BILL ANALYSIS Ó
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1463|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1463
Author: Moorlach (R), et al.
Amended: 4/19/16
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U. & C. COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/5/16
AYES: Hueso, Morrell, Cannella, Hertzberg, Hill, Lara, Leyva,
McGuire, Pavley
NO VOTE RECORDED: Gaines, Wolk
SENATE NATURAL RES. & WATER COMMITTEE: 9-0, 4/12/16
AYES: Pavley, Stone, Allen, Hertzberg, Hueso, Jackson,
Monning, Vidak, Wolk
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/27/16
AYES: Lara, Bates, Beall, Hill, McGuire, Mendoza, Nielsen
SUBJECT: Electrical lines: mitigation of wildfire risks
SOURCE: City of Laguna Beach
DIGEST: This bill requires the California Public Utilities
Commission (CPUC), in consultation with the Department of
Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), to prioritize areas in
which communities are at high risk from the consequences of
wildfires in order to determine areas in which to require
enhanced mitigation measures for wildfire hazards posed by
overhead electrical lines and equipment. This bill also requires
the CPUC to define "enhanced mitigation measures" and to
describe how the agency incorporated the concerns of local
governments and/or fire departments in determining the areas.
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ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Provides that the CPUC has regulatory authority over public
utilities, including electric corporations. (California
Constitution, Article 3 and 4)
2)Requires the CPUC to develop formal procedures to incorporate
safety in a rate case application by an electrical corporation
or gas corporations. (Public Utilities Code §750)
3)Establishes the Very High Fire Hazard Severity Zones in order
to classify lands in the state with whether a very high fire
hazard is present so that public officials are able to
identify and adopt measures to mitigate against fire risk.
(Government Code §51175)
4)Establishes the California Emergency Services Act and provides
that the state is recognized with responsibility to mitigate
the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused emergencies
that result in conditions of disaster or in extreme peril to
life, property, and the resources of the state, generally to
protect the health and safety and preserve the lives and
property of the people of the state. Confers on the Governor
to provide state assistance and emergency programs.
(Government Code §8550)
This bill:
1)Requires CPUC, in consultation with CAL FIRE, to prioritize
areas in which communities are at high risk from the
consequences of wildfires when determining areas in which to
require enhanced mitigation measures for wildfire hazards
posed by overhead electrical lines and equipment.
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2)Requires the CPUC to develop a definition of "enhanced
mitigation measures" for purposes of its fire-threat maps and
fire-safety regulations as included in Rulemaking 15-05-006.
3)Requires the CPUC to include a description of how the agency
incorporated the concerns of local governments and/or fire
departments in its findings supporting a decision to approve
the boundaries for the communities prioritized as high risk
from the consequences of wildfires.
Background
Laguna's experience with wildfire. On Friday, July 3, 2015, a
portion of Laguna Canyon area experienced a fire when falling
trees hit a power line on Arroyo Drive which sparked a fire on a
brush covered hillside along Laguna Canyon Road. With light
winds and air support, the fire was knocked down after burning
about 15 acres. Five aircraft and 150 firefighters were
deployed. Based on a local news story, the brush fire prompted
the Mayor to call for an all-out effort to underground utilities
citywide. According to the same Laguna Beach Indy newspaper
story, residents, motivated by improving views and lowering fire
risk, themselves have footed the bill to bury utility lines in
their own neighborhoods in 40 percent of the city, the public
works department estimates. According to a city statement,
since 2007, at least four fires have been attributed to
above-ground electric utilities and been involved in 46
accidents along Laguna Canyon Road. Laguna Beach has also
experienced one of the nation's costliest fires. In 1993 an
arsonist-caused fire burned 16,000 acres and destroyed or
severely damaged over 400 homes and caused $528 million dollars
in damage.
CPUC efforts to address wildfires. In October of 2007, a series
of large wildfires ignited and burned hundreds of thousands of
acres in several counties in Southern California. The fires
displaced nearly one million residents, destroyed thousands of
homes, and took the lives of 10 people and an additional seven
who died from evacuating or from fire related causes. These
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fires included the Witch Fire, one of the nation's most
damaging, which was ignited by power lines. After the 2007
fires ravaged several areas of the state, in 2008, the CPUC
initiated rulemaking proceeding to address fires related to
utility poles. The CPUC's efforts have resulted in additional
requirements on utilities to reduce the likelihood of fires
started by or threatening utility facilities, including improved
vegetation management, as well as, requiring the utilities to
develop electric utility fire prevention plans. The first phase
also adopted fire hazard maps of high-risk areas in Southern
California. In May 2015, the CPUC open a new rulemaking
proceeding to develop and adopt fire-threat maps and fire-safety
regulations (R. 15-05-006). The CPUC tasked CAL FIRE to oversee
and select outside experts to develop a more refined statewide
fire hazard map. As noted in the Scoping Memo, the fire-threat
map will be based on approximately 150 terabytes of fire-weather
data, which will be used to run millions of fire simulations to
build a high resolution, statewide fire-treat map. The CPUC and
CAL FIRE have conducted workshops to solicit feedback on the
draft map. After a couple of delays, a final map was issued on
February 12, 2016. Additionally, the CPUC has announced a
safety en banc related to utility pole safety on April 28, 2016
in Los Angeles. The agenda for the en banc includes
representatives from CAL FIRE, electric utilities,
communications utilities and providers and other stakeholders.
Mapping fire hazard and risk. The City of Laguna Beach
submitted comments into the proceeding to express the City's
objections to the map, particularly because the map places the
city under the lowest margins of the Utility Fire Threat index.
The City of Laguna Beach stated that the map has limitations and
correcting what appears to be the exclusion of key criteria that
artificially eliminates developed communities from high wildfire
risk categories, including housing density and local fire
history. The City points to a 2008 CAL FIRE Fire Hazard
Severity Zone Development map which designates 90 percent of the
city in a very high fire hazard severity zone. They also
submitted comments to request the CPUC explain how the map will
be used prior to adoption, so as to ensure utilities won't point
to the map and argued that communities, such as Laguna Beach,
are not at risk for wildfire.
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Related Legislation
SB 1028 (Hill, 2016) requires CPUC-regulated utilities to file
wildfire mitigation plans and requires the CPUC to vote to
approve and audit those plans. The bill also requires
publicly-owned utilities to file wildfire mitigation plans with
their governing boards. The bill is scheduled to be heard in
the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications Committee.
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:YesLocal: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
A total of $582,000 (State Responsibility Area fee or General
Fund) over two years for CAL FIRE to assess map criteria,
oversee Fire Threat Map revision, and validate the map against
known electrical utility fires.
Minor costs to the CPUC (Public Utilities Commission Utilities
Reimbursement Account) for initial prioritization efforts in
the existing proceeding.
SUPPORT: (Verified5/27/16)
City of Laguna Beach (source)
Rural County Representatives of California
OPPOSITION: (Verified5/27/16)
California Cable & Telecommunications Association
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT: According to the City of Laguna Beach,
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SB 1463 instructs the CPUC on best use of fire hazard
information in developing future heightened utility fire
mitigation standards for at-risk communities throughout the
state. On February 2, 2016, the CPUC served the final version
of Fire Map 1. The City of Laguna Beach was placed within the
low-risk margins of the Utility Fire Threat Index. The City is
concerned that the map may be used by utilities to justify
providing a less-safe level of service than would otherwise be
requires if the City remained in a high risk zone. SB 1463
would resolve this issue by requiring the CPUC to take into
consideration areas in which communities are at risk from the
consequences of wildfires not just those areas where certain
environmental hazards are present.
ARGUMENTS IN OPPOSITION: The California Cable &
Telecommunications Association expresses opposition to this
bill's requirements to underground electrical lines and or
equipment because it would increase costs to the communications
industry, create new safety risks and be unfair to all
ratepayers. The opponent argue that while electric utility
corporations would be reimbursed for the costs of
undergrounding, communications companies are not reimbursed and
could be required to cover the entire costs of undergrounding
facilities - including non-cable utility facilities - where
cable seeks to attach under the current right-of-way access
rules. Such an obligation would increase the cost of broadband
deployment and impeded investment in the impacted areas. They
also argue that repair times for undergrounded infrastructure
can take weeks to find, excavate, then fix, compared to an
overhead line where the repair may be more readily apparent.
Prepared by:Nidia Bautista / E., U., & C. / (916) 651-4107
5/28/16 17:08:43
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