BILL NUMBER: AB 1937 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gordon
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to add Section 955.5 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to natural gas.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1937, as amended, Gordon. Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of
2011: school and hospital notification of maintenance and
testing excavation construction of gas
pipelines.
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 Public Utilities 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.
This bill would require a gas corporation to provide not less than
3 working day's days '
notice, as specified, to the administration of a school or hospital
prior to undertaking nonemergency gas pipeline maintenance
or testing excavation construction of a gas pipeline
when the work is located within 500 feet of the school or
hospital. The bill would require the gas corporation to maintain a
record of the date and time of any notification provided to the
administration of a school or hospital and any subsequent contacts
with the administration and actions taken, if any, in response to
those subsequent contacts.
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 requirements of this bill are within the act, a
violation of these requirements 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. Section 955.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
955.5. (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Gas pipeline" means an intrastate distribution line as
described in paragraph (1) of, or an intrastate transmission line as
described in paragraph (2) of, Section 950.
(2) "Hospital" means a licensed general acute care hospital as
defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety
Code.
(3) "School" means a public or private preschool, elementary, or
secondary school.
(b) A gas corporation shall provide not less than three working
day's days ' notice to the
administration of a school or hospital prior to undertaking
nonemergency gas pipeline maintenance or testing
excavation construction of a gas pipeline if the work is
located within 500 feet of the school or hospital. The notification
shall include all of the following:
(1) The name, address, telephone number, and emergency contact
information for the gas corporation.
(2) The specific location of the gas pipeline where the
maintenance or testing work construction will be
performed.
(3) The date and time the maintenance or testing
construction is to be conducted and when the
work is expected to be completed.
(4) An invitation and a telephone number to call for further
information on what the school or hospital should do in the event of
a leak.
(c) The gas corporation shall maintain a record of the date and
time of any notification provided to the administration of a school
or hospital and any subsequent contacts with the administration and
actions taken, if any, in response to those subsequent contacts.
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.