BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                            



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                       SB 1409|
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                                 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  
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          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  







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               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  







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          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

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