BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 1409 Page A 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 Page B 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 Page C 319-2083 FN: 0004226