BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



          SENATE COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                             Senator Ricardo Lara, Chair
                            2015 - 2016  Regular  Session

          SB 1222 (Hertzberg) - Public Utilities Commission:  reports
          
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          |Version: April 27, 2016         |Policy Vote: E., U., & C. 11 -  |
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          |Urgency: No                     |Mandate: No                     |
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          |Hearing Date: May 16, 2016      |Consultant: Narisha Bonakdar    |
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          This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.

          Bill  
          Summary:  SB 1222 changes the date by which the California  
          Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) must submit specified  
          reports, changes the contents of specified reports, reassigns  
          the PUC's duty to prepare a specified report to the California  
          Energy Commission (CEC), and repeals provisions requiring the  
          CPUC to submit specified reports.

          Fiscal Impact: 
            
           Unknown, but likely significant costs (General Fund), for the  
            CEC to contract for development of the energy efficiency  
            programs report.  
           Unknown reduction in costs (Public Utilities Commission  
            Utilities Reimbursement Account) to the CPUC to resulting from  
            the transition of the ratepayer funded energy efficiency  
            programs to the CEC.


          Background:  There are several dozen reports required of the CPUC by the  
          Legislature ranging from an annual work plan report, to  
          triennial reports on energy efficiency programs, to quarterly  
          reports related to progress meeting the RPS.  Many of these  







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          report requirements have been scattered throughout the code and  
          several are now outdated, with deadlines that have long passed. 
          In an effort to better organize the Public Utilities Code and to  
          have all required reports of the CPUC to the Legislature located  
          in one area, last year, the CPUC sponsored legislation, SB 697  
          (Hertzberg, 2015), to shift many of these requirements to one  
          location within the code, in the 910s area.  This bill builds  
          off the efforts from last year's bill, in what likely should be  
          a committee or chair authored bill. 




          Proposed Law:  
            This bill:
          1)Changes dates by which the CPUC must submit specified reports.


          2)Changes the contents of specified reports. 


          3)Repeals provisions requiring the CPUC to submit specified  
            reports.


          4)Transfers responsibility for developing the triennial  
            ratepayer funded energy efficiency programs report from the  
            CPUC to the CEC, and expands the required reporting  
            requirements.


          5)Makes technical changes to clarify the Public Utilities Code.




          Related  
          Legislation:  SB 697 (Hertzberg, Chapter 612, Statutes of 2015)  
          repealed the requirement of the CPUC to issue a decal to  
          charter-party carriers of passengers, extends the sunset date by  
          on year on the CPUC's authority to issue financing orders,  
          allows for the electronic filing of legislative reports, and  
          makes additional codifying and technical changes to the Public  
          Utilities Code related to reports.








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          Staff  
          Comments:  The bill does not specify a funding source. The CEC's  
          basic funding source is the Energy Program Resource Account  
          (ERPA), which is currently oversubscribed and cannot support new  
          activities.  However, given that ERPA is funded through a tax,  
          it is General Fund fungible. 


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