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Assembly advances bill to hold state‑funded EV chargers to reliability standards, opponents ask for caution over retroactive obligations
Summary
AB 1423 would require EV chargers installed with state grants prior to 2024 to meet upcoming CPUC reliability standards and would allow enforcement of those standards; industry groups and Electrify America warned the measure could conflict with existing legal agreements and impose retroactive obligations on operators
The Assembly Utilities and Energy Committee passed AB 1423 to the Appropriations Committee after debate among the bill’s author, electric‑vehicle advocates and network operators.
What the bill would do Assemblymember (author) described AB 1423 as a measure to protect drivers and taxpayers by requiring chargers that were installed with state grant money prior to 2024 to conform to the forthcoming reliability standards from the California Energy Commission (CEC). The bill would also allow for enforcement mechanisms tied to the CEC’s forthcoming uptime and reliability standards.
Support and rationale Supporters — including environmental groups, unions and some utility and local government representatives — said taxpayer‑funded chargers should be maintained and usable. They noted state and federal investments totaling more than $1.7 billion for EV charging infrastructure and warned that a lack of enforcement risks those publicly funded assets becoming stranded.
Concerns from industry and Electrify America The Electric Vehicle Charging Association and Electrify America opposed the bill in its present form. They said the CEC is already implementing standards and that a retroactive statutory enforcement regime could create conflicts with existing grant agreements, legal settlements (including the Volkswagen‑era consent decree) and the consent‑decree reporting regimes. Electrify America specifically asked that chargers deployed under that consent decree be exempted because the decree contains its own uptime reporting requirements.
Committee action and next steps The committee adopted the bill as amended and passed it to Appropriations. Committee members urged the author and stakeholders to continue negotiations to avoid unintended legal conflicts and to ensure that standards applied to existing publicly funded chargers are workable and do not create retroactive obligations that contract language prohibits.
Ending note The author said she will keep working with the CEC and charging operators to narrow the bill’s language and to seek exemptions for chargers covered by separate legal agreements, then return to Appropriations for fiscal consideration.
