BILL NUMBER: AB 1900	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  602
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 27, 2012
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 31, 2012
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 31, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 31, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 24, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 22, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 6, 2012
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 14, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 25, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MAY 2, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 19, 2012
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 11, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Members Gatto, Chesbro, and Roger Hernández
   (Coauthors: Assembly Members Gordon and Skinner)
   (Coauthors: Senators Cannella and Liu)

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2012

   An act to amend Section 25420 of, and to repeal and add Section
25421 of, the Health and Safety Code, to add Section 25326 to the
Public Resources Code, and to add Sections 399.24 and 784 to the
Public Utilities Code, relating to energy.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1900, Gatto. Renewable energy resources: biomethane.
   (1) Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to
specify the maximum amount of vinyl chloride that may be found in
landfill gas. Existing law prohibits a gas producer from knowingly
selling, supplying, or transporting to a gas corporation, and a gas
corporation from knowingly purchasing, landfill gas containing vinyl
chloride in a concentration exceeding the maximum amount determined
by the PUC. Existing law requires a person who produces, sells,
supplies, or releases landfill gas for sale offsite to a gas
corporation to sample and test, bimonthly, the gas at the point of
distribution for chemicals known to the state to cause cancer or
reproductive toxicity.
   Existing law requires the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment (OEHHA) to evaluate the environmental and health risks
posed by various hazardous substances.
   This bill would require OEHHA, in consultation with the State Air
Resources Board, the Department of Toxic Substances Control, the
Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery, and the California
Environmental Protection Agency, to compile a list of constituents of
concern that could pose risks to human health and that are found in
biogas, as defined, at concentrations that significantly exceed the
concentrations of those constituents in natural gas. The bill would
require OEHHA to determine the health protective levels for that
list, as specified, and would require the state board to identify
realistic exposure scenarios and the health risks associated with
those scenarios, as specified. The bill would require the state board
to determine the appropriate concentrations of those constituents,
as specified. The bill would also provide that actions taken pursuant
to the above-described requirements do not constitute regulations
and are exempt from the Administrative Procedure Act.
   The bill would further require the PUC to adopt, by rule or order,
(1) standards for biomethane that specify the concentrations of
constituents of concern that are reasonably necessary to protect
public health and ensure pipeline integrity and safety, as specified,
and (2) requirements for monitoring, testing, reporting, and
recordkeeping, as specified. The bill would require a gas
corporation, as defined, to comply with those standards and
requirements. The bill would require the PUC to require gas
corporation tariffs to condition access to common carrier pipelines
on the applicable customer meeting those standards and requirements.
The bill would also prohibit a person and a gas corporation from
knowingly engaging in specified transactions involving common carrier
pipelines and biogas collected from a hazardous waste landfill, as
defined.
   (2) The Warren-Alquist State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Act establishes the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission (Energy Commission) and requires it to
prepare an integrated energy policy report on or before November 1,
2003, and every 2 years thereafter. The act requires the report to
contain an overview of major energy trends and issues facing the
state, including, but not limited to, supply, demand, pricing,
reliability, efficiency, and impacts on public health and safety, the
economy, resources, and the environment.
   This bill would require the Energy Commission to hold public
hearings to identify impediments that limit procurement of biomethane
in California, including, but not limited to, impediments to
interconnection. The bill would require the Energy Commission to
offer solutions to those impediments as part of the above-mentioned
report.
   (3) This bill would require the PUC to adopt policies and programs
that promote the in-state production and distribution of biomethane.

   (4) Existing law allows the PUC to set heating and purity
requirements for biomethane injected into a gas pipeline. Existing
law allows gas corporations to impose tariffs on biomethane injected
into their pipelines.
   This bill would require the PUC to adopt pipeline access rules
that ensure that each gas corporation provides nondiscriminatory open
access to its gas pipeline system to any party for the purposes of
physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline system and
effectuating the delivery of gas.
   (5) This bill would become operative only if this bill and AB 2196
of the 2011-12 Regular Session are both enacted and become effective
on or before January 1, 2013.
   (6) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or
any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
PUC is a crime.
   Because this bill would require action by the PUC to implement
certain of its requirements, a violation of which would be a crime,
these provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by
creating a new crime.
   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.



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

  SECTION 1.  Section 25420 of the Health and Safety Code is amended
to read:
   25420.  For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
apply:
   (a) "Biogas" means gas that is produced from the anaerobic
decomposition of organic material.
   (b) "Biomethane" means biogas that meets the standards adopted
pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d) of Section 25421 for injection
into a common carrier pipeline.
   (c) "Board" means the State Air Resources Board.
   (d) "CalRecycle" means the Department of Resources Recycling and
Recovery.
   (e) "Commission" means the Public Utilities Commission.
   (f) "Common carrier pipeline" means a gas conveyance pipeline,
located in California, that is owned or operated by a utility or gas
corporation, excluding a dedicated pipeline.
   (g) "Dedicated pipeline" means a conveyance of biogas or
biomethane that is not part of a common carrier pipeline system, and
which conveys biogas from a biogas producer to a conditioning
facility or an electrical generation facility.
   (h) "Department" means the Department of Toxic Substances Control.

   (i) "Gas corporation" has the same meaning as defined in Section
222 of the Public Utilities Code and is subject to rate regulation by
the commission.
   (j) "Hazardous waste landfill" means a landfill that is a
hazardous waste facility, as defined in Section 25117.1.
   (k) "Office" means the Office of Environmental Health Hazard
Assessment.
   (l) "Person" means an individual, trust, firm, joint stock
company, partnership, association, business concern, limited
liability company, or corporation. "Person" also includes any city,
county, district, and the state or any department or agency thereof,
or the federal government or any department or agency thereof to the
extent permitted by law.
  SEC. 2.  Section 25421 of the Health and Safety Code is repealed.
  SEC. 3.  Section 25421 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to
read:
   25421.  (a) On or before May 15, 2013, all of the following shall
be completed:
   (1) The office, in consultation with the board, the department,
CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, shall
compile a list of constituents of concern that could pose risks to
human health and that are found in biogas at concentrations that
significantly exceed the concentrations of those constituents in
natural gas. The office, in consultation with the board, the
department, CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection
Agency, shall update this list at least every five years.
   (2) The office shall determine health protective levels for the
list of constituents of concern identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
In determining those health protective levels, the office shall
consider potential health impacts and risks, including, but not
limited to, health impacts and risks to utility workers and gas end
users. The office shall update these levels at least every five
years.
   (3) The board shall identify realistic exposure scenarios and, in
consultation with the office, shall identify the health risks
associated with the exposure scenarios for the constituents of
concern identified by the office pursuant to paragraph (1). The board
shall update the exposure scenarios, and, in consultation with the
office, the health risks associated with the exposure scenarios, at
least every five years.
   (4) Upon completion of the responsibilities required pursuant to
paragraphs (1) through (3), the board, in consultation with the
office, the department, CalRecycle, and the California Environmental
Protection Agency shall determine the appropriate concentrations of
constituents of concern. In determining those concentrations, the
board shall use the health protective levels identified pursuant to
paragraph (2) and the exposure scenarios identified pursuant to
paragraph (3). The concentrations shall be updated at least every
five years by the board in consultation with the office, the
department, CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection
Agency.
   (5) The board, in consultation with the office, the department,
CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, shall
identify reasonable and prudent monitoring, testing, reporting, and
recordkeeping requirements, separately for each source of biogas,
that are sufficient to ensure compliance with the health protective
standards adopted pursuant to subdivision (d). The board, in
consultation with the office, the department, CalRecycle and the
California Environmental Protection Agency shall update the
monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements at
least every five years.
   (b) Actions taken pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not constitute
regulations and shall be exempt from the administrative regulations
and rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Division 2 of Title 2
of the Government Code).
   (c) On or before December 31, 2013, for biomethane that is to be
injected into a common carrier pipeline, the commission shall, by
rule or order, adopt standards that specify, for constituents that
may be found in that biomethane, concentrations that are reasonably
necessary to ensure both of the following:
   (1) The protection of human health. In making this specification,
the commission shall give due deference to the determinations of the
board pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision (a).
   (2) Pipeline and pipeline facility integrity and safety.
   (d) To ensure pipeline and pipeline facility integrity and safety,
on or before December 31, 2013, the commission, giving due deference
to the board's determinations, shall, by rule or order, adopt the
monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements
identified pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (a).
   (e) Every five years, or earlier if new information becomes
available, the commission shall review and update the standards for
the protection of human health and pipeline integrity and safety
adopted pursuant to subdivision (c), as well as the monitoring,
testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements adopted pursuant
to subdivision (d).
   (f) (1) A person shall not inject biogas into a common carrier
pipeline unless the biogas satisfies both the standards set by the
commission pursuant to subdivision (c), as well as the monitoring,
testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements of subdivision
(d).
   (2) The commission shall require gas corporation tariffs to
condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable
customer meeting the standards and requirements adopted by the
commission pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d).
   (g) (1) A person shall not knowingly sell, supply, or transport,
or knowingly cause to be sold, supplied, or transported, biogas
collected from a hazardous waste landfill to a gas corporation
through a common carrier pipeline.
   (2) A gas corporation shall not knowingly purchase gas collected
from a hazardous waste landfill through a common carrier pipeline.
  SEC. 4.  Section 25326 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
   25326.  (a) The commission shall hold public hearings to identify
impediments that limit procurement of biomethane in California,
including, but not limited to, impediments to interconnection. The
commission shall offer solutions to those impediments as part of the
integrated energy policy report prepared pursuant to Section 25302.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "biomethane" means biogas
that meets the standards adopted pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d)
of Section 25421 of the Health and Safety Code for injection into a
common carrier pipeline.
  SEC. 5.  Section 399.24 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   399.24.  (a) To meet the energy and transportation needs of the
state, the commission shall adopt policies and programs that promote
the in-state production and distribution of biomethane. The policies
and programs shall facilitate the development of a variety of sources
of in-state biomethane.
   (b) For the purposes of this section, "biomethane" means biogas
that meets the standards adopted pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d)
of Section 25421 of the Health and Safety Code for injection into a
common carrier pipeline.
  SEC. 6.  Section 784 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   784.  For each gas corporation, the commission shall adopt
pipeline access rules that ensure that each gas corporation provides
nondiscriminatory open access to its gas pipeline system to any party
for the purposes of physically interconnecting with the gas pipeline
system and effectuating the delivery of gas.
  SEC. 7.  This act shall become operative only if this act and
Assembly Bill 2196 of the 2011-12 Regular Session are both enacted
and become effective on or before January 1, 2013.
  SEC. 8.  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.