BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1073
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 22, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON UTILITIES AND COMMERCE
Steven Bradford, Chair
AB 1073 (Torres) - As Amended: April 18, 2013
SUBJECT : Emergency services: utility access
SUMMARY : Requires the Office of Emergency Services (OES) to
develop a universal insignia, on or before January 1, 2015, that
may be displayed on badges worn by a properly qualified and
certified utility worker or technician that would enable the
person to gain access to a location subject to a disaster or
other emergency to provide vital utility services.
Specifically, this bill :
1)Specifies that OES would be responsible for determining the
qualification and certification process that would allow a
utility worker or technician to display the insignia.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Requires OES, as established by the Governor's Reorganization
Plan No. 2, operative July 1, 2013, to establish by rule and
regulation various classes of disaster service workers and the
scope of the duties of each class.
2)States that OES adopt rules and regulations prescribing the
manner in which disaster service workers of each class are to
be registered.
3)Authorizes OES to establish a statewide registry of private
businesses and nonprofit organizations that are interested in
donating services, goods, labor, equipment, resources, or
dispensaries or other facilities for disaster preparedness.
FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Hurricane Sandy was a
reminder of the devastating impact a storm can inflict on vital
utility services. The super storm resulted in power outages of
almost 10 million customers in 21 states and the District of
Columbia. The restoration of the electric power service from
Hurricane Sandy is the biggest single task that the electric
utility industry has ever undertaken, involving almost 70,000
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utility workers in about a two week period.
The author states that utility restoral workers play a critical
role in emergency or disaster response by stabilizing and
restoring critical utility infrastructure and setting conditions
for recovery. Utility restoral workers stabilize and repair
electric, petroleum pipeline, telecommunications, gas and
water/wastewater conveyance, distribution and infrastructure to
a functional level.
The author further states that today, in the event of a disaster
or emergency, there is no reliable or standardized method for
first responders (typically police and fire) to identify
qualified utility restoral workers without first contacting a
utility provider. The utility provider in turn must locate and
dispatch employees to the scene of a disaster when response time
is critical to saving lives and property. In times of emergency
or disaster, first responders must be able to quickly identify
qualified utility restoral workers without unnecessary delays.
This measure provides utility restoral workers with a
standardized identifier which will enable immediate access to
areas within disaster zones that may otherwise be restricted to
the general public and ensure that critical time is not lost to
stabilize, repair and restore critical utility infrastructure.
1)Overview : The California Emergency Management Agency (Cal EMA)
is responsible for
mitigating the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused
emergencies which result in conditions of disaster or in extreme
peril to life, property, and the resources of the state. Cal EMA
coordinates overall state agency response to major disasters in
support of local government and assures the state's readiness to
respond to and recover from all emergencies and disasters and
for assisting local governments in their emergency preparedness,
response, recovery, and hazard mitigation efforts. Cal EMA will
become OES on July 1, 2013 due to the Governor's Reorganization
Plan No. 2.
2)Statewide efforts : The devastating impact of the 2007 and
2008 California wildfires
underscored the need for organized, synchronous exchange of
information and resources between public and private sector
organizations in mitigating against, preparing for, responding
to, and recovering from disaster events. Historically,
information and resource sharing activities between the public
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and private sectors too often took place in an ad hoc, isolated,
and reactive fashion, resulting in less than optimal assistance
to individuals, families, communities, and the economy.
Recognizing the need for stronger public-private collaboration,
legislation was enacted in 2005 and Executive Order S-04-06 was
issued, giving Cal EMA greater authority to partner with private
industries. To further support those efforts, Cal EMA signed a
Memorandum of Understanding with private sector and non-profit
organizations creating the BUOC comprised a Utility Operations
Center (UOC) and Business Operations Center (BOC).
The BUOC is intended to provide support to the state.
Furthermore, the growth of the BUOC is intended to be a
deliberate and iterative process enhanced by training,
exercises, and events that continue to build and mature
operations of the center. The fundamental goal is to continue
to enhance the quality and effectiveness of the state's response
capabilities by augmenting resources and situational awareness
with the private and non-profit sectors. In addition, all BUOC
members assist in response efforts by providing trained and
experienced staff to support BUOC activities.
3)Access needed for utility workers : The bill seeks to
re-establish what used to be known as the
Civil Defense Certification (CDC) for critical utility workers,
including telecommunications workers needing free and unfettered
access to restore emergency communications for First Responders,
governmental agencies, and health facilities following a
disaster. In carrying out such the duties prescribed under CDC
utility workers wore insignia, arm bands and any other
distinctive articles to designate and distinguish the different
civil defense services. It is not clear why this standard is no
longer in practice.
The bill sponsors, Communications Workers of America, claim that
there is currently no reliable or standard method by which First
Responders can easily identify qualified utility restoral
technicians and personnel without first contacting a utility
provider who in turn must locate and dispatch employees to the
scene of a disaster. This will be particularly important if
communications are down or utility facilities become
incapacitated. However, the committee is unaware of
circumstances where a utility restoral worker has been turned
away and unable to perform their duties due to an identification
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issue. Current practices include allowing only logo vehicles to
enter disaster zones in the first 24 hours of a disaster and
requiring public safety officials to check a utility workers'
company identification card to their California state issued
card.
Cal EMA represents that their BUOC, a component within its State
Operations Center, works with all the utility companies to
coordinate needs and access in the event of a disaster or
emergency. Cal EMA reports that they have no record, over the
past several years, where utility workers have been denied
access to a disaster/emergency site. Typically, any access
issues for utility workers at a disaster site are resolved
within minutes through the State Operations Centers.
4)Implementation concerns : While the intent of the bill is
reasonable, it is not clear how well
the provisions could be implemented. Recent amendments remove
the involvement of the private or public utility corporation
from engaging in the process to develop the insignia to be worn
by their workers. It is virtually impossible for OES to
determine which utility workers are properly qualified and
certified to wear the insignia badge. Moreover, in many
instances contract workers, not employed by the utilities, may
need access to the disaster site and this bill does not address
this circumstance. During major disasters, it is very common for
out-of-state utility workers to help in local efforts.
Presumably, these out-of-state workers may not have the
opportunity to obtain the insignia. In this scenario you would
have certain utility workers with an insignia and others without
it. If the goal is to have a universal insignia that would help
gain faster access, creating confusion would seem to counter the
goal of the legislation, especially when no such problem seems
to exist.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Communications Workers of America (CWA)
Utility Workers Union of America (UWUA) Local 132
Walnut Valley Water District
Opposition
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None on file.
Analysis Prepared by : DaVina Flemings / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083