BILL NUMBER: AB 42	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Blakeslee

                        DECEMBER 1, 2008

   An act relating to electricity, and declaring the urgency thereof,
to take effect immediately.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 42, as introduced, Blakeslee. Electricity: Pacific Gas and
Electric Company: seismic fault: survey.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities including electrical corporations,
as defined.
   Existing law requires the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission) to conduct various
assessments and forecasts on energy industry supply, production,
transportation, delivery and distribution, demand, and prices.
   This bill would require Pacific Gas and Electric Company to
utilize the Energy Commission to conduct a three-dimensional imaging
survey to map the fault characteristics in the vicinity of the Diablo
Canyon Nuclear Power Plant that could potentially disrupt the
reliable operation of the electrical grid and impact customer rates
as a result of a seismic event.
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
   Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) In issuing decision 07-03-044, the Public Utilities Commission
authorized an expenditure of sixteen million eight hundred thousand
dollars ($16,800,000) of ratepayer funds to explore the feasibility
of relicensing the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant.
   (b) The Public Utilities Commission, regarding the expenditure of
those funds, said that Pacific Gas and Electric Company should defer,
to the extent feasible, its work, its own study, and associated
spending, until after the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission (Energy Commission) issues its findings and
conclusions, and that Pacific Gas and Electric Company should
incorporate the findings and recommendations of the Energy Commission
study in its own work.
   (c) The Energy Commission's recommendations from its study found
that Pacific Gas and Electric Company should use three-dimensional
geophysical seismic reflection mapping and other advanced techniques
to explore fault zones near Diablo Canyon.
   (d) The July 2007 magnitude 6.8 Japan Sea earthquake located 16
kilometers from Toyota Electric Power Company's Kashiwazaki-Kariwa
Nuclear Power Plant shut down the facility at a cost of some hundreds
of millions of dollars per month.
   (e) In November 2008, the United States Geological Survey
identified a previously unidentified offshore fault approximately one
kilometer west of Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant with an
estimated ability to generate a magnitude 6.5 earthquake.
  SEC. 2.  (a) Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall utilize the
State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission to
conduct a three-dimensional imaging survey to map the fault
characteristics in the vicinity of the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power
Plant that could potentially disrupt the reliable operation of the
electrical grid and impact customer rates as a result of a seismic
event. The imaging survey shall be used to identify any facility
retrofits necessary to avoid potential adverse impacts of a seismic
event on the reliability of the electrical grid.
   (b) It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to
appropriate sixteen million eight hundred thousand dollars
($16,800,000) authorized by the Public Utilities Commission for the
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant relicensing feasibility study, to
pay for the survey.
  SEC. 3.  This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the
meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate
effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
   In order to complete a seismic study relating to Diablo Canyon
Nuclear Power Plant as soon as possible in order to protect
electricity customers, it is necessary that this act take effect
immediately.