BILL NUMBER: AB 1370	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Roger Hernández

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act to amend Section 740.8 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1370, as amended, Roger Hernández. Public Utilities Commission:
policies: ratepayers' interest.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical and gas
corporations. Existing law requires the commission, in cooperation
with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission, the State Air Resources Board, air quality management
districts and air pollution control districts, regulated electrical
and gas corporations, and the motor vehicle industry, to evaluate and
implement policies to promote the development of equipment and
infrastructure needed to facilitate the use of electric power and
natural gas to fuel low-emission vehicles. Existing law requires
those policies to ensure that the costs and expenses of those
programs are not passed through to electric or gas ratepayers unless
the commission finds and determines that those programs are in the
ratepayers' interest, as that term is defined.
   This bill would  make technical, nonsubstantive changes to
the definition of ratepayers' interest   revise the
definition of what is the ratepayer's interest and require that
activities that benefit ratepayers be measured by the program's
impact on rates and costs and benefits of the program from the
perspective of ratepayers, determined by calculating a benefit versus
cost ratio   greater than one on a total portfolio basis
 .
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 740.8 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
   740.8.   (a)    As used in Section 740.3,
"ratepayers' interest," short or long term, means both of the
following: 
   (a) 
    (1)  Direct benefits that are specific to ratepayers in
the form of safer, more reliable, or less costly gas or electrical
service, consistent with Section 451. 
   (b) 
    (2)  Activities that benefit ratepayers and that promote
all of the following: 
   (1) 
    (A)  Energy efficiency. 
   (2) 
    (B)  Reduction of health and environmental impacts from
air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions related to electricity and
natural gas production and use. 
   (3) 
    (C)  Increased use of alternative fuels. 
   (b) Activities that benefit ratepayers pursuant to paragraph (2)
of subdivision (a), shall be measured by the program's impact on
rates and costs and benefits of the program from the perspective of
ratepayers, determined by calculating a benefit versus cost ratio
greater than one on a total portfolio basis.