California Senate Bill 350, formally the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015, is a state law that raised California’s renewable electricity target to 50 percent by 2030, required a doubling of energy efficiency savings in buildings by the same year, and launched programs on transportation electrification, regional grid integration, and clean energy access for low-income communities. Authored by Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de León and Senator Mark Leno, it was signed by Governor Jerry Brown on October 7, 2015.1NRDC. Governor Brown Signs Pathbreaking Climate and Clean Energy Legislation The law also references broader greenhouse gas reduction goals of 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030 and 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050.2California Energy Commission. Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act SB 350
What the Law Requires
A 50 Percent Renewable Electricity Standard by 2030
SB 350’s central mandate raised California’s Renewables Portfolio Standard from 33 percent to 50 percent of retail electricity sales by December 31, 2030.3California Legislative Information. SB 350 Chaptered Text The requirement covers investor-owned utilities, community choice aggregators, electric service providers, and publicly owned utilities. The California Energy Commission (CEC) oversees compliance for publicly owned utilities; the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) regulates the rest.2California Energy Commission. Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act SB 350
Doubling Energy Efficiency Savings
The law directed the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to set annual targets aimed at a cumulative doubling of statewide energy efficiency savings in electricity and natural gas end uses by January 1, 2030. The targets are anchored to a doubling of the “midcase estimate of additional achievable energy efficiency savings” from the state’s 2015–2025 energy demand forecast, extended through 2030.3California Legislative Information. SB 350 Chaptered Text A companion bill, Assembly Bill 802, gave utilities authority to offer financial incentives for efficiency improvements in existing buildings and expanded the CEC’s power to collect building energy-use data.2California Energy Commission. Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act SB 350
Transportation Electrification
SB 350 directed the CPUC to remove regulatory barriers to utility investment in transportation electrification. That directive led the CPUC to order California’s six investor-owned utilities to file applications for programs accelerating deployment of zero-emission vehicle charging infrastructure.4CPUC. Transportation Electrification Activities Pursuant to Senate Bill 350
Regional Grid Integration
The law declared legislative intent for the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) to evolve into a regional organization managing transmission markets across western states, and required CAISO to study the benefits and impacts of that expansion. Any governance change was made contingent on future legislative approval.3California Legislative Information. SB 350 Chaptered Text
Access for Disadvantaged Communities
SB 350 required the CEC, the CPUC, and the California Air Resources Board to study and address the barriers that low-income and disadvantaged communities face in accessing clean energy, energy efficiency, and clean transportation. The CEC adopted its Low-Income Barriers Study in 2016, identifying obstacles including limited disposable income, difficulty securing financing, low homeownership rates, aging housing stock, and low awareness of energy programs.5California Energy Commission. SB 350 Barriers Study The law also created a Disadvantaged Communities Advisory Group, an eleven-member body jointly seated by the CPUC and CEC that reviews clean energy programs for impact on overburdened communities.6CPUC. 2024 DACAG Annual Report
The Petroleum Reduction Provision That Was Cut
As introduced, SB 350 contained a third major pillar: a requirement to cut petroleum use in motor vehicles by 50 percent by 2030. That provision was stripped from the bill on September 9, 2015, two days before the end of the legislative session, after an aggressive lobbying campaign by the oil industry drew opposition from moderate Assembly Democrats.7The Sacramento Bee. SB 350 Petroleum Mandate Dropped
The Western States Petroleum Association, representing Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and other companies, ran full-page newspaper ads and broadcast spots warning that the measure would lead to gas rationing, driving restrictions, and monitoring of personal vehicles. Senator de León called the opposition “a million-dollar smokescreen created by a single special-interest with a singular motive and a bottomless war chest.”8The Guardian. Oil Industry Derails California Bill to Halve Gasoline Use London-based research group InfluenceMap estimated WSPA spent roughly $6 million per year lobbying against climate policy, with the SB 350 petroleum provision a specific target in 2015.9InfluenceMap. Lobby Spend Report Some Assembly Democrats also raised concerns about the economic impact of the mandate and the breadth of authority it would have granted the Air Resources Board. The remaining portions of the bill were signed into law without the fuel-use mandate.
Where Implementation Stands
Renewables
According to the CPUC’s 2025 RPS Annual Report, most retail electricity sellers met or exceeded the interim 44 percent annual procurement target for 2024. Community choice aggregators led, with 24 of 25 meeting the target, and all three large investor-owned utilities reported meeting their 2021–2024 compliance period requirements using banked renewable energy credits.10CPUC. 2025 California Renewables Portfolio Standard Annual Report Earlier 2022 data showed the large IOUs collectively procuring 52 percent of retail sales from renewables and community choice aggregators at 55 percent, indicating that SB 350’s original 50 percent target had already been surpassed by leading providers.11CPUC. Renewables Portfolio Standard
Integrated Resource Planning
SB 350 established the Integrated Resource Planning process, codified in Public Utilities Code Sections 454.51 and 454.52, which requires the CPUC to identify a balanced portfolio of resources to meet clean energy targets while maintaining grid reliability at the lowest reasonable cost.12CPUC. Implementation of SB 350 In February 2024 the CPUC adopted Decision 24-02-047, a Preferred System Plan targeting a 25 million metric ton reduction in greenhouse gas emissions below 2020 levels by 2035 and calling for roughly 57 gigawatts of new renewable resources by that year.13CPUC. Integrated Resource Plan and Long Term Procurement Plan
EV Charging Programs
The CPUC has authorized significant utility spending on charging infrastructure. In January 2018 it approved 15 priority review pilots totaling $42 million, and in May 2018 it approved $738 million in additional programs covering medium- and heavy-duty vehicle electrification in PG&E and Southern California Edison territories and a residential charging rebate program for SDG&E customers. Smaller utilities received authorization for up to $7.33 million on eight programs.4CPUC. Transportation Electrification Activities Pursuant to Senate Bill 350
Rollout has been slower than planned. A 2024 evaluation found that only 219 medium- and heavy-duty charging sites had been activated as of December 2024. The original goal of make-ready infrastructure for more than 1,800 sites by 2026 was revised down to 1,175 because of supply chain problems and permitting delays. The median timeline from project start to activation reached 983 days in 2024, up from 600 days in 2021, with more than half of that time consumed by design and permitting. Per-site costs typically ran between $800,000 and $1 million, though large sites above 5 MW cost as much as $3 to $4.5 million.14Cadmus Group. Key Findings From California Electrification Report
Regional Grid
CAISO completed a twelve-volume study in July 2016 analyzing the impacts of becoming a multistate regional organization and transmitted it to Governor Brown in September 2016. The study projected that a regional market covering much of the western United States could save California ratepayers an estimated $1 billion to $1.5 billion annually by 2030 through lower renewable procurement costs, reduced curtailment, and regional load balancing.15CAISO. SB 350 Study Report Legislative authorization took nearly a decade. In September 2025, Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill 825, which enables CAISO to transfer governance of its wholesale energy markets to a new independent body called the Regional Organization for Western Energy, with implementation possible on or after January 1, 2028, subject to CPUC authorization.16CAISO. CAISO Submits First Assembly Bill 825 Report to Legislature and Governor
How SB 350 Fits With Later Climate Laws
SB 350 sits inside a wider legislative framework. Senate Bill 32, enacted in 2016, codified the target of reducing statewide greenhouse gas emissions to 40 percent below 1990 levels by 2030, which SB 350 referenced but did not independently mandate. AB 197, passed alongside SB 32, required the Air Resources Board to prioritize direct emission reductions at large pollution sources and to incorporate the social costs of emissions, including public health impacts, into its regulatory decisions.17California Legislature. AB 197 Committee Floor Analysis
In 2018, SB 100 raised the renewable electricity bar further: 50 percent by 2026, 60 percent by 2030, and 100 percent zero-carbon electricity by 2045.18IISD. California Governor Signs 100 Renewables Into Law SB 100 superseded SB 350’s 50 percent target as the operative floor for renewables, but SB 350’s broader framework, covering energy efficiency, transportation electrification, disadvantaged community protections, integrated resource planning, and regional grid integration, remains in force.
Other Bills Numbered SB 350
Bill numbers reset with each legislative session, so other measures have carried the SB 350 label. In California’s 2025–2026 session, Senator María Elena Durazo introduced a different SB 350 to establish a statewide Water Rate Assistance Program; it did not become law.19CalMatters Digital Democracy. SB 350 Water Rate Assistance Program Tennessee’s SB 0350 of the 114th General Assembly is unrelated: it prohibits landlords from restricting residential tenants’ rights to possess firearms on leased premises and was signed by Governor Bill Lee in March 2026.20Tennessee General Assembly. SB 0350 Bill Information When people refer to “SB 350” in the context of California climate policy, they mean the 2015 Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act.