June 1, 2021 - SACRAMENTO – With a bipartisan 35-1 vote, the Senate last Friday, passed Senator Josh Becker’s bill to make it easier for owners to convert their property into electricity-powered homes and buildings.

“SB 68 is about reducing the barriers for people who are trying to help us achieve climate goals by reducing their use of fossil fuels in buildings and vehicles,” said Senator Becker, D-Peninsula and vice chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies. “Unfortunately, when people want to switch to electric heating, or to install vehicle chargers or energy storage equipment, they often face high costs and long delays. We need people to be making these changes, so we should make it a lot easier for them.”

The legislation attacks the barriers by supporting research and development efforts for technology that would make the move to clean-powered homes and buildings cheaper and easier, Senator Becker said. The bill also calls for the compilation and publication of best practices so that electrification can be accomplished more efficiently by all stakeholders involved in the process.

The senator and supporters of his climate legislation have a goal of helping California achieve one million electric buildings. “SB 68 is a critical part of our decarbonization plan,” Senator Becker said.

The Senate’s action on Friday sent the third of Senator Becker’s three climate bills to the Assembly for further consideration.

The others are:

• The low-carbon concrete bill, SB 596, which will help California slash the carbon footprint of concrete and its main ingredient, cement. The bill sets a goal of carbon neutrality for the concrete industry in California by 2045 and sets an interim target for a 40% reduction in emissions intensity by 2030 to spur near-term action.
• SB 771, which would give lower-income Californians a state sales tax break when replacing an older vehicle by purchasing a new or used electric or hybrid car under the Clean Cars 4 All program. The bill provides participants the added incentive of an exemption from the state portion of sales tax, while leaving the portion of sales tax that would go to local governments intact.
  Source: Senator Josh Becker