energy regulatory commission (FERC) for approval.
289-i establishes the carbon dioxide emissions fund and sets forth how
the revenue in such fund shall be distributed, with sixty percent of
such revenue distributed to low-income individuals and to support the
transition to renewable energy and improve climate change adaptation in
disadvantaged communities. The remaining forty percent will be used to
support mass transit to reduce carbon emissions.
289-j authorizes the department of taxation, in coordination with DEC
and the department of public service, to promulgate rules and regu-
lations as necessary to implement this act.
Section 4 provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
With the passage of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act
(CLCPA), New York has established nation-leading climate change goals,
including the requirement that 100% of electricity consumed in the state
will be derived from renewable resources by 2040. Under the CLCPA, the
department of environmental conservation (DEC) will establish a social
cost of carbon for use by state agencies. Alongside these state
efforts, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), has intro-
duced a first-in-the nation proposal to incorporate a carbon pricing
mechanism into New York's wholesale competitive electricity markets.
This bill would require the DEC's social cost of carbon to be considered
in carbon pricing mechanism programs in New York, so that its use is not
limited to state programs. This will help to align state and private
sector efforts and encourage a holistic approach to meeting the state's
ambitious climate goals.
Importantly, this bill would require DEC to determine and establish a
carbon dioxide emissions price to be used by the NYISO in its proposal
to introduce a carbon pricing mechanism into the competitive wholesale
electricity markets. NYISO's proposal must be approved by:the federal
energy regulatory commission (FERC), and state support of the proposal
is required to move forward with the FERC approval process. The bill
explicitly states that transmitting this carbon dioxide emissions price
to the NYISO for use in its carbon pricing mechanism will convey the
necessary state support to allow NYISO to submit its proposal for
approval by FERC.
The bill establishes the carbon dioxide emissions fund to which revenues
from the carbon pricing mechanism will be transferred and sets forth the
way in which the fund shall be distributed. Sixty percent of the fund
will be distributed to benefit low-income individuals and disadvantaged
communities. Specifically, forty percent of revenue will be given
directly to low-income residents in the form of tax credits. By provid-
ing this money in the form of tax credits rather than a credit or offset
on utility bills, low-income individuals who rent their home and do not
directly pay a utility bill will still receive the money.
Twenty percent of the fund will be used to support the transition to
renewable energy and improve climate change adaptation in economically
disadvantaged communities, including subsidies for renewable energy.
Residents of economically disadvantaged communities are already exposed
to higher levels of environmental hazards, and these same communities
face a disproportionate impact from climate change. At the same time,
government subsidy programs for renewable energy are expected to be
phased out over the next several years as the state shifts to carbon
pricing as the primary method to encourage renewable energy development.
It is important that subsidies continue to be available to encourage the
development of renewable energy in economically disadvantaged areas
specifically.
The remaining forty percent of the fund will be used to support mass
transit to reduce carbon emissions. In a 2019 report, the Citizen's
Budget Commission found that one-third of New York's total greenhouse
gas emissions were from the transportation sector
(https://cbcny.org/research/gettinggreener :-:text=In%20contrast9620to%
20a11%20other,from%2020.0%20to%2010.2=:20MM TCO2e).
An investment in mass transit is critical if New York is to reach its
greenhouse. gas emissions reduction goals. Without a reliable mass tran-
sit alternative, more vehicles will be on the roads. Mass transit moves
more people at once and heavy rail transit such as subways produce on
average 76% lower greenhouse gas emissions per passenger mile than an
average single-occupancy vehicle, according to the Federal Transit
Administration.
This legislation will allow the carbon pricing proposal to move forward
in the state's wholesale competitive electricity markets, while ensuring
that the money generated is directed to the residents and communities
most impacted by climate change and used to further decrease greenhouse
gas emissions.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
A.11094, 2020, referred to environmental conservation.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1168
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 7, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN, BURDICK -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Environmental Conservation
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the tax law, in
relation to establishing a carbon dioxide emissions price for electric
generation from carbon-based fuel and creating a carbon dioxide emis-
sions fund
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative findings and declaration. The legislature here-
2 by finds and declares that:
3 1. As part of the 2020 state budget, the legislature passed the accel-
4 erated renewable energy growth and community benefit act to advance
5 renewable energy siting and establish tools for achieving the nation-
6 leading climate change goals of the climate leadership and community
7 protection act (CLCPA).
8 2. a. The CLCPA passed by the legislature and signed by Governor Cuomo
9 in 2019 codified into law the following requirements:
10 i. 70% of electricity delivered in New York state must be derived from
11 renewable resources by 2030;
12 ii. 100% of the electricity consumed in New York state must be derived
13 from zero-emissions resources by 2040;
14 iii. 9,000 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind installed by 2035;
15 iv. 6,000 MW of distributed solar energy resources installed by 2025;
16 v. 3,000 MW of energy storage installed by 2030; and
17 vi. Reducing building end-use energy consumption by 185 trillion Brit-
18 ish thermal units by 2025.
19 b. The CLCPA created a 22-member climate action council to establish
20 an implementation plan for how the state will achieve these goals.
21 3. The CLCPA amended the environmental conservation law by adding a
22 new section 75-0113 to establish a social cost of carbon for use by
23 state agencies.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD02148-01-1
A. 1168 2
1 4. Entities other than state agencies have been considering how to
2 account for the value of carbon dioxide emissions in their business
3 plans and operations in light of the CLCPA and the accelerated renewable
4 energy growth and community benefit act. For example, the federally-de-
5 signated electric bulk system operator in New York state has developed a
6 proposal to introduce a carbon pricing mechanism into the competitive
7 wholesale electricity markets. Encouraging the incorporation of the
8 social cost of carbon established under the CLCPA into a carbon price by
9 entities beyond state agencies would facilitate programs to incorporate
10 the social cost of carbon in energy and other sectors of New York's
11 economy that emit greenhouse gases.
12 § 2. Subdivision 1 of section 75-0113 of the environmental conserva-
13 tion law, as added by chapter 106 of the laws of 2019, is amended to
14 read as follows:
15 1. No later than one year after the effective date of this article,
16 the department, in consultation with the New York state energy research
17 and development authority, shall establish a social cost of carbon for
18 use by state agencies, and shall be taken into account in carbon pricing
19 mechanism programs in New York state, expressed in terms of dollars per
20 ton of carbon dioxide equivalent.
21 § 3. The tax law is amended by adding a new article 12-B to read as
22 follows:
23 ARTICLE 12-B
24 CARBON DIOXIDE EMISSIONS PRICE FOR ELECTRIC GENERATION FROM CARBON-BASED
25 FUEL
26 Section 289-g. Definitions.
27 289-h. Determination and establishment of carbon dioxide emis-
28 sions price.
29 289-i. Carbon dioxide emissions fund.
30 289-j. Regulations.
31 § 289-g. Definitions. For the purposes of this article, the following
32 terms shall have the following meanings:
33 1. "Carbon-based fuel" means coal, natural gas, renewable biomass,
34 petroleum products, and any other product that emits carbon dioxide,
35 methane, nitrous oxide, or other greenhouse gases when combusted, and
36 that is used for fuel for the purposes of producing electric energy.
37 2. "Carbon-generated electricity" means electric energy produced using
38 a carbon-based fuel.
39 3. "Carbon dioxide equivalent" means a unit of measure denoting the
40 amount of emissions from a greenhouse gas, expressed as the amount of
41 carbon dioxide by weight that produces the same global warming impact.
42 4. "Carbon dioxide emissions price" means a price that incorporates
43 the social cost of carbon established by the department of environmental
44 conservation pursuant to subdivision one of section 75-0113 of the envi-
45 ronmental conservation law on each ton of carbon dioxide equivalency
46 emitted in the production of electric energy.
47 § 289-h. Determination and establishment of carbon dioxide emissions
48 price. 1. The department of environmental conservation shall determine
49 and establish a carbon dioxide emissions price. The department of envi-
50 ronmental conservation may also obtain information necessary for the
51 determination of the price from other state or federal agencies or the
52 federally designated electric bulk system operator.
53 2. Upon determining and establishing the carbon dioxide emissions
54 price, the department of environmental conservation shall transmit such
55 price to the federally designated electric bulk system operator in New
56 York state for use in its proposal to introduce a carbon pricing mech-
A. 1168 3
1 anism into competitive wholesale electricity markets, thereby conveying
2 support by the state of New York for the bulk system operator to final-
3 ize the carbon pricing mechanism and submit it to the federal energy
4 regulatory commission for approval. The amount of charges paid for
5 allowances auctioned under the regional greenhouse gas initiative shall
6 be deducted from the price determined pursuant to this section.
7 3. The department of environmental conservation shall be authorized to
8 develop any rule or regulation necessary to determine and establish the
9 carbon dioxide emissions price authorized under this article.
10 4. Notwithstanding any general or special law to the contrary, the
11 price authorized under this section shall not be paid by any generator
12 of carbon-based electricity if such requirement is superseded by federal
13 law or regulation.
14 § 289-i. Carbon dioxide emissions fund. 1. The department, in coordi-
15 nation with the department of environmental conservation, shall estab-
16 lish the carbon dioxide emissions fund, and the department of environ-
17 mental conservation's office of climate change shall serve as the fund's
18 administrator. The department of environmental conservation shall depos-
19 it into such fund all revenues transferred to it by load serving enti-
20 ties, to the extent that such revenues are provided to such entities by
21 the federally designated electric bulk system operator in New York state
22 in accordance with the implementation of section two hundred eighty-
23 nine-h of this article. No such revenues shall fund government oper-
24 ations of New York state, other than to pay for reasonable administra-
25 tive costs as provided under subdivision two of this section.
26 2. The office of climate change shall distribute sixty percent of all
27 carbon dioxide emissions price revenues as follows: (a) forty percent
28 shall be returned to very low to moderate income residents of the state
29 in the form of tax credits in order to offset the cost of the carbon
30 dioxide emissions price. The amount of such credit shall be based on
31 estimates and averages of expense and consumption trends for very low to
32 moderate income residents determined by the office of climate change in
33 conjunction with the department of public service in accordance with
34 regulations pursuant to section two hundred eighty-nine-j of this arti-
35 cle. Such credit shall be progressively issued to very low to moderate
36 income residents. Such income categories shall mean those with income
37 below fifty percent for very low income residents, income between fifty
38 and eighty percent for low income residents, and income between eighty-
39 one and one hundred fifteen percent for moderate income residents, of
40 the area median income as determined by the department of housing and
41 urban development; and (b) twenty percent shall be used to support the
42 transition to renewable energy and improve climate change adaptation in
43 disadvantaged communities as defined in subdivision five of section
44 75-0101 of the environmental conservation law, including but not limited
45 to payments and subsidies for renewable energy, energy conservation and
46 efficiency measures, improvements in infrastructure, protection of low-
47 lying areas including coastlines, and emergency responses to extreme
48 weather events.
49 3. The office of climate change shall distribute the remaining forty
50 percent of revenues of such fund to support mass transit to reduce
51 carbon emissions.
52 § 289-j. Regulations. The department, in coordination with the
53 department of environmental conservation and the department of public
54 service, shall promulgate such rules and regulations as shall be neces-
55 sary to implement the provisions of this article.
56 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
