BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1650| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ THIRD READING Bill No: AB 1650 Author: Portantino (D) Amended: 8/21/12 in Senate Vote: 21 SENATE ENERGY, UTIL. & COMMUNIC. COMMITTEE : 10-0, 7/3/12 AYES: Padilla, Fuller, Corbett, De León, DeSaulnier, Kehoe, Pavley, Rubio, Strickland, Wright NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Emmerson, Simitian SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/16/12 AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price, Steinberg ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/30/12 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Public utilities: emergency and disaster preparedness SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to establish standards for disaster and emergency preparedness plans within an existing procedure. ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the PUC to regulate electric, gas, and water corporations and to determine whether rates charged are just and reasonable and whether service provided is adequate. CONTINUED AB 1650 Page 2 Existing law requires the PUC to establish emergency response standards for gas corporations. Current decisions of PUC adopt General Orders requiring gas and electric corporations to develop disaster and emergency preparedness plans. Existing law requires all public water systems, including water corporations, with 10,000 or more service connections to review and revise disaster preparedness plans in conjunction with related agencies, including, but not limited to, local fire departments and the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA). This bill requires electrical corporations and water companies regulated by the PUC to develop, adopt and update an emergency and disaster preparedness plan. Background The San Gabriel Valley was hit hard in early December 2011 by devastating winds that knocked out power to more than 400,000 customers, some of them for more than a week. In a preliminary report after investigation of the outages, the PUC stated that in some cases, Southern California Edison's equipment did not meet safety standards and that the utility was slow to restore power to homes and businesses. Local utilities also had trouble with communications plans. Numerous public officials, including first responders, have recommended to the PUC that electric utilities consult with local agencies to better prepare for disasters. The PUC's General Order 166 requires each electric utility to annually file an updated emergency response plan. The order contains general requirements that the utility communicate with local governments and provide notice of its annual emergency response exercise, but it does not require regular public meetings. It requires training and planning for deployment of personnel in anticipation of an event that may result in a "major outage," however, it does not currently require deployment in the event of anticipated severe weather. Moreover, the outages due to the November 2011 southern California windstorm would not have triggered deployment of the emergency response plans. CONTINUED AB 1650 Page 3 In both the Southern California windstorm outage and the widespread outage that occurred in the Pacific Southwest region in September 2011, drinking water supplies were impaired due to lack of electricity at pumping stations. In San Diego, California, bottled water supplies were distributed as a public health safeguard due to a sewage spill in the vicinity of drinking water suppliers, although the water supply was later tested and found to be safe. The PUC regulates water corporations and classifies them according to number of service connections, including 9 Class A corporations with more than 10,000 service connections, five Class B corporations with 2,000 to 10,000 service connections, 25 Class C water corporations with 500 to 2,000 service connections, and 102 corporations with less than 500 service connections. The PUC currently does not require emergency response plans for water corporations. However, Government Code Section 8607.2 requires all public water systems with 10,000 or more service connections to review and revise disaster preparedness plans in conjunction with related agencies, including, but not limited to, local fire departments and the CalEMA, and requires that these plans examine and review pumping station and distribution facility operations during an emergency, water pressure at both pumping stations and hydrants, and whether there is sufficient water reserve levels and alternative emergency power such as backup and portable generators. Comments According to the author's office, this bill responds to an apparent lack of emergency preparedness by utilities that became evident when the December 2011 windstorm in San Gabriel Valley knocked out electric power for an extended period. Adopting an emergency and disaster preparedness plan, with input from the public and local agencies, would better protect the public from disaster because, as the author states, "We all know the 'Big One' is coming- it's just a matter of when - and we need to be prepared." FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: Yes CONTINUED AB 1650 Page 4 According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $250,000 from the Public Utilities Reimbursement Account in 2012-13 and 2013-14 for a utility engineer and a limited term administrative law judge to develop standards and conduct a rule making in order to revise the commission's General Order 166 relating to emergency plans; and $110,000 from the Public Utilities Reimbursement Account annually to review emergency plans, update standards, consult with utility staff and local officials and attend public meetings. SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/12) Public Utilities Commission Southern California Edison OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/21/12) California Water Association (unless amended) PacifiCorp (unless amended) ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/30/12 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford, Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos, Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger Hernández, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor, Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande, Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel Pérez, Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson, Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A. Pérez NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Valadao RM:d 8/21/12 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE CONTINUED AB 1650 Page 5 **** END **** CONTINUED