Amended in Senate May 27, 2016

Amended in Senate April 11, 2016

Senate Bill No. 1049

Introduced by Senator Hill

February 12, 2016

An act to amend Section 316 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to energy public utilities.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1049, as amended, Hill. Electrical corporations and gas corporations: accident investigations.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011 requires each gas corporation to develop a plan, as specified, for the safe and reliable operation of its commission-regulated gas pipeline facility, as defined. Existing law requires the commission to adopt inspection, maintenance, repair, and replacement standards for the distribution systems of electrical corporations in order to provide begin delete high quality end delete begin insert high-quality end insert , safe, and reliable service. Existing law requires every electrical corporation to cooperate fully with the commission in an investigation into any major accident or any reportable incident, as defined by the commission, concerning overhead electric supply facilities, regardless of pending litigation or other investigations, including those that may be related to a commission investigation. Existing law requires every electrical begin delete corporation end delete begin insert corporation, end insert begin insert after the scene of the incident has been made safe and service has been restored, end insert to provide the commission, upon its request, immediate access to specified begin insert evidence, information, and end insert documents, including any and all documents under the electrical corporation’s control that are related to the incident and are not subject to attorney-client privilege or attorney work product doctrine.

This bill would require every electrical corporation to cooperate fully with the commission in an investigation into any major accident or any reportable incident concerning any electric supply facilities, rather than only overhead electric supply facilities. The bill would begin delete require every gas corporation to cooperate fully with the commission in an investigation into any major accident or any reportable incident concerning commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities, regardless of pending litigation or other investigations. The bill would require each electrical corporation and gas corporation, after the scene of the incident has been made safe and, in the case of a major outage, service has been restored, to provide the commission, upon request, with access to all measurements of every utility instrumentality or facility in the vicinity of the incident, all calculations regarding every instrumentality or facility in the vicinity of the incident, any analysis regarding the cause, or causes, of the incident, and any recording or paraphrasing of any statement by a witness. end delete begin insert make the above-described requirements that are currently applicable to an electrical corporation additionally applicable to gas corporations, but would permit all of these corporations to postpone commission access to the specified evidence, information, and documents until after service restoration only in the case of a major outage. The bill would provide that facts, information, or documents that concern, discuss, or analyze an accident or a failure involving electrical corporation or gas corporation facilities, but that themselves are not privileged or subject to the attorney work product doctrine, may not be withheld from the commission on the basis that they are or were referenced or discussed in a communication with counsel or incorporated into an attorney’s work product. end insert

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.

Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.

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 a specified reason.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: yes.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 316 of the Public Utilities Code is
amended to read:

316.  

(a) Each electrical corporation and gas corporation shall
cooperate fully with the commission in an investigation into any
major accident or any reportable incident, as these terms are defined
by the commission, concerning electric supply facilities and
commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities, regardless of pending
litigation or other investigations, including, but not limited to,
those that may be related to a commission investigation.

(b) After the scene of the incident has been made safe and, in
the case of a major outage, service has been restored, each electrical
corporation and gas corporation shall provide the commission,
upon its request, immediate access to all of the following:

(1) Any factual or physical evidence under the electrical or gas
corporation’s, or its agent’s, physical control, custody, or
possession related to the incident.

(2) The name and contact information of any known percipient
witness.

(3) Any employee percipient witness under the electrical or gas
corporation’s control.

(4) The name and contact information of any person or entity
that has taken possession of any physical evidence removed from
the site of the incident.

begin delete

(5) Each and every measurement of every utility instrumentality
or facility in the vicinity of the incident. Historical, as well as
post-incident measurements, shall be produced. Measurements of
instrumentalities or facilities not owned by the utility shall also be
produced, if those measurements are available.

(6) Each and every calculation regarding every instrumentality
or facility in the vicinity of the incident. Historical, as well as
postincident, calculations shall be produced.

(7) Each and every analysis regarding the cause, or causes, of
the incident. Each analysis shall be produced regardless of whether
identified as a root cause analysis, a causal evaluation, a failure
analysis, a storm register, or identified in some other manner.

(8) Each and every recording or paraphrasing of any statement
by a witness.

(9)

end delete

begin insert (5) end insert  Any and all documents under the electrical or gas
corporation’s control that are related to the incident and are not
subject to attorney-client privilege or the attorney work product
doctrine. begin insert Facts, information, or documents that concern, discuss,
or analyze an accident or a failure involving utility facilities, but
that themselves are not privileged or subject to the attorney work
product doctrine, may not be withheld from the commission on the
basis that they are or were referenced or discussed in a
communication with counsel or incorporated into an attorney’s
work product. end insert

(c) Each electrical corporation and gas corporation shall preserve
any and all documents or evidence it collects as part of its own
investigation related to the incident for at least five years or a
shorter period of time as authorized by the commission.

(d) Any and all documents collected by an electrical corporation
or gas corporation pursuant to this section shall be catalogued and
preserved in an accessible manner for assessment by commission
investigators as determined by the commission.

SEC. 2.  

No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because
the only 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.