AB 1524, Committee on Utilities and Commerce. Electricity: energy crisis litigation.
Existing law, until January 1, 2016, requires the Attorney General to represent the Department of Finance and to succeed to all rights, claims, powers, and entitlements of the Electricity Oversight Board in any litigation or settlement to obtain ratepayer recovery for the effects of the 2000-02 energy crisis. Existing law additionally prohibits the Attorney General from expending the proceeds of any settlements of those claims, except as specified.
This bill would instead repeal the above-described requirements on January 1, 2018.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Section 343 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
(a) The Attorney General shall represent the Department of Finance and shall succeed to, and may exercise, all rights, claims, powers, and entitlements of the Electricity Oversight Board in any litigation or settlement to obtain ratepayer recovery for the effects of the 2000-02 energy crisis. This section does not require the Attorney General to litigate any claim, or take any other action, as successor to the Electricity Oversight Board.
(b) The Attorney General shall not distribute or expend the proceeds of any settlements of claims described in subdivision (a), except in accordance with Article 9.5 (commencing with Section 16428.1) of Chapter 2 of Part 2 of Division 4 of Title 2 of the Government Code and Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water Code.
(c) The Attorney General shall not distribute or expend the proceeds of any settlements of claims allocated to the Electricity Oversight Board.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2018, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2018, deletes or extends that date.
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