BILL NUMBER: AB 1937	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Gordon

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2014

   An act to amend Section 956 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to natural gas.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1937, as introduced, Gordon. Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of
2011: emergency response standards.
   Existing federal law requires the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials
Safety Administration (PHMSA) within the United States Department of
Transportation, 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 submits to the secretary
annually a certification for the facilities and 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.
   The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011, within the Public
Utilities Act, designates 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
act requires the commission, by July 1, 2012, to open an appropriate
proceeding or expand the scope of an existing proceeding to establish
compatible emergency response standards that owners or operators of
certain commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities would be
required to follow. The standards require owners or operators of
intrastate transmission and distribution lines to implement emergency
response plans that are compatible with PHMSA's regulations
concerning emergency plans. The act requires the commission to report
to the Legislature on the status of establishing the compatible
emergency response standards on or before January 1, 2013.
   This bill would delete the requirement that the commission report
to the Legislature on the status of establishing the compatible
emergency response standards on or before January 1, 2013.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  Section 956 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   956.  (a)  On or before July 1, 2012, the commission shall open an
appropriate proceeding or expand the scope of an existing proceeding
to establish compatible emergency response standards that owners or
operators of commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities shall be
required to follow for intrastate transmission and distribution
lines. The commission shall establish the standards to ensure that
intrastate transmission and distribution lines have emergency
response plans that adequately prepare them for a natural disaster or
malfunction that could cause injury to human life or property, with
the purpose of minimizing the occurrence of both.
   (b) The commission shall establish the compatible emergency
response standards in consultation with the California Emergency
Management Agency, the State Fire Marshal, and members of California'
s first responder community including, but not limited to, members of
the California Fire Chiefs Association.
   (c) The compatible emergency response standards shall require
owners or operators of intrastate transmission and distribution lines
to implement emergency response plans that are compatible with the
United States Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration's regulations concerning emergency
plans contained in Section 192.615 of Title 49 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, and those plans shall include, but not be limited to,
all of the following requirements:
   (1) Emergency shutdown and pressure reduction shall be utilized
whenever deemed necessary and appropriate by the owners or operators
to minimize hazards to life or property. An owner or operator shall
notify appropriate first responders of emergency shutdown and
pressure reduction.
   (2) During an emergency response effort, the incident commander
may direct coordination between first responders and owners or
operators to ensure timely and ongoing communication on decisions for
emergency shutdown and pressure reduction.
   (3) Owners or operators of intrastate transmission and
distribution lines shall establish and maintain liaison with
appropriate fire, police, and other public officials to do all of the
following:
   (A) Learn the responsibility and resources of each government
organization that may respond to a gas pipeline emergency, including,
but not limited to, the role of the incident commander in an
emergency.
   (B) Acquaint the officials with the owner's or operator's ability
in responding to a gas pipeline emergency.
   (C) Identify the types of gas pipeline emergencies of which the
owner or operator notifies the officials.
   (D) Plan how the owner or operator and officials can engage in
mutual assistance to minimize hazards to life or property.
   (E) Identify and update information on individual personnel
responsible for the liaison with the appropriate first responder
organizations.
   (4) Owners and operators of intrastate transmission lines shall
provide the State Fire Marshal and the chief fire official of the
applicable city, county, city and county, or fire protection district
with instructions on how to access and utilize the National Pipeline
Mapping System developed by the United States Department of
Transportation, Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety
Administration, utilizing data submitted pursuant to Section 60132 of
Title 49 of the United States Code, to improve local response
capabilities for pipeline emergencies. 
   (d) (1) The commission shall report to the Legislature on the
status of establishing the compatible emergency response standards on
or before January 1, 2013.  
   (2) A report to be submitted pursuant to paragraph (1) shall be
submitted in compliance with Section 9795 of the Government Code.