BILL NUMBER: AB 2773 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 28, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk
FEBRUARY 19, 2016
An act to amend Section 884 of the Public Utilities
25421 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to
broadband services. biomethane.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 2773, as amended, Quirk. Broadband services.
Biomethane.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission, by rule or
order, to adopt standards for biomethane that is to be injected into
a common carrier pipeline that specify, for constituents that may be
found in that biomethane, concentrations that are reasonably
necessary to ensure the protection of human health, and pipeline and
pipeline facility integrity and safety. Pursuant to this requirement,
the commission has adopted standards to ensure the protection of
human health, and pipeline and pipeline facility integrity and
safety, in part by establishing a biomethane minimum heating value,
which is a measure of the energy content, a biomethane siloxane
trigger level, which gives rise to a monitoring requirement, and a
biomethane siloxane lower action level, which is used in screening
gas supplies.
This bill would require the commission to modify the minimum
heating value and the siloxane trigger and lower action levels, as
specified.
Existing law establishes the California Teleconnect Fund
Administrative Committee Fund in the State Treasury, requires that
moneys from the fund only be expended upon appropriation in the
annual Budget Act or upon supplemental appropriation, and requires
that the moneys appropriated be utilized exclusively by the
commission for authorized teleconnect programs. Existing law
authorizes the commission to expend up to $2,000,000 of the
unencumbered amount of those funds for the nonrecurring installation
costs for high-speed broadband services for community organizations
that are eligible for discounted rates, as specified. Existing law
defines "high-speed broadband services" for these purposes to mean a
system for the digital transmission of information over the Internet
at a speed of at least 384 kilobits per second.
This bill would change the minimum speed in that definition from
384 kilobits per second to 500 kilobits per second.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25421 of the Health
and Safety Code is amended to read:
25421. (a) On or before May 15, 2013, all of the following shall
be completed:
(1) The office, in consultation with the board, the department,
CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, shall
compile a list of constituents of concern that could pose risks to
human health and that are found in biogas at concentrations that
significantly exceed the concentrations of those constituents in
natural gas. The office, in consultation with the board, the
department, CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection
Agency, shall update this list at least every five years.
(2) The office shall determine health protective levels for the
list of constituents of concern identified pursuant to paragraph (1).
In determining those health protective levels, the office shall
consider potential health impacts and risks, including, but not
limited to, health impacts and risks to utility workers and gas end
users. The office shall update these levels at least every five
years.
(3) The board shall identify realistic exposure scenarios and, in
consultation with the office, shall identify the health risks
associated with the exposure scenarios for the constituents of
concern identified by the office pursuant to paragraph (1). The board
shall update the exposure scenarios, and, in consultation with the
office, the health risks associated with the exposure scenarios, at
least every five years.
(4) Upon completion of the responsibilities required pursuant to
paragraphs (1) through (3), the board, in consultation with the
office, the department, CalRecycle, and the California Environmental
Protection Agency shall determine the appropriate concentrations of
constituents of concern. In determining those concentrations, the
board shall use the health protective levels identified pursuant to
paragraph (2) and the exposure scenarios identified pursuant to
paragraph (3). The concentrations shall be updated at least every
five years by the board in consultation with the office, the
department, CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection
Agency.
(5) The board, in consultation with the office, the department,
CalRecycle, and the California Environmental Protection Agency, shall
identify reasonable and prudent monitoring, testing, reporting, and
recordkeeping requirements, separately for each source of biogas,
that are sufficient to ensure compliance with the health protective
standards adopted pursuant to subdivision (d). The board, in
consultation with the office, the department, CalRecycle and the
California Environmental Protection Agency shall update the
monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements at
least every five years.
(b) Actions taken pursuant to subdivision (a) shall not constitute
regulations and shall be exempt from the administrative regulations
and rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Division 2 of Title 2
of the Government Code).
(c) (1) On or before December 31, 2013, for
biomethane that is to be injected into a common carrier pipeline, the
commission shall, by rule or order, adopt standards that specify,
for constituents that may be found in that biomethane, concentrations
that are reasonably necessary to ensure both of the following:
(1)
(A) The protection of human health. In making this
specification, the commission shall give due deference to the
determinations of the board pursuant to paragraph (4) of subdivision
(a).
(2)
(B) Pipeline and pipeline facility integrity and
safety.
(2) On or before June 1, 2017, the commission shall, for the
injection of biomethane into common carrier pipelines, do both of the
following:
(A) Modify the minimum heating value requirement of biomethane to
allow for the injection of biomethane without first being blended
upstream with other fuel to account for the downstream blending
occurring naturally in the pipeline. The commission shall consider
modifying the minimum heating value for biomethane from 990 British
thermal units per standard cubic foot (Btu/scf) to 970 Btu/scf.
(B) Modify the siloxane trigger level and lower action level to
reflect a reasonable standard that can be met by siloxane processing
equipment manufacturers and suppliers and for which those
manufacturers and suppliers are willing to provide performance
guarantees. The commission shall consider modifying the siloxane
trigger level to 1.0 milligram of silicon per square meter (mg Si/m3)
and the lower action level to 2.5 mg Si/m3.
(d) To ensure pipeline and pipeline facility integrity and safety,
on or before December 31, 2013, the commission, giving due deference
to the board's determinations, shall, by rule or order, adopt the
monitoring, testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements
identified pursuant to paragraph (5) of subdivision (a).
(e) Every five years, or earlier if new information becomes
available, the commission shall review and update the standards for
the protection of human health and pipeline integrity and safety
adopted pursuant to subdivision (c), as well as the monitoring,
testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements adopted pursuant
to subdivision (d).
(f) (1) A person shall not inject biogas into a common carrier
pipeline unless the biogas satisfies both the standards set by the
commission pursuant to subdivision (c), as well as the monitoring,
testing, reporting, and recordkeeping requirements of subdivision
(d).
(2) The commission shall require gas corporation tariffs to
condition access to common carrier pipelines on the applicable
customer meeting the standards and requirements adopted by the
commission pursuant to subdivisions (c) and (d).
(g) (1) A person shall not knowingly sell, supply, or transport,
or knowingly cause to be sold, supplied, or transported, biogas
collected from a hazardous waste landfill to a gas corporation
through a common carrier pipeline.
(2) A gas corporation shall not knowingly purchase gas collected
from a hazardous waste landfill through a common carrier pipeline.
SECTION 1. Section 884 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
884. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that any program
administered by the commission that addresses the inequality of
access to high-speed broadband services by providing those services
to schools and libraries at a discounted price, provide comparable
discounts to a nonprofit community technology program.
(b) Notwithstanding any other law or existing program of the
commission, but consistent with the purposes for which those funds
were appropriated from the California Teleconnect Fund Administrative
Committee Fund in Item 8660-001-0493 of Section 2.00 of the Budget
Act of 2003 (Chapter 157 of the Statutes of 2003), and reappropriated
in Item 8660-491 of Section 2.00 of the Budget Act of 2006 (Chapter
47 of the Statutes of 2006), the commission may expend up to two
million dollars ($2,000,000) of the unencumbered amount of those
funds for the nonrecurring installation costs for high-speed
broadband services for community organizations that are eligible for
discounted rates pursuant to Section 280.
(c) For the purpose of this section:
(1) "High-speed broadband services" means a system for the digital
transmission of information over the Internet at a speed of at least
500 kilobits per second.
(2) "Nonprofit community technology program" means a
community-based nonprofit organization that is exempt from taxation
under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code and engages in
diffusing technology into local communities and training local
communities that have no access to, or have limited access to, the
Internet and advanced telecommunications technologies.