Charles Warren and Al Alquist, California politicians, co-authored the 1974 Warren–Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act that created the commission.

The emergency authority allowed Davis to order the California Energy Commission to streamline the application process for new power plants.

Alongside this, the California Energy Commission introduced an emergency load management program that supplied upwards of 1,000 businesses with fast responding electricity control systems.

[6] In 2007, the commission set up relatively strict laws that forbid the signing of new energy supply contracts between utilities and coal-fired power plants.

The California Energy Commission was given the task of monitoring and enforcing regulation on utility companies, to help them meet this goal.