As of late Wednesday night on November 5th, California Proposition 7 is looking more and more like a long shot than a reality. It is estimated that over 60% of the votes on Prop 7 have been cast as “no” votes, with over 97% of the votes tallied. What does this mean? Proposition 7 ,as stated by the California government site, states that “utilities, including government-owned utilities, to generate 20% of their power from renewable energy by 2010, a standard currently applicable only to private electrical corporations, raises requirement for utilities to 40% by 2020 and 50% by 2025, imposes penalties, subject to waiver, for noncompliance, transfers some jurisdiction of regulatory matters from Public Utilities Commission to Energy Commission, fast-tracks approval for new renewable energy plants requires utilities to sign longer contracts (20 year minimum) to procure renewable energy and creates account to purchase rights-of-way and facilities for the transmission of renewable energy”.
If Proposition would have passed, the state of California would have been required to obtain half of its energy from a renewable source by the year 2025. The “no” vote on Proposition 7 does not mean there will be a lack of pushing for future legislation in favor of renewable energy and one can look for legislation to continue to be proposed in favor of renewable energy.