republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20212022/sb-479.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Local Government Renewable Energy Self-Generation Program."
description: "Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The local government renewable energy self-generation program authorizes a local government to elect to have a bill credit applied to a designated benefiting account, as defined, for electricity exported to the electrical grid by an eligible renewable generating facility, as defined, and requires the commission to adopt a rate tariff for the benefiting account. The local government renewable energy self-generation program does not apply to an electrical corporation with 60,000 or fewer customer accounts in California."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20212022"
identifier: "SB 479"
citation: "California SB 479 (20212022)"
classification: ["bill"]
subjects: ["Local Government Renewable Energy Self-Generation Program."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Laird"]
version_count: 7
action_count: 26
vote_count: 6
first_action: "2021-02-17"
last_action: "2021-07-23"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/75904f75-1dd8-494d-8740-00e691bd4de1"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479"
source_hash: "dcf04ec751ae32798e78f9ab05b5e0ff03f45a5c1cd12f17063cb45556139a08"
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 SB 479 (20212022) — Local Government Renewable Energy Self-Generation Program.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. The local government renewable energy self-generation program authorizes a local government to elect to have a bill credit applied to a designated benefiting account, as defined, for electricity exported to the electrical grid by an eligible renewable generating facility, as defined, and requires the commission to adopt a rate tariff for the benefiting account. The local government renewable energy self-generation program does not apply to an electrical corporation with 60,000 or fewer customer accounts in California.

## Version chain

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

1. **02/17/21 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479&version=20210SB47999INT)
2. **03/05/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479&version=20210SB47998AMD)
3. **03/23/21 - Amended Senate** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479&version=20210SB47997AMD)
4. **06/03/21 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479&version=20210SB47996AMD)
5. **07/23/21 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479&version=20210SB47994CHP)
6. **SB479** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479)
7. **07/14/21 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=202120220SB479&version=20210SB47995ENR)

## Votes

- Do pass. To Consent Calendar. — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- Do pass and be re-referred to the Committee on [Appropriations] with recommendation: To Consent Calendar — **14–0** (pass) · lower
- 3rd Reading — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- Do pass as amended, but first amend, and re-refer to the Committee on [Appropriations] — **14–0** (pass) · upper
- Unfinished Business SB479 Laird Concurrence — **39–0** (pass) · upper
- SB 479 Laird Consent Calendar Second Day — **76–0** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Laird — primary (person)

## Timeline

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

- **2021-02-17** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2021-02-18** From printer. May be acted upon on or after March 20.
- **2021-02-22** Art. IV. Sec. 8(a) of the Constitution dispensed with.
- **2021-02-22** (Ayes 32. Noes 4.)
- **2021-02-22** Joint Rule 55 suspended. (Ayes 32. Noes 4. Page 272.)
- **2021-02-25** Referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `referral-committee`
- **2021-03-02** Set for hearing March 15.
- **2021-03-05** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on E., U. & C. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-22** From committee: Do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 14. Noes 0. Page 499.) (March 15). `amendment-passage, committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-03-23** Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `amendment-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-03-25** Set for hearing April 5.
- **2021-04-05** From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8. `committee-passage, reading-2`
- **2021-04-06** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-04-12** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 749.) Ordered to the Assembly. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-04-12** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2021-05-13** Referred to Com. on U. & E. `referral-committee`
- **2021-06-03** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on U. & E. `amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1, reading-2, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-17** From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. with recommendation: To consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 16). Re-referred to Com. on APPR. `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable, referral-committee`
- **2021-06-30** From committee: Do pass. Ordered to consent calendar. (Ayes 14. Noes 0.) (June 30). `committee-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-01** Read second time. Ordered to consent calendar. `reading-1, reading-2`
- **2021-07-08** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 2278.) Ordered to the Senate. `passage, reading-1, reading-3`
- **2021-07-08** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2021-07-12** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 39. Noes 0. Page 1903.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `amendment-passage, committee-passage-favorable`
- **2021-07-15** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 2 p.m.
- **2021-07-23** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2021-07-23** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 141, Statutes of 2021. `became-law`

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/75904f75-1dd8-494d-8740-00e691bd4de1`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).