By Jason Fordney

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Energy issues appeared to get the back burner on the opening day of the California State Legislature as allegations of sexual harassment and workplace retaliation dominated the beginning of the 2018 session.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Kevin de Leon (D) spent most of Wednesday’s session meeting with fellow Democrats about allegations against Sen. Tony Mendoza (D), who agreed to temporarily step down. An aide to Mendoza filed a complaint with the state saying that she was fired after telling Senate officials he sexually harassed another female subordinate, a claim that Mendoza denies, The Sacramento Bee reported this week.

Since the 2017 session, the State Capitol has become a point of focus in a national debate on sexual harassment after nearly 150 women signed a letter complaining of inappropriate behavior in an elected body dominated by Democrats and known for progressive policies. De Leon, a former roommate of Mendoza, is tackling the controversy as he launches a campaign for the U.S. Senate seat held by Dianne Feinstein, another possible distraction from the energy policies he has championed. Senate Democrats say that in January they will elect San Diego Democrat Toni Atkins as the body’s first female president pro tempore.

De Leon authored and is the chief proponent of SB100, the 100% clean energy bill that stalled late last year, frustrating environmentalists. (See California Senate Passes Bill Mandating 100% RPS.)

Committee chairman Chris Holden told RTO Insider on Wednesday to refer questions on the status of the bill to de Leon’s office, which did not respond to emails and phone calls regarding the status of the bill.

“It is his bill,” Holden said. “We are waiting for him to come back with some amendments to address the issues that opposition had raised.” Speaking of the opposition last year, Holden said, “It was intense.”

Peter Miller, Western energy project director for the Natural Resources Defense Council, told RTO Insider that he thinks there is a good chance the bill will pass this year.

“There is uncertainty inside the building as to when it might move and how much attention de Leon might be able to pay to it,” he said. But he added there is a “tremendous grassroots effort” and public campaign taking shape in 2018 and “a lot of pressure” to approve the legislation.

“There is broad support, and that is going to show up in offices around the Capitol,” he said.

The two CAISO regionalization bills Holden sponsored last year, AB726 and AB813, are currently in the Senate Rules Committee and would likely not be be taken up until May or June, according to an Assembly staff member.

“We are still formulating what that bill should look like,” Holden said of the legislation that would explore regionalization. “It is important, and it is something we will be responding to with clear language, but right now we are formulating the language.”

There are many issues around CAISO regionalization, and complicating the picture is an effort by CAISO to extend its day-ahead market to the Western Energy Imbalance Market (EIM). (See CAISO Bid for Western RTO to Face Competition in 2018.) But an RTO would be different, including other states in its leadership and creating worries among some lawmakers that California’s aggressive pursuit of renewable energy could be diluted by other states with different goals and resources.

In a day that included several ceremonies, upon convening on Wednesday, the Assembly read the names of the victims of the 2017 wildfires, which have led to investigations into possible role of California utilities in the disasters.