BILL ANALYSIS Ó ----------------------------------------------------------------- |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1409| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- UNFINISHED BUSINESS Bill No: SB 1409 Author: Hill (D) Amended: 8/21/14 Vote: 21 SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES & COMMUNICATIONS COMM : 9-0, 4/29/14 AYES: Padilla, Fuller, Block, Cannella, Corbett, DeSaulnier, Hill, Knight, Wolk NO VOTE RECORDED: De León, Pavley SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8 SENATE FLOOR : 36-0, 5/15/14 (Consent) AYES: Anderson, Beall, Berryhill, Block, Cannella, Corbett, Correa, De León, DeSaulnier, Evans, Fuller, Gaines, Galgiani, Hancock, Hernandez, Hill, Hueso, Huff, Jackson, Knight, Lara, Leno, Lieu, Liu, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nielsen, Padilla, Pavley, Roth, Steinberg, Torres, Vidak, Wolk, Wyland NO VOTE RECORDED: Calderon, Walters, Wright, Yee ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/26/14 - See last page for vote SUBJECT : Public Utilities Commission: safety investigations SOURCE : Author DIGEST : This bill requires the California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to publish an annual report that includes descriptions of investigations into gas or electric safety incidents reported by any gas or electric corporations, and CONTINUED SB 1409 Page 2 requires the PUC to publish in its annual workplan a summary of these investigations, including those that remain open, along with a link to an Internet Web site containing the annual safety investigation report. Assembly Amendments limited the reporting requirement to gas and electric safety investigations, moved the reporting requirement to a new code section, and require the PUC to summarize the new report in its annual report. ANALYSIS : Existing law: 1.Requires the PUC to investigate the cause of all accidents occurring within this state upon the property of any public utility that results in loss of life or injury to person or property. 2.Requires the PUC to develop and publish by February 1 of each year an annual workplan for the Governor, the Legislature, and the public. The workplan shall describe transactions, ratemaking proceedings, and other decisions; explain achievements and proposed activities relating to reducing energy rates; and report the number of cases where resolutions exceeded the time periods prescribed in scoping memos as well as the number of days that commissioners presided in hearings. This bill: 1.Directs the PUC to publish its annual safety investigation report beginning February 1, 2016, and requires the report to: A. Succinctly describe each safety investigation concluded during the prior calendar year, along with each investigation that remains open. B. Include the month of the incident, the reason for the investigation, the facility type involved, and the owner of the facility. 1.Requires the PUC, in its annual work plan, to include: A. A summary of staff safety investigations concluded SB 1409 Page 3 during the prior calendar year. B. Staff safety investigations that remain open for any gas corporation or electrical corporation. C. A link to the Internet Web site containing the annual gas and electric safety report. Background PUC Accident Investigations . Investigations serve multiple purposes. First, they enable utilities, PUC staff, and the public to learn from accidents and, possibly, act to prevent similar accidents from happening in the future. Second, they are used by plaintiffs to build civil cases against utilities. Third, they are a prerequisite for any PUC enforcement action. Finally, the PUC may use investigation reports to determine whether the expenses in settling accident claims against utilities are a reasonable business expense or instead a result of imprudent utility management and therefore not recoverable in future rates. The PUC received 82 natural gas incident reports and 93 electric incident reports in 2009. Many investigations are completed within a couple of months; however, investigations involving fatalities often take multiple years. It is difficult to assess whether these 175 incidents have been fully investigated - not to mention resolution of incidents that have occurred since 2009 - because the PUC has not produced an Electric, Natural Gas, and Propane Safety Report since 2009. PUC Disclosures . The PUC ordered its staff to disclose PUC-generated reports, summaries, and correspondence regarding completed PUC safety audits and investigations. The PUC generally has done so for gas and electric audits, but not for most investigations. Related Legislation AB 1456 (Hill, Chapter 469, Statutes of 2012) requires the PUC to develop performance metrics for gas safety. AB 578 (Hill, Chapter 462, Statutes of 2012) requires the PUC to address National Transportation Safety Board safety SB 1409 Page 4 recommendations regarding gas and rail. SB 291 (Hill, Chapter 601, Statutes of 2013) required the PUC to develop gas and electric safety enforcement programs that include procedures for investigations, among others. SB 900 (Hill, 2014) requires that safety performance information be placed into the record of rate case proceedings. FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes Local: No SUPPORT : (Verified 8/26/14) - - - - OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/26/14) Southern California Edison ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 79-0, 8/26/14 AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Bigelow, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau, Chávez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Donnelly, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gorell, Gray, Grove, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Roger Hernández, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder, Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Mansoor, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Patterson, Perea, John A. Pérez, V. Manuel Pérez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski, Wilk, Williams, Yamada, Atkins NO VOTE RECORDED: Vacancy JG:nld 8/27/14 Senate Floor Analyses SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE **** END **** SB 1409 Page 5