BILL NUMBER: AB 2441	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 27, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Tom Berryhill

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Section 890 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to energy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2441, as amended, Tom Berryhill. Natural gas surcharge.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as
defined. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and
charges for every public utility, and requires that those rates and
charges be just and reasonable. Existing law relative to the
restructuring of the natural gas industry requires the commission to
require each gas corporation to provide bundled basic gas service, as
defined, to all core customers in its service territory unless the
customer chooses or contracts to have natural gas purchased and
supplied by another entity. Existing law requires the commission to
establish a surcharge on all natural gas consumed in the state to
fund certain low-income assistance programs, cost-effective energy
efficiency and conservation activities, and public interest research
and development.
   This bill would require the commission to  set the
surcharge rate established by the commission for large commercial and
industrial noncore end-use customers, as defined, at 25% of the
surcharge rate for other customers   open a ratemaking
or other appropriate proceeding to reexamine the allocation of the
natural gas surcharge on the different ratepayer classes and would
require the commission to consider job creation, job retention, and
job training as part of the reexamination  .
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 890 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   890.  (a) On and after January 1, 2001, there shall be imposed a
surcharge on all natural gas consumed in this state. The commission
shall establish a surcharge to fund low-income assistance programs
required by Sections 739.1, 739.2, and 2790 and cost-effective energy
efficiency and conservation activities and public interest research
and development authorized by Section 740 and not adequately provided
by the competitive and regulated  markets. The commission
shall set the surcharge rate for large commercial and industrial
noncore end-use customers at 25 percent of the surcharge rate for
other customers. For purposes of this subdivision, "large commercial
and industrial noncore end-use customers" means those entities using
more than 20,800 therms from the burning of natural gas in any given
month. Upon   markets. Upon  implementation of this
article, funding for those programs shall be removed from the rates
of gas utilities.
   (b) (1) Except as specified in Section 898, a public utility gas
corporation, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 891, shall
collect the surcharge imposed pursuant to subdivision (a) from any
person consuming natural gas in this state who receives gas service
from the public utility gas corporation.
   (2) A public utility gas corporation is relieved from liability to
collect the surcharge insofar as the base upon which the surcharge
is imposed is represented by accounts which have been found to be
worthless and charged off in accordance with generally accepted
accounting principles. If the public utility gas corporation has
previously paid the amount of the surcharge it may, under regulations
prescribed by the State Board of Equalization, take as a deduction
on its return the amount found to be worthless and charged off. If
any accounts are thereafter collected in whole or in part, the
surcharge so collected shall be paid with the first return filed
after that collection. The commission may by regulation promulgate
other rules with respect to uncollected or worthless accounts as it
determines to be necessary to the fair and efficient administration
of this part.
   (c) Except as specified in Section 898, all persons consuming
natural gas in this state that has been transported by an interstate
pipeline, as defined in subdivision (c) of Section 891, shall be
liable for the surcharge imposed pursuant to subdivision (a).
   (d) The commission shall annually determine the amount of money
required for the following year to administer this chapter and fund
the natural gas related programs described in subdivision (a) for the
service territory of each public utility gas corporation.
   (e) The commission shall annually establish a surcharge rate for
each class of customer for the service territory of each public
utility gas corporation. A customer of an interstate gas pipeline, as
defined in Section 891, shall pay the same surcharge rate as the
customer would pay if the customer received service from the public
utility gas corporation in whose service territory the customer is
located. The commission shall determine the total volume of retail
natural gas transported within the service territory of a utility gas
provider, that is not subject to exemption pursuant to Section 896,
for the purpose of establishing the surcharge rate.
   (f) The commission shall allocate the surcharge for gas used by
all customers, including those customers who were not subject to the
surcharge prior to January 1, 2001. 
   (g) (1) The commission shall open a ratemaking or other
appropriate proceeding to reexamine the allocation of the surcharge
imposed pursuant to this article on the different ratepayer classes.
As part of the reexamination, the commission shall consider job
creation, job retention, and job training. If the commission revises
the allocation for a public utility gas corporation that is not both
an electrical corporation and a gas corporation, two years after
implementing the revised allocation, the commission shall report to
the Legislature on whether the amended allocation affected job
creation, job retention, and job training.  
   (2) A report submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.
 
   (3) The requirement for submitting a report imposed under
paragraph (1) becomes inoperative on January 1, 2017, pursuant to
Section 10231.5 of the Government Code.  
   (g) 
    (h)  The commission shall notify the State Board of
Equalization of the surcharge rate for each class of customer served
by an interstate pipeline in the service territory of a public
utility gas corporation. 
   (h) 
    (i) The State Board of Equalization shall notify each
person who consumes natural gas delivered by an interstate pipeline
of the surcharge rate for each class of customer within the service
territory of a public utility gas corporation. 
   (i) 
    (j)  The surcharge imposed pursuant to subdivision (a)
shall be in addition to any other charges for natural gas sold or
transported for consumption in this state. Effective on July 1, 2001,
the surcharge imposed pursuant to this article shall be identified
as a separate line item on the bill of a customer of a public utility
gas corporation. 
   (j) 
    (k)  Notwithstanding subdivision (a), public utility gas
corporations shall continue to collect in rates those costs of
programs described in subdivision (a) of Section 890 that are
uncollected prior to the operative date of this article.