BILL NUMBER: AB 42 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 24, 2009
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 31, 2009
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 23, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 1, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 31, 2009
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 17, 2009
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Blakeslee
DECEMBER 1, 2008
An act to add Section 565 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 42, Blakeslee. Electricity: Pacific Gas and Electric Company:
seismic fault.
(1) 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, in
furtherance of the recommendations made by the Energy Commission, to
conduct seismic fault studies or surveys in areas at or near the
Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant in order to maintain reliable
operation of the electrical grid and mitigate impacts to customer
rates that could result from a seismic event. Because a violation of
this requirement would be a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. The bill would
require the commission, in consultation with the California Geologic
Survey and the Seismic Safety Commission, to conduct or facilitate a
peer review of any fault studies or surveys conducted pursuant to
that requirement within 120 days of receipt of a final study or
survey. The bill would require the Pacific Gas and Electric Company
to fund all costs associated with a peer review of any studies or
surveys and would require the commission to authorize the utility to
fully recover, in its generation procurement rates, all reasonable
costs associated with any studies, surveys, or peer review required
pursuant to the bill.
(2) 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.
(3) This bill would state the findings and declarations of the
Legislature concerning the need for special legislation.
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 powerplant.
(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 pursuant to Chapter 722 of the Statutes of 2006, and that
Pacific Gas and Electric Company should incorporate the findings and
recommendations of that Energy Commission assessment in its own
work.
(c) The assessment made pursuant to Chapter 722 of the Statutes of
2006 included several findings and recommendations; in particular,
the Energy Commission 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 Tokyo 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 powerplant with an estimated
ability to generate a magnitude 6.5 earthquake.
SEC. 2. Section 565 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
565. (a) (1) Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall, in
furtherance of the recommendations made by the Energy Commission
pursuant to paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of Section 25303 of the
Public Resources Code, conduct seismic fault studies or surveys,
including, but not limited to, three-dimensional geophysical seismic
reflection mapping, in areas at or near the Diablo Canyon Nuclear
Power Plant, in order to maintain reliable operation of the
electrical grid and mitigate impacts to customer rates that could
result from a seismic event.
(2) The Energy Commission, in consultation with the California
Geologic Survey and the Seismic Safety Commission, may participate in
the development of study or survey designs.
(b) (1) The Energy Commission, in consultation with the California
Geologic Survey and the Seismic Safety Commission, shall conduct or
facilitate a peer review of any studies or surveys conducted pursuant
to subdivision (a) within 120 days of receipt of a final study or
survey.
(2) The Energy Commission may enter into agreements with qualified
scientists with expertise in fault imaging and character and
behavior studies to conduct an external scientific peer review of the
scientific basis for any fault study or survey.
(3) The Energy Commission shall include the findings and
recommendations of any studies or surveys conducted pursuant to
subdivision (a) in the integrated energy policy report as updates
pursuant to subparagraph (D) of paragraph (8) of subdivision (a) of
Section 25303 of the Public Resources Code.
(4) Pacific Gas and Electric Company shall be responsible for
funding all costs associated with a peer review of any studies or
surveys conducted pursuant to subdivision (a).
(c) The commission shall allow Pacific Gas and Electric Company to
fully recover, in its generation procurement rates, all reasonable
costs associated with any studies or surveys required pursuant to
subdivision (a) and the peer review required pursuant to subdivision
(b). The commission shall expedite issuance of its decision approving
the recovery of costs as specified in this section, so that the
decision is made within 120 days of filing the application.
SEC. 3. 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.
SEC. 4. The Legislature finds and declares that a special law is
necessary and that a general law cannot be made applicable within the
meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution
because of unique circumstances pertaining to Pacific Gas and
Electric Company.