BILL NUMBER: SB 216 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 5, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 31, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield, Ma, and Portantino)
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
An act to add Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 950) to Part 1
of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to public
utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 216, as amended, Yee. Public utilities: intrastate natural gas
pipeline safety.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as
defined. 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 federal law requires the United States Department of
Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) to adopt minimum safety standards for pipeline
transportation and for pipeline facilities, including an interstate
gas pipeline facility and intrastate gas pipeline facility, as
defined. Existing law authorizes the United States Secretary of
Transportation to prescribe or enforce safety standards and practices
for an intrastate pipeline facility or intrastate pipeline
transportation to the extent that the safety standards and practices
are regulated by a state authority that annually submits to the
secretary a certification for the facilities and transportation or,
alternatively, authorizes the secretary to make an agreement with a
state authority authorizing it to take necessary action to meet
certain pipeline safety requirements. Existing law prohibits a state
authority from adopting or continuing in force safety standards for
interstate pipeline facilities or interstate pipeline transportation.
Existing law authorizes a state authority that has submitted a
current certification to adopt additional or more stringent safety
standards for intrastate pipeline facilities and intrastate pipeline
transportation only if those standards are compatible with the
minimum standards prescribed by the PHMSA.
This bill would designate 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. The
bill would require the commission, unless it determines that doing so
is preempted under federal law, to require the installation of
automatic shut-off or remote controlled sectionalized block valves on
certain intrastate transmission lines, as defined, that are located
in a high consequence area, as defined, or that traverse an active
seismic earthquake fault. The bill would require the owner or
operator of a commission-regulated gas pipeline facility, as defined,
that is an intrastate transmission line to provide the commission
with a valve location plan, along with any recommendations for valve
locations, and would authorize the commission to make modifications
to the valve location plan.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and
because a violation of an order or decision of the commission
implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill 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.
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. Chapter 4.5 (commencing with Section 950) is added to
Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 4.5. GAS PIPELINE SAFETY
Article 1. General
950. For purposes of this chapter, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(a) "Commission-regulated gas pipeline facility" means an
intrastate gas pipeline facility as defined in Section 60101 of Title
49 of the United States Code, that is subject to the safety
regulatory authority of the commission to the extent authorized
in the certification submitted by the commission and approved by the
United States Secretary of Transportation pursuant to Section 60105
of Title 49 of the United States Code , including each of the
following pipelines:
(1) An intrastate distribution line, which is a pipeline that is
not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission pursuant to Section 717(b) of Title 15 of the United
States Code because it is used for the local distribution of natural
gas.
(2) An intrastate transmission line, which is a transmission
pipeline that the commission, pursuant to Section 717(c) of Title 15
of the United States Code, has certified to the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission as being subject to the regulatory jurisdiction
of the commission over rates and service. For these purposes, a
transmission pipeline means a pipeline other than a gathering line
that: (A) transports gas from a gathering line or storage facility to
a distribution center, storage facility, or large volume customer
that is not down stream from a distribution center, (B) operates at a
hoop stress of 20 percent or more of specified maximum yield
strength, or (C) transports gas within a storage field.
(3) An intrastate gathering line, which is a pipeline that
transports gas from a current production facility to a transmission
line or main.
(4) A mobilehome park master-metered natural gas distribution
system that is subject to the commission's safety inspection and
enforcement program pursuant to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section
4351) of Division 2.
(5) A propane distribution system that is subject to the
commission's safety inspection and enforcement program pursuant to
Chapter 4.1 (commencing with Section 4451) of Division 2.
(b) "Compatible transmission safety standards" means safety
standards that are applicable to an intrastate transmission line that
are in addition to, or more stringent than, the minimum safety
standards adopted by the United States Department of Transportation
pursuant to Chapter 601 (commencing with Section 60101) of Subtitle
VIII of Title 49 of the United States Code, and that the commission
is authorized to adopt pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 60104 of
that chapter.
(c) "High consequence area" has the same meaning as defined in the
regulations adopted by the United States Department of
Transportation pursuant to Chapter 601 (commencing with Section
60101) of Subtitle VIII of Title 49 of the United States Code (49
C.F.R. 192.903, as adopted January 1, 2011, or a successor
regulation).
Article 2. Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011
955. (a) This article shall be known and may be cited as the
Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011.
(b) The commission is the state authority responsible for
regulating and enforcing intrastate gas pipeline transportation and
pipeline facilities pursuant to Chapter 601 (commencing with Section
60101 60101) of Subtitle VIII of Title
49 of the United States Code, including the development, submission,
and administration of a state pipeline safety program certification
pursuant to Section 60105 of that chapter.
(c) The State Fire Marshal shall exercise exclusive safety
regulatory and enforcement authority over intrastate hazardous liquid
pipelines pursuant to the Elder California Pipeline Safety Act of
1981 (Chapter 5.5 (commencing with Section 51010) of Division 1 of
Title 5 of the Government Code and Section 13107.5 of the Health and
Safety Code).
957. (a) (1) Unless the commission determines that it is
prohibited from doing so by subdivision (c) of Section 60104 of Title
49 of the United States Code, the commission shall require the
installation of automatic shut-off or remote controlled sectionalized
block valves on both of the following facilities, if it determines
those valves are necessary for the protection of the public:
(A) Intrastate transmission lines that are located in a high
consequence area.
(B) Intrastate transmission lines that traverse an active seismic
earthquake fault.
(2) Each owner or operator of a commission-regulated gas pipeline
facility that is an intrastate transmission line shall provide the
commission with a valve location plan, along with any recommendations
for valve locations. The commission may make modifications to the
valve location plan or provide for variations from any location
requirements adopted by the commission pursuant to this section that
it deems necessary or appropriate and consistent with protection of
the public.
(3) The commission shall additionally establish action timelines,
adopt standards for how to prioritize installation of automatic
shut-off or remote controlled sectionalized block valves pursuant to
paragraph (1), ensure that remote and automatic shut-off valves are
installed as quickly as is reasonably possible, and establish ongoing
procedures for monitoring progress in achieving the requirements of
this section.
(b) The commission shall authorize recovery in rates for all
reasonably incurred costs incurred for implementation of the
requirements of this section.
(c) The commission, in consultation with the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the United States
Department of Transportation, shall adopt and enforce compatible
safety standards for commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities
that the commission determines should be adopted to implement the
requirements of this section.
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.