SB 1028, as amended, Hill. Electrical corporations: local publicly owned electric utilities: electrical cooperatives: wildfire mitigation plans.
The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission, authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and authorizes the Legislature, unlimited by the other provisions of the California Constitution, to confer additional authority and jurisdiction upon the commission that is cognate and germane to the regulation of public utilities. The Public Utilities Act provides the commission with broad authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities and electrical cooperatives are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law establishes requirements for equipment, practices, and facilities for public utilities, including standards, enforceable by the commission, for installation and maintenance of wires or cables used to conduct electricity. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
This bill would require each electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, and electrical cooperative to construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment. The bill would require each electrical corporation to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. The bill would require each electrical corporation to submit its plan to the commission for approval, as specified. The bill would require the commission to accept, accept provisionally, or reject the submitted plan, as specified. The bill would require the governing board of a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to determine whether any portion of the geographical area where the
utility’s overhead electrical lines and equipment are located has a significant risk of catastrophic wildfire resulting from those electrical lines and equipment and, if so, would require the local publicly owned electric utility or electricalbegin delete cooperative to annuallyend deletebegin insert cooperative, at an interval determined by the board, toend insert present to the board for its approval those wildfire mitigation measures the utility intends to undertake to minimize the risk of its overhead electrical lines and equipment causing a catastrophic wildfire. By placing additional duties upon local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Because a violation of these provisions by an electrical corporation would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 8385) is
2added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
3
(a) For purposes of this chapter, the following shall
7apply:
8(1) “Compliance period” means a one-year period beginning
9approximately with the start of the fall fire season for the service
P3 1territory of the electrical corporation, electrical cooperative, or
2local publicly owned electric utility.
3(2) “Electrical cooperative” has the same meaning as defined
4in Section 2776.
5(b) The commission shall supervise an electrical corporation’s
6compliance with the requirements of this chapter pursuant to the
7Public Utilities Act (Part 1 (commencing with
Section 201) of
8Division 1). Nothing in this chapter provides the commission with
9authority or jurisdiction over an electrical cooperative or local
10publicly owned electrical corporation.
(a) Each electrical corporation shall construct, maintain,
12and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will
13minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical
14lines and equipment.
15(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually, on or before
16February 1, prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan for the
17next compliance period to the commission for acceptance. The
18wildfire mitigation plan shall include:
19(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible
20for executing the plan.
21(2) The objectives of the plan.
22(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to
23be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its
24electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires.
25(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans
26to use to evaluate the plan’s performance and the assumptions that
27underlie the use of those metrics.
28(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified
29metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.
30(6) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical
31corporation will use to do the following:
32(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.
33(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plan’s
34implementation and correct those deficiencies.
35(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of inspections, including
36inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan.
37(7) Any other information that the commission may require.
38(c) The commission shall act expeditiously, but no later than
3930 days before the beginning of the compliance period, to accept,
P4 1accept provisionally, or reject the electrical corporation’s wildfire
2mitigation plan.
3(1) Any provisional acceptance by the
commission shall state
4all of the following:
5(A) The period for which the provisional acceptance will be in
6force.
7(B) The extent to which the wildfire mitigation plan has been
8accepted.
9(C) Any limitations or conditions that shall apply during the
10provisional acceptance period.
11(2) If the commission rejects the electrical corporation’s wildfire
12mitigation plan, the commission shall provide the electrical
13corporation with an opportunity to resubmit a wildfire mitigation
14plan within 30 days.
15(3) If the commission determines that an electrical corporation
16will not be able to prepare an
acceptable wildfire mitigation plan
17before the beginning of the compliance period, the commission
18may determine the contents of the electrical corporation’s wildfire
19mitigation plan.
20(d) The commission shall conduct or contract for audits to
21determine if an electrical corporation is satisfactorily complying
22with its accepted wildfire mitigation plan.
23(e) The commission may contract with an independent third
24party to evaluate wildfire mitigation plans or to conduct audits and
25inspections authorized by this section, and may require electrical
26corporations to reimburse any related expenses.
(a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and
28electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its
29electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the
30risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical lines and
31equipment.
32(b) The governing board of the local publicly owned electric
33utility or electrical cooperative shall determine, based on historical
34fire data and local conditions, and in consultation with the fire
35departments or other entities responsible for control of wildfires
36within the geographical area where the utility’s overhead electrical
37lines and equipment are located, whether any portion of that
38geographical area has a
significant risk of catastrophic wildfire
39resulting from those electrical lines and equipment.
P5 1(c) If, pursuant to subdivision (b), the governing board
2determines that there is a significant risk of catastrophic wildfire
3resulting from the utility’s electrical lines and equipment, the local
4publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperativebegin delete shall begin insert shall, at an interval determined by the board,end insert present to
5annuallyend delete
6the board for its approval those wildfire mitigation measures the
7utility intends to undertake to minimize the risk of its overhead
8electrical lines and equipment causing a catastrophic wildfire.
9
(d) A fire prevention plan prepared by the local publicly owned
10electric utility or electrical cooperative, submitted to and approved
11by a federal agency as a license condition pursuant to subsection
12(e) of Section 4 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. Sec. 797 (e))
13may, at the discretion of the governing board, be deemed to meet
14the requirements of this chapter for those areas covered by the
15fire prevention plan.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
17Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
18a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service
19charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or
20level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be
21incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred
22because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a
23crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction,
24within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or
25changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6
26of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.
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