BILL NUMBER: SB 767	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Lieu

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Section 216 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 767, as introduced, Lieu. Public utilities.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities and can establish its own
procedures, subject to statutory limitations or directions and
constitutional requirements of due process. The Public Utilities Act
provides the commission with specified regulatory authorities over
public utilities. The act defines the term "public utilities" for the
purposes of the act.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to that
definition.
   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 216 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   216.  (a) "Public utility" includes every common carrier, toll
bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical
corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water
corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where
the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the
public or any portion thereof.
   (b) Whenever  any   a  common carrier,
toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation,
electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation,
water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation
performs a service for, or delivers a commodity to, the public or any
portion thereof for which any compensation or payment whatsoever is
received, that common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline
corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone
corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system
corporation, or heat corporation, is a public utility subject to the
jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the commission and 
the provisions of  this part.
   (c) When  any   a  person or corporation
performs  any   a  service for, or
delivers  any   a  commodity to, any
person, private corporation, municipality, or other political
subdivision of the state, that in turn either directly or indirectly,
mediately or immediately, performs that service for, or delivers
that commodity to, the public or any portion thereof, that person or
corporation is a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control,
and regulation of the commission and  the provisions of
 this part.
   (d) Ownership or operation of a facility that employs cogeneration
technology or produces power from other than a conventional power
source or the ownership or operation of a facility which employs
landfill gas technology does not make a corporation or person a
public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of
the ownership or operation of that facility.
   (e)  Any   A  corporation or person
engaged directly or indirectly in developing, producing,
transmitting, distributing, delivering, or selling any form of heat
derived from geothermal or solar resources or from cogeneration
technology to  any   a  privately owned or
publicly owned public utility, or to the public or any portion
thereof, is not a public utility within the meaning of this section
solely by reason of engaging in any of those activities.
   (f) The ownership or operation of a facility that sells compressed
natural gas at retail to the public for use only as a motor vehicle
fuel, and the selling of compressed natural gas at retail from that
facility to the public for use only as a motor vehicle fuel, does not
make the corporation or person a public utility within the meaning
of this section solely because of that ownership, operation, or sale.

   (g) Ownership or operation of a facility that is an exempt
wholesale generator, as defined in the Public Utility Holding Company
Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 16451(6)), does not make a corporation
or person a public utility within the meaning of this section, solely
due to the ownership or operation of that facility.
   (h) The ownership, control, operation, or management of an
electric plant used for direct transactions or participation directly
or indirectly in direct transactions, as permitted by subdivision
(b) of Section 365, sales into a market established and operated by
the Independent System Operator or any other wholesale electricity
market, or the use or sale as permitted under subdivisions (b) to
(d), inclusive, of Section 218, shall not make a corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, participation, or sale.
   (i) The ownership, control, operation, or management of a facility
that supplies electricity to the public only for use to charge light
duty plug-in electric vehicles does not make the corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, control, operation, or management. For
purposes of this subdivision, "light duty plug-in electric vehicles"
includes light duty battery electric and plug-in hybrid electric
vehicles. This subdivision does not affect the commission's authority
under Section 454 or 740.2 or any other applicable statute.