WHEREAS, recent power outages have levied enormous costs, the threat of grid disruption is not going away, there is an inherent vulnerability in transmitting large volumes of energy over long distances, transmission networks will always be subject to disruption by natural and human (negligence, terrorism) elements, dramatically declining costs for solar and storage have changed the economics of distributed energy, and ensuring power for critical facilities is a paramount public safety priority to protect the health and well-being of California’s citizens; and

WHEREAS, new employment opportunities from substantial grid modernization programs could be created not only for the labor workforce currently employed by utilities, but for other skilled workers looking for a steady job offering prevailing wages and benefits, and PG&E’s bankruptcy means that many jobs associated with PG&E are at risk, and one way to ensure these jobs remain viable is through redeployment in a massive effort to build energy resilient infrastructure at tens of thousands of critical facilities located throughout California, most of which are public facilities which would appropriately be subject to labor agreements; and

WHEREAS, relevant microgrid pilot project experience funded by the CEC could be rapidly replicated and up-scaled, building upon lessons learned from the existing California Energy Commission (CEC)- funded pilot projects, as well as the almost 2,000 microgrids currently operating in the United States, and this modernization effort can start at critical facilities in low income and disadvantaged communities in high fire threat districts that are likely to experience future power shutoffs, expanding upon priority criteria already developed by the CPUC for the Self Generation Incentive Program (SGIP), and community microgrids can be optimally implemented through a proposed local energy resiliency planning methodology called Advanced Community Energy, integrating local government general planning and distribution energy planning in a fundamentally new way;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Sonoma County Democratic Party urges our town councils, county supervisors and state legislators to research and incentivize the development of community microgrids; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Sonoma County Democratic Party calls for passage of legislation to establish a state program to provide funding, technical expertise, best practices and local capacity building to help all cities and counties plan and implement local Advanced Community Energy (ACE) systems, including community microgrids.

Resolution adopted by the Sonoma County Democratic Party on December 10, 2019

WHEREAS the climate scientists represented in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have made clear that what humans do in the next 11-12 years will determine if we and our planet’s unique biodiversity survive, and the County has passed a Resolution acknowledging the Climate Emergency (September 2019); and

WHEREAS trees, woodlands, and forest offer one of the best means by which we take carbon out of the atmosphere and keep it stored in the ground and trees grow relatively slowly; and according to William Moomaw, doctor of physical chemistry at M.I.T. and author of five IPCC reports, “Standing forests are the only proven system that can remove and store vast amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere at the scale necessary to keep global temperature rise below 1.5 degrees Celsius this century. It is therefore essential to not only prevent further emissions from fossil fuels, deforestation, forest degradation, and bioenergy, but also to expand our forests’ capacity to remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it long-term. If we halted deforestation, protected existing forests, and expanded and restored degraded forests, we could reduce annual emissions by 75 percent in the next half a century;” and

WHEREAS there is currently a request before the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to pass a temporary “time out” on significant “county-approved” permits and applications (not including fire safe efforts occurring around individual homes and cities) that propose to remove trees in large numbers;

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED the Sonoma County Democratic Party urges the County Board of Supervisors to take the next logical step before the end of the year and call for a temporary “time out” on significant tree removal proposals until such time as the update of the Tree Protection Ordinance is completed.

Resolution adopted by the Sonoma County Democratic Party on November 12, 2019

WHEREAS, since the passage of Proposition 13 in 1978, cities and counties have faced significant limitations in their main source of funding, the property tax; and

WHEREAS, while the intent of Proposition 13 is to help homeowners, loopholes in the system have permitted major commercial and industrial properties to avoid reassessment, a windfall to commercial property owners at the expense of vital public services, and

WHEREAS, estimates by academic researchers at USC have identified that reassessing commercial property will bring $11.4 billion in property taxes to cities, counties, special districts, and schools and nearly 80% of the revenue will come from just 8% of large properties, owned by corporations and wealthy investors, many of them out-of-state; and

BE IT RESOLVED that the San Francisco Democratic Central Committee support the Schools and Local Communities Funding Act already qualified for the November 2020 ballot that will establish the regular and fair reassessment of commercial and industrial property to market value while protecting small businesses and maintaining Proposition 13 protections for all residential properties including homeowners and renters; and

THEREFORE BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Democratic Central Committee of San Francisco will communicate this position to Democratic elected officials and delegates to the California Democratic Party Convention.

Resolution endorsed by the Sonoma County Democratic Party on May 14, 2019