Following the California Coastal Commissions approval of extended operations at Diablo Canyon Power Plant, there is a local push to get unitary taxes reinstated.
Unitary tax refers to the property tax paid by PG&E to San Luis Obispo County entities, based on Diablo Canyon Power Plant's value and expected earnings.
"It was a big price tag. So on average was about $21 million a year that would come into the county And so it would go into general funds for all the different agencies. It's not just the county, it's for special districts, it's for cities, it's for school districts." said Dawn Ortiz-Legg, the SLO County District 3 Supervisor.
She says unitary tax from the power plant helps fund 91 agencies in San Luis Obispo County... something that as it stands currently, will end this year.
"We are still receiving some unitary tax, so to speak, under the SB 1090. That was a legislation that was established when they were going to decommission. And they zeroed out the asset of Diablo Canyon," said Ortiz-Legg.
Operations have been extended at Diablo Canyon through 2030 under SB 846, but reinstating the unitary tax was not outlined in the bill
"When Senate Bill 846 was being done in 2022, the question of unitary tax came up, and there were conversations with the state agencies that are involved in taxes. And they said it would be handled administratively. And that has turned out not to be the case," said District 17 Senator John Laird.
He says that reinstating the unitary tax will be discussed in the upcoming legislative session.
Local representatives, such as Assembly Member Dawn Addis, feel that PG&E could be doing more.
"It's my opinion that PGA is using the tax discussion to defer what they could do right now, which is make sure there's full and fair mitigation for those of us that live and work and go to school in the shower. In the footprint of a nuclear power plant that could have a major emergency." said Addis.
PG&SE responded with a statement, saying in part: "PG&E has paid more than $185,000,000 to San Luis Obispo County since 2018, including the $85 million Community Impact Mitigation Program (CIMP) as authorized by the California Legislature in 2018. A portion of the CIMP provided funding to the San Luis Coastal Unified School District. Legislative authorization of the CIMP concluded this year. Any changes to the tax structure for Diablo Canyon, or equivalent CIMP funding continuation, will require further legislative action."
For now, local efforts include the SLO County Board of Supervisors putting together a letter of support for the reinstatement of unitary taxes, the proposed 20-year extension of operations at Diablo Canyon, and local agencies such as San Luis Coastal Unified, along with parents and other community members voicing their support for reinstating the tax funding.
