republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/ab-1979.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Renewable feed-in tariff: hydroelectric facilities."
description: "Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires every electrical corporation to file with the commission a standard tariff for electricity purchased from an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. Existing law requires that, in order to qualify for the tariff, the electric generation facility: (1) have an effective capacity of not more than 3 megawatts, subject to the authority of the commission to reduce this megawatt limitation, (2) be interconnected and operate in parallel with the electric transmission and distribution grid, (3) be strategically located and interconnected to the electrical transmission and distribution grid in a manner that optimizes the deliverability of electricity generated at the facility to load centers, and (4) meet the definition of an eligible renewable energy resource under the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The commission refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "AB 1979"
citation: "California AB 1979 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Renewable feed-in tariff: hydroelectric facilities."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Bigelow"]
version_count: 9
action_count: 31
vote_count: 7
first_action: "2016-02-16"
last_action: "2016-09-26"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/4bcb5940-e1fa-4d79-b78e-05e30eba5b0f"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979"
source_hash: "4904860b0cdcbe94ce2e55f957533807d1f986f16a028dc282716b5a1208c3bf"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California AB 1979 (20152016) — Renewable feed-in tariff: hydroelectric facilities.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires every electrical corporation to file with the commission a standard tariff for electricity purchased from an electric generation facility, as defined, that qualifies for the tariff, is owned and operated by a retail customer of the electrical corporation, and is located within the service territory of, and developed to sell electricity to, the electrical corporation. Existing law requires that, in order to qualify for the tariff, the electric generation facility: (1) have an effective capacity of not more than 3 megawatts, subject to the authority of the commission to reduce this megawatt limitation, (2) be interconnected and operate in parallel with the electric transmission and distribution grid, (3) be strategically located and interconnected to the electrical transmission and distribution grid in a manner that optimizes the deliverability of electricity generated at the facility to load centers, and (4) meet the definition of an eligible renewable energy resource under the California Renewables Portfolio Standard Program. The commission refers to this requirement as the renewable feed-in tariff.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **02/16/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197999INT)
2. **03/17/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197998AMD)
3. **04/11/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197997AMD)
4. **04/26/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197996AMD)
5. **05/23/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197995AMD)
6. **08/19/16 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197994AMD)
7. **09/26/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197992CHP)
8. **AB1979** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979)
9. **08/30/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160AB1979&version=20150AB197993ENR)

## Votes

- AB 1979 BIGELOW Assembly Third Reading — **72–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **20–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass as amended and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Be re-referred to the Committee on [Utilities and Commerce] — **11–0** (pass) · lower
- AB 1979 BIGELOW Concurrence in Senate Amendments — **80–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading AB1979 Bigelow By Hueso — **37–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass, but first be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **10–0** (pass) · upper

## Sponsors

- Bigelow — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-02-16** Read first time. To print. `reading-1`
- **2016-02-17** From printer. May be heard in committee March 18.
- **2016-03-17** Referred to Com. on W., P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2016-03-17** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on W., P., & W. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-03-28** Re-referred to Com. on W., P., & W. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-11** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. pursuant to Assembly Rule 96. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-11** From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on RLS. Read second time and amended. `reading-2, amendment-introduction, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-12** Re-referred to Com. on RLS. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-14** From committee: Be re-referred to Com. on U. & C. Re-referred. (Ayes 11. Noes 0.) (April 14). Re-referred to Com. on U. & C. `referral-committee, committee-passage`
- **2016-04-25** From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (April 20). `amendment-introduction, committee-passage, amendment-passage`
- **2016-04-26** Read second time and amended. `amendment-passage, reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-27** Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-11** From committee: Do pass. To Consent Calendar. (Ayes 20. Noes 0.) (May 11). `committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-05-12** Read second time. Ordered to Consent Calendar. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-05-19** From Consent Calendar.
- **2016-05-19** Ordered to third reading.
- **2016-05-23** Read third time and amended. Ordered to third reading. (Page 4887.) `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-27** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 72. Noes 0. Page 4955.) `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-05-27** In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. `reading-1`
- **2016-06-09** Referred to Com. on E., U., & C. `referral-committee`
- **2016-06-21** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 10. Noes 0.) (June 21). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `referral-committee, committee-passage-favorable, committee-passage`
- **2016-08-01** From committee: Be placed on second reading file pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage`
- **2016-08-02** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-19** Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading. `reading-3, amendment-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-22** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-08-23** Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 37. Noes 0. Page 5271.). `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-08-24** In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending. May be considered on or after August 26 pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.
- **2016-08-29** Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 80. Noes 0. Page 6353.). `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-09-06** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 5:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-26** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-26** Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 665, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/4bcb5940-e1fa-4d79-b78e-05e30eba5b0f`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).