BILL NUMBER: SB 1041 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 7, 2016
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hueso
FEBRUARY 12, 2016
An act to amend Section 25301 of the Public Resources
add Section 749.5 to, and to add Part 3 (commencing
with Section 9525) to Division 4.8 of, the Public Utilities
Code, relating to energy.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1041, as amended, Hueso. Energy: assessments and
forecasts. electric and gas rates: public elementary
and secondary schools.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations
and gas corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities
are under the direction of their governing board. Existing law
authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for electrical
corporations and gas corporations, and requires that those rates and
charges be just and reasonable. Existing law requires public
utilities to develop programs in cooperation with local school
districts in reducing their electricity and gas bills through
conservation and improvements in efficiency and authorizes public
utilities to offer school districts on a priority basis programs or
incentives for commercial customers developed by the utility and
approved by the commission, including rebates, loan programs, and
incentives for the installation of efficient lighting, heating, or
cooling systems.
This bill would require each electrical corporation and gas
corporation to develop and submit to the commission for its approval
a rate for service applicable to public elementary and secondary
schools that is just and reasonable and reflects the costs of
providing service to those schools. Because this requirement is part
of the Public Utilities Act and would require an act by the
commission for its implementation and because a violation of the
Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand,
or requirement of the commission is a crime, the bill would impose a
state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
This bill would require a local publicly owned electric utility to
develop and submit to its governing board for its approval a rate
for service applicable to public elementary and secondary schools
that is just and reasonable and reflects the costs of providing
service to those schools. By imposing additional duties upon local
publicly owned electric utilities, 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.
Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, at least every 2 years, to conduct
assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply,
production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and
prices.
This bill would make nonsubstantive changes to this provision.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no
yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) The California Constitution authorizes the Public Utilities
Commission to fix the rates of public utilities in the state and the
Public Utilities Act requires that all charges of a public utility be
just and reasonable.
(b) The cost-causation principle, that rates should reflect the
cost of providing service, guides the commission's ratemaking
decisions involving electrical corporations and gas corporations.
(c) The state funds public elementary and secondary schools to
provide for the education of the state's children and young people.
(d) The state's public elementary and secondary schools represent
a category of energy users that differs from commercial categories of
energy users.
(e) The state has enacted numerous measures to directly and
indirectly reduce the amount of money that public elementary and
secondary schools spend on utility bills so that they may focus their
limited resources on education.
(f) Recently, many public elementary and secondary schools in the
state have experienced dramatic increases in the rates they pay for
electricity, thereby increasing their overall utility bills and
decreasing the moneys available for education.
(g) For example, in the San Diego region, the bills for electric
service paid by some public elementary and secondary schools have
increased considerably, despite no change in those schools' energy
usage.
(h) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission, in
reviewing and approving an electrical or gas corporation's rates that
are applicable to public elementary and secondary schools, act
according to the cost-causation principle.
SEC. 2. Section 749.5 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
749.5. Each electrical corporation and gas corporation shall
develop and submit to the commission for its approval a rate for
service applicable to public elementary and secondary schools that is
just and reasonable and reflects the costs of providing service to
those schools.
SEC. 3. Part 3 (commencing with Section 9525) is
added to Division 4.8 of the Public Utilities Code
, to read:
PART 3. RATES
9525. A local publicly owned electric utility shall develop and
submit to its governing board for its approval a rate for service
applicable to public elementary and secondary schools that is just
and reasonable and reflects the costs of providing service to those
schools.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act
pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution because a local agency or school district has the
authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to
pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act or
because costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school
district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or
infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty
for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the
Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the
meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California
Constitution.
SECTION 1. Section 25301 of the Public
Resources Code is amended to read:
25301. (a) At least every two years, the commission shall conduct
assessments and forecasts of all aspects of energy industry supply,
production, transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and
prices. The commission shall use these assessments and forecasts to
develop and evaluate energy policies and programs that conserve
resources, protect the environment, ensure energy reliability,
enhance the state's economy, and protect public health and safety. To
perform these assessments and forecasts, the commission may require
submission of demand forecasts, resource plans, market assessments,
related outlooks, individual customer historic electric or gas
service usage, or both, and individual customer historic billing
data, in a format and level of granularity specified by the
commission from electric and natural gas utilities, transportation
fuel and technology suppliers, and other market participants. These
assessments and forecasts shall be done in consultation with the
appropriate state and federal agencies including, but not limited to,
the Public Utilities Commission, the Office of Ratepayer Advocates,
the State Air Resources Board, the Independent System Operator, the
Department of Water Resources, the Department of Transportation, and
the Department of Motor Vehicles. The commission shall maintain
reasonable policies and procedures to protect customer information
from unauthorized disclosure.
(b) In developing the assessments and forecasts prepared pursuant
to subdivision (a), the commission shall do all of the following:
(1) Provide information about the performance of energy
industries.
(2) Develop and maintain the analytical capability sufficient to
answer inquiries about energy issues from government, market
participants, and the public.
(3) Analyze, develop, and evaluate energy policies and programs.
(4) Provide an analytical foundation for regulatory and policy
decisionmaking.
(5) Facilitate efficient and reliable energy markets.