| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to a study of alternative energy |
| 3 | resources; providing legislative findings; requiring the |
| 4 | Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida to contract |
| 5 | with a professional organization to study an alternative |
| 6 | energy policy for the state and develop a renewable energy |
| 7 | and economic development investment plan; setting forth |
| 8 | the subjects to be studied by the contracting |
| 9 | organization; requiring that the contracting organization |
| 10 | submit a final report to the Governor, the President of |
| 11 | the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of |
| 12 | Representatives by a specified date; providing an |
| 13 | effective date. |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Section 1. Strategy for promoting alternative energy |
| 18 | resources.- |
| 19 | (1)(a) The Legislature finds that the energy industry in |
| 20 | the United States and throughout the industrialized world is |
| 21 | moving toward the use of cleaner alternative energy sources, |
| 22 | such as wind, solar, biomass, and geothermal, which reduce the |
| 23 | emission of pollutants and carbon dioxide, as well as reduce |
| 24 | dependence on imported fossil fuels. The Legislature also finds |
| 25 | that other states have taken steps to hasten this shift to |
| 26 | alternative energy sources, using a variety of incentives, |
| 27 | regulations, and other policy tools to stimulate alternative |
| 28 | energy resource activities for both environmental and economic |
| 29 | reasons, principally job creation. |
| 30 | (b) The Legislature finds that this state offers tax |
| 31 | exemptions to buyers and owners of alternative energy equipment |
| 32 | but other incentive programs in the state are fragmented and are |
| 33 | mostly developed and implemented by local counties or private |
| 34 | utilities. The Legislature finds that if an effective statewide |
| 35 | alternative energy policy were implemented to encourage the |
| 36 | adoption of alternative energy resources, the result could |
| 37 | simultaneously increase the state's renewable energy generation |
| 38 | capacity and create jobs for residents of this state. |
| 39 | (2) As a part of the efforts to design an effective |
| 40 | alternative energy resource policy for the state, the |
| 41 | Legislature intends that, subject to available resources, the |
| 42 | Century Commission for a Sustainable Florida shall contract with |
| 43 | SRI International to study an alternative energy policy for the |
| 44 | state and develop a renewable energy and economic development |
| 45 | investment plan. For the study, SRI International shall: |
| 46 | (a) Review all locally available literature, including SRI |
| 47 | International's in-house research and databases, to lay out the |
| 48 | range of alternative energy policy and program options, focusing |
| 49 | on each option's relative merits and limitations. |
| 50 | (b) Examine the alternative energy policies of other |
| 51 | states or regions which encourage alternative energy use, and |
| 52 | assess the policies or programs that are in place. In order to |
| 53 | distinguish and examine the more effective policies, SRI |
| 54 | International shall gather data on several benchmark states that |
| 55 | exhibit best practices in alternative energy policy. |
| 56 | (c) After identifying the different policy approaches used |
| 57 | to promote alternative energy, evaluate the details of the |
| 58 | approaches that have been the most successful for stimulating |
| 59 | investment in and adoption of alternative energy resources. |
| 60 | (d) Conduct interviews with stakeholders in the |
| 61 | development of an alternative energy policy to discuss and |
| 62 | solicit feedback regarding various policy and program options |
| 63 | for an alternative energy policy. |
| 64 | (3) SRI International shall submit a final report to the |
| 65 | Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the |
| 66 | House of Representatives by January 15, 2011. The final report |
| 67 | must include: |
| 68 | (a) Summaries of the interviews. |
| 69 | (b) An analysis of the alternative energy policies of the |
| 70 | other states. |
| 71 | (c) An analysis of the alternative energy policies of the |
| 72 | State of Florida. |
| 73 | (d) A description of the basic structure and optional |
| 74 | parts of an alternative energy plan for use in this state. |
| 75 | (e) An initial set of recommendations for consideration |
| 76 | and implementation by the Governor and Legislature. |
| 77 |
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| 78 | The Legislature intends that the report recommend a set of well- |
| 79 | designed, actionable, and appropriate policies based on SRI |
| 80 | International's research to promote alternative energy and |
| 81 | statewide job growth in this state. In particular, the |
| 82 | recommendations should include whether incentive programs or |
| 83 | regulatory requirements should be implemented and how such |
| 84 | efforts can be integrated into existing alternative energy |
| 85 | research being conducted at Florida universities. |
| 86 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2010. |