BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  SB 291
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 291 (Hill)
          As Amended  September 6, 2013
          Majority vote


           SENATE VOTE  :   36-0
           
           UTILITIES & COMMERCE          12-0                   
          APPROPRIATIONS      16-0         
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Bradford, Patterson,      |Ayes:|Gatto, Harkey, Bigelow,   |
          |     |Buchanan, Chávez, Fong,   |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |
          |     |Beth Gaines, Garcia,      |     |Calderon, Campos, Eggman, |
          |     |Roger Hernández, Quirk,   |     |Gomez, Hall, Holden,      |
          |     |Rendon, Skinner, Brown    |     |Linder, Pan, Quirk,       |
          |     |                          |     |Wagner, Weber             |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Requires the California Public Utilities Commission  
          (PUC) to develop and implement a safety enforcement program for  
          gas and electrical corporations by July 1, 2014, and January 1,  
          2015, respectively.  Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Requires PUC to develop procedures for commission staff to  
            issue corrective actions, orders and citations under the  
            direction of the Executive Director.  PUC may institute a  
            formal proceeding regardless of any enforcement action taken  
            by commission staff.

          2)Requires PUC to design the enforcement program to improve gas  
            and electrical system safety through the enforcement of  
            applicable law, order or rule.

          3)Requires the commission staff to consider the nature of the  
            violation, voluntary removal or resolution efforts, and prior  
            history of violations when issuing citations and assessing  
            penalties. 

          4)Requires the procedures to include a notification of a  
            violation, a reasonable period not to exceed 30 days to  
            correct the violation.  A hearing may be requested by the  
            party receiving the citation.








                                                                  SB 291
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          5)Requires PUC to develop an administrative limit on the amount  
            of any monetary penalty that may be set by commission staff.

          6)Requires PUC to develop and implement an appeals process  
            regarding issuances and appeals of citations.

          7)Specifies that the provisions in this bill do not apply to  
            independent generators.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, on-going costs of between $150,000 and $200,000  
          annually from the Utilities Reimbursement Account to manage  
          citations and appeals including hearings before an  
          administrative law judge.

          According to PUC, there will also be an unknown one-time  
          collection from ratepayers for the development of a database to  
          track, manage and dispense with future citations.  However, this  
          bill does not specifically require PUC to develop a database,  
          which likely will be necessary to address existing requirements  
          not associated with the bill.
           
          COMMENTS  :  According to the author, after the San Bruno  
          explosion, PUC began implementing recommendations for gas  
          safety.   However, there has been no such activity for  
          electricity safety even though between 2008 and 2011, there have  
          been an average of 11 fatalities per year on electrical  
          facilities under PUC's jurisdiction.   

          Traditional enforcement mechanisms may take over a year and are  
          usually performed in reaction to accidents involving multiple  
          fatalities or extensive property damage.  Smaller violations may  
          indicate serious problems and should be addressed in an  
          expedited manner.

          PUC currently has delegated authority to staff for violations of  
          gas safety, rail safety, water and sewer public health, electric  
          resource adequacy, Renewable Portfolio Standards (RPS) filing  
          requirements and others.

          This bill will codify the delegated enforcement authority for  
          gas safety and will provide delegated enforcement authority for  
          electric safety.









                                                                  SB 291
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           Analysis Prepared by  :    Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916)  
          319-2083 


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