BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                                                                  SB 1409
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          SENATE THIRD READING
          SB 1409 (Hill)
          As Amended  June 4, 2014
          Majority vote 

           SENATE VOTE  :36-0  
           
           UTILITIES & COMMERCE             14-0                
          APPROPRIATIONS      17-0        
           
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
          |Ayes:|Bradford, Patterson,      |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow,           |
          |     |Bonilla, Buchanan,        |     |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian  |
          |     |Chávez, Dahle, Fong, Beth |     |Calderon, Campos,         |
          |     |Gaines, Garcia,           |     |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez,  |
          |     |Roger Hernández, Jones,   |     |Holden, Jones, Linder,    |
          |     |Mullin, Quirk, Rendon     |     |Pan, Quirk,               |
          |     |                          |     |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner,    |
          |     |                          |     |Lowenthal                 |
          |-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
          |     |                          |     |                          |
           ----------------------------------------------------------------- 
           SUMMARY  :  Requires descriptions of staff safety investigations  
          to be included in the California Public Utilities Commission's  
          (PUC) annual workplan.  Specifically,  this bill  :   

          1)Requires the PUC to provide a succinct description of each  
            open staff safety investigation and each staff safety  
            investigation concluded within the last year, to include the  
            month of the incident, reason for the investigation, the  
            facility type involved, and the owner of the facility. 

          2)Requires the PUC to annually submit this information as part  
            of the workplan to the Governor and Legislature no later than  
            February 1 of each year.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  According to the Assembly Appropriations  
          Committee, minor, if any, additional state costs.

           COMMENTS  :   

          1)Author's statement:  "An annual reporting requirement will  
            raise the profile of accident investigations with CPUC  
            management and the public and will be consistent with the  









                                                                  SB 1409
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            CPUC's focus on transparency in safety matters."

          2)PUC safety investigations.  Safety investigations serve  
            various purposes.  They a) help utilities, PUC staff, and the  
            public learn from accidents and prevent future accidents; b)  
            serve as a prerequisite for PUC enforcement actions; and c)  
            guide decisions related to whether claims against utilities  
            are an expense recoverable in future rates.

            The PUC has issued several orders related to safety  
            investigations, but even with these rules in place,  
            information surrounding safety investigations is not always  
            available.  According to the PUC's 2009 (and regrettably, most  
            recent) Electric, Natural Gas, and Propane Safety Report, the  
            PUC received 82 reports related to natural gas incidents and  
            93 related to electric incidents in 2009.<1>  A typical  
            timetable for investigations is not outlined, thus it is  
            unclear whether incidents occurring in 2009 have been fully  
            investigated.  Furthermore, the number of incidents occurring  
            since 2009 is unknown. 

            Safety investigations are initially conducted by PUC staff,  
            and if deemed necessary, the commission may open a formal  
            proceeding (an order instituting investigation - OII) to  
            further investigate the incident.  OIIs are outlined in the  
            PUC's annual workplan, but the open staff safety  
            investigations are not.  This bill seeks to require inclusion  
            and descriptions of open PUC staff safety investigations in  
            the annual workplan.

          3)PUC rulemaking on safety enforcement.  As per SB 291 (Hill),  
            Chapter 601, Statutes of 2013, the PUC has opened a proceeding  
            to implement an electric safety enforcement program by January  
            1, 2015, and a gas safety enforcement program by July 1,  
            2014.<2>


           Analysis Prepared by  :    Brandon Gaytan / U. & C. / (916)  
          ---------------------------
          <1>  
           http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/BDDBF3F2-8BE0-4C70-8D25-7987A 
          CF3E7CD/0/2009USRBANNUALREPORT.pdf  
          <2>  
           http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M091/K638/91 
          638006.PDF  








                                                                  SB 1409
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          319-2083 


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