BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó          1





                SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                                 ALEX PADILLA, CHAIR
          

          AB 1937 -  Gordon                                 Hearing Date:   
          June 23, 2014              A
          As Amended:         June 11, 2014            FISCAL       B

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                                      DESCRIPTION
           
           Current law  requires that the California Public Utilities  
          Commission (CPUC) and each gas corporation place safety of the  
          public and gas corporation employees as the top priority and  
          take all reasonable and appropriate actions to carry out this  
          policy priority. (Public Utilities Code § 963)

           Current law  requires each gas corporation to develop, adopt, and  
          implement a plan for the safe and reliable operation of its gas  
          pipeline facilities that is consistent with best practices in  
          the gas industry and that provides for the following:

                 Preventive and reactive maintenance and repair;
                 Effective patrol and inspection to detect leaks and  
               effect timely repairs;
                 Timely response to customer and employee reports of  
               leaks; and
                 Adequately sized, qualified, and properly trained  
               workforce to carry out the plan. (Public Utilities Code §  
               961)

           This bill  requires a gas corporation to provide not less than  
          three working day's notice to the administration of a school or  
          hospital prior to undertaking nonemergency gas pipeline  
          maintenance, testing or construction if the work is located  
          within 500 feet of the school or hospital and to maintain the  
          notices for at least five years.

           Current law  requires any person (excavator) planning to conduct  
          any excavation work to contact a regional notification center  











          ("call before you dig") at least two working days before the  
          work is planned.  The call triggers notification to utilities  
          (operators) that serve the area who are required to locate and  
          field mark the approximate location and, if known, the number of  
          subsurface installations that may be affected by the excavation  
          within 48 hours.  (Government Code § 4216 et seq.)

           This bill  restates the requirements of an excavator or operator  
          to comply with the call before you dig program requirements.
                                           
                                     BACKGROUND
           
          Natural Gas Regulation - The CPUC has responsibility to ensure  
          compliance with federal pipeline management standards for over  
          108,000 miles of transmission and distribution pipeline in the  
          state of California most of which is owned and operated by two  
          gas corporations. Toward this end, the CPUC reviews utility  
          reports and records, responds to inquiries and complaints from  
          the public on issues regarding gas pipeline and electric safety,  
          and also investigates accidents. 

          The safety of gas pipelines was elevated after the September,  
          2010 explosion of a natural gas transmission line in a  
          residential neighborhood in the City of San Bruno.  The rupture  
          caused an explosion and fire which took the lives of eight  
          people and injured dozens more; destroyed 37 homes and damaged  
          dozens more.

          Call Before You Dig - To protect people who live and work near  
          buried pipes and cables, and to save the costs associated with  
          damage to underground infrastructure, state law include a  
          sequential system to aid excavators in locating subsurface  
          installations.  Entities that own, operate, or maintain  
          subsurface installations must join a non-profit regional  
          notification center (RNC) to provide advance warning of  
          under-ground installations close to proposed excavation  
          projects.  Except in an emergency, anyone planning to dig in an  
          area with underground installations must notify the appropriate  
          RNC at least two days before breaking ground.  The potentially  
          affected underground installation operators must locate and  
          field mark the approximate location of their installations.   
          Excavators must then determine the exact location of the  
          subsurface installations by using hand tools, with limited  
          exceptions, to excavate within the field markings. 











          Despite state laws governing underground excavations, many  
          excavators fail to RNCs before they dig or improperly excavate  
          around marked underground facilities.  Excavation accidents can  
          damage vital infrastructure, disrupt utility services, harm the  
          environment, impose substantial costs on underground facility  
          operators, and sometimes cause injuries or deaths.  

                                       COMMENTS
           
              1.   Author's Purpose  .  Currently, there is nothing in  
               statute or in CPUC regulation that requires the public  
               noticing of schools or hospitals in California when there  
               is planned gas pipeline construction/excavation/maintenance  
               or testing in the direct vicinity of schools or hospitals.

               An increasing number of significant natural gas pipeline  
               accidents in California have received attention throughout  
               the country over the past several years.  The most visible  
               of those took place in San Bruno in late 2010, and  
               additional natural gas accidents in Cupertino and Roseville  
               at the end of 2011 also highlight exactly how pervasive our  
               problems really are. 

               There are numerous locations throughout California where a  
               gas pipeline exists on or adjacent to school and hospital  
               property. There have been an increasing number of instances  
               where schools are being evacuated due to gas pipelines  
               being struck when maintenance or excavations are being  
               performed, and these circumstances have resulted in the  
               public's safety being put at risk. As such, there are  
               currently no public noticing requirements to schools (or  
               hospitals) in statute or CPUC regulations, regarding  
               noticing when maintenance or pipeline testing is being  
               performed, and AB 1937 will be a tool to improve the safety  
               of the public.

               Undoubtedly, it is in the public's best interest to ensure  
               that public gathering places, such as schools and  
               hospitals, are given ample notice of a gas company's  
               pipeline excavation/construction or testing, especially  
               when the work is located in the direct vicinity of some of  
               California's most precious, and potentially vulnerable,  
               human resources. 











              2.   Disaster Planning  .  Proponents opine that this bill will  
               aid their efforts in disaster planning.  However, the two  
               recent incidents of gas leaks at school sites which forced  
               evacuations would not have been affected by this bill.  
               Those leaks were the result of construction crews which  
               "dug-in" to gas pipelines and forced emergency response and  
               repairs by the local gas corporations.  

              3.   Cross-Reference  .  This bill restates an existing  
               obligation in the Government Code for all individuals,  
               contractors or businesses to "call before you dig" to  
               trigger the marking of all underground lines, pipes and  
               cables by operators of that infrastructure.  The  
               cross-reference is not necessary.  Gas corporations are  
               fully aware of their responsibility to "call before you  
               dig."  The CPUC has attempted in the past to expand their  
               jurisdiction to include enforcement call requirements on  
               contractors and others not currently regulated by the CPUC.  
                There is concern that this cross-reference could be  
               interpreted as authorizing that work.  To prevent  
               confusion, the author and committee may wish to consider  
               striking this reference at page 4, lines 15 through 21.  

                                    ASSEMBLY VOTES
           
          Assembly Floor                     (73-0)
          Assembly Appropriations Committee  (17-0)
          Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee                       
          (12-0)

                                       POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          Author

           Support:
           
          California Hospital Association
          Office of Ratepayer Advocates

           Oppose:
           










          None on file

          

          Kellie Smith 
          AB 1937 Analysis
          Hearing Date:  June 23, 2014