SECTIONS 3300-3304 - California Statutes

PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE

SECTION 3300-3304

3300. The Legislature finds and declares that in order to furnish
the citizens of California with reliable, affordable electrical
power, to ensure sufficient power reserves, to assure stability and
rationality in California's electricity market, to encourage energy
efficiency and conservation as well as the use of renewable energy
resources, and to protect the public health, welfare, and safety, the
state needs to finance, purchase, lease, own, operate, acquire, or
otherwise provide financial assistance for public and private
facilities for the generation and transmission of electricity and for
renewable energy, energy efficiency, and conservation programs.

3301. This division shall be known and may be cited as the
California Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority Act.

3302. As used in this division, unless the context otherwise
requires, the following terms have the following meanings:
(a) "Act" means the California Consumer Power and Conservation
Financing Authority Act.
(b) "Authority" means the California Consumer Power and
Conservation Financing Authority established pursuant to Section 3320
and any board, commission, department, or officer succeeding to the
functions thereof, or to whom the powers conferred upon the authority
by this division shall be given by law.
(c) "Board" means the Board of Directors of the California
Consumer Power and Conservation Financing Authority.
(d) "Bond purchase agreement" means a contractual agreement
executed between the authority and an underwriter or underwriters
and, where appropriate, a participating party, whereby the authority
agrees to sell bonds issued pursuant to this division.
(e) "Bonds" means bonds, including structured, senior, and
subordinated bonds or other securities; loans; notes, including bond
revenue or grant anticipation notes; certificates of indebtedness;
commercial paper; floating rate and variable maturity securities; and
any other evidences of indebtedness or ownership, including
certificates of participation or beneficial interest, asset backed
certificates, or lease-purchase or installment purchase agreements,
whether taxable or excludable from gross income for state and federal
income taxation purposes.
(f) "Cost," as applied to a program, project, or portion thereof
financed under this division, means all or any part of the cost of
construction, improvement, repair, reconstruction, renovation, and
acquisition of all lands, structures, improved or unimproved real or
personal property, rights, rights-of-way, franchises, licenses,
easements, and interests acquired or used for a project; the cost of
demolishing or removing or relocating any buildings or structures on
land so acquired, including the cost of acquiring any lands to which
the buildings or structures may be moved; the cost of all machinery
and equipment; financing charges; the costs of any environmental
mitigation; the costs of issuance of bonds or other indebtedness;
interest prior to, during, and for a period after, completion of the
project, as determined by the authority; provisions for working
capital; reserves for principal and interest; reserves for reduction
of costs for loans or other financial assistance; reserves for
maintenance, extension, enlargements, additions, replacements,
renovations, and improvements; and the cost of architectural,
engineering, financial, appraisal, and legal services, plans,
specifications, estimates, administrative expenses, and other
expenses necessary or incidental to determining the feasibility of
any project, enterprise, or program or incidental to the completion
or financing of any project or program.
(g) "Enterprise" means a revenue-producing improvement, building,
system, plant, works, facilities, or undertaking used for or useful
for the generation or production of electric energy for lighting,
heating, and power for public or private uses. Enterprise includes,
but is not limited to, all parts of the enterprise, all appurtenances
to it, lands, easements, rights in land, water rights, contract
rights, franchises, buildings, structures, improvements, equipment,
and facilities appurtenant or relating to the enterprise.
(h) "Financial assistance" in connection with a project,
enterprise or program, includes, but is not limited to, any
combination of grants, loans, the proceeds of bonds issued by the
authority, insurance, guarantees or other credit enhancements or
liquidity facilities, and contributions of money, property, labor, or
other things of value, as may be approved by resolution of the
board; the purchase or retention of authority bonds, the bonds of a
participating party for their retention or for sale by the authority,
or the issuance of authority bonds or the bonds of a special purpose
trust used to fund the cost of a project or program for which a
participating party is directly or indirectly liable, including, but
not limited to, bonds, the security for which is provided in whole or
in part pursuant to the powers granted by this division; bonds for
which the authority has provided a guarantee or enhancement; or any
other type of assistance determined to be appropriate by the
authority.
(i) "Fund" means the California Consumer Power and Conservation
Financing Authority Fund.
(j) "Loan agreement" means a contractual agreement executed
between the authority and a participating party that provides that
the authority will loan funds to the participating party and that the
participating party will repay the principal and pay the interest
and redemption premium, if any, on the loan.
(k) "Participating party" means either of the following:
(1) Any person, company, corporation, partnership, firm, federally
recognized California Indian tribe, or other entity or group of
entities, whether organized for profit or not for profit, engaged in
business or operations within the state and that applies for
financial assistance from the authority for the purpose of
implementing a project or program in a manner prescribed by the
authority.
(2) Any subdivision of the state or local government, including,
but not limited to, departments, agencies, commissions, cities,
counties, nonprofit corporations, special districts, assessment
districts, and joint powers authorities within the state or any
combination of these subdivisions, that has, or proposes to acquire,
an interest in a project, or that operates or proposes to operate a
program under Section 3365, and that makes application to the
authority for financial assistance in a manner prescribed by the
authority.
(l) "Program" means a program that provides financial assistance,
as provided in Article 6 (commencing with Section 3365).
(m) "Project" means plants, facilities, equipment, appliances,
structures, expansions, and improvements within the state that serve
the purposes of this division as approved by the authority, and all
activities and expenses necessary to initiate and complete those
projects described in Article 5 (commencing with Section 3350) and
Article 7 (commencing with Section 3368), of Chapter 3.
(n) "Revenues" means all receipts, purchase payments, loan
repayments, lease payments, rents, fees and charges, and all other
income or receipts derived by the authority from an enterprise, or by
the authority or a participating party from any other financing
arrangement undertaken by the authority or a participating party,
including, but not limited to, all receipts from a bond purchase
agreement, and any income or revenue derived from the investment of
any money in any fund or account of the authority or a participating
party.
(o) "State" means the State of California.

3304. Any action taken pursuant to this division is exempt from the
Administrative Procedure Act, as defined in Section 11370 of the
Government Code.