BILL NUMBER: AB 578	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  MAY 8, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 12, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 4, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Hill

                        FEBRUARY 16, 2011

   An act to add Section 960 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 578, as amended, Hill. Public utilities: natural gas pipelines:
safety.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities. The Public Utilities Act authorizes
the commission to ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards,
classifications, regulations, practices, measurements, or services to
be furnished, imposed, observed, and followed by specified public
utilities, including gas corporations.  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.
 The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 designates the
commission as the state authority responsible for regulating and
enforcing intrastate gas pipeline transportation and pipeline
facilities pursuant to federal law, including the development,
submission, and administration of a state pipeline safety program
certification for natural gas pipelines.
   If a safety recommendation is made in a published pipeline
accident report,  pipeline accident brief, safety study, or
safety recommendation letter,  by the federal National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on or after January 1, 2012, this
bill would require the commission to determine if implementation of
the recommendation is appropriate  or whether a more
effective, or equally effective, less costly alternative exists to
address the safety issue that the recommendation addresses 
. This bill would require the commission to implement, as soon as is
practicable, any natural gas pipeline safety recommendation that it
determines to be appropriate.  The bill would require the
commission, in imple   menting the safety recommendation, to
consider whether a more effective, or equally effective and less
costly, alternative exists to address the safety issue that the
recommendation addresses.  The bill would require that  ,
 if the commission determines that implementation of a safety
recommendation is not appropriate,  or that a more effective,
or equally effective, less costly alternative exists, that 
the reason or reasons be detailed in writing  as part of a
formal record of proceeding   and be approved by a
majority vote of the commission  . The bill would require the
commission to include a detailed description of any action taken on
an NTSB safety recommendation in a specified annual report the
commission is required to make to the Legislature.  The bill
would require the commission to determine whether costs incurred for
implementation of the requirements of this section are reasonably and
prudently incurred and to authorize recovery in rates for those
costs that are reasonably and prudently incurred. The bill would
prohibit the commission from authorizing the recovery of expenses
that would have been avoided if the utility had been in compliance
with then-existing state or federal requirements. 
   Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule,
direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
   Because this bill would require the commission to issue orders or
adopt rules to implement any safety recommendation by the NTSB
relative to natural gas pipeline safety that the commission
determines to be appropriate and a violation of these orders or rules
would be a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated local
program.
   The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
   This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 960 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   960.  (a) Beginning January 1, 2012, if the federal National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) makes a safety recommendation or
multiple recommendations relative to natural gas pipeline safety as
part of a published pipeline accident report,  pipeline accident
brief, safety study, or safety recommendation letter,  the
commission shall determine if implementation of the recommendation is
appropriate  or whether a more effective, or equally
effective, less costly alternative exists to address the safety issue
that the recommendation addresses  .
   (b) If the commission determines that implementation of a safety
recommendation is not appropriate,  or that a more effective,
or equally effective, less costly alternative exists,  the
reason or reasons shall be detailed in writing  as part of a
formal record of proceeding  and shall be approved by a
majority vote of the commission  .
   (c) If the commission determines that a safety recommendation made
by the NTSB is appropriate, the commission shall issue orders or
adopt rules to implement the safety recommendations as soon as
practicable.  In implementing the safety recommendation, the
commission shall consider whether a more effective, or equally
effective and less costly, alternative exists to address the safety
issue that the recommendation addresses. 
   (d) Any action taken by the commission on a safety recommendation
made by the NTSB in a published pipeline accident report  ,
pipeline accident brief, safety study, or safety recommendation
letter  shall be reported annually, in detail, to the
Legislature with the report required by Section 321.6.
   (e) The commission shall  determine whether costs incurred for
implementation of the requirements of this section are reasonably
and prudently incurred and  authorize recovery in rates for
 all just and reasonably incurred costs incurred for
implementation of the requirements of this section  
those costs that are reasonably and prudently incurred  . The
commission shall not authorize recovery of those expenses that would
have been avoided if the utility had been in compliance with
then-existing  state or  federal requirements.
  SEC. 2.  No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.