BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 435
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 6, 2009

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Kevin De Leon, Chair

                 AB 435 (De La Torre) - As Amended:  April 14, 2009 

          Policy Committee:                               
          UtilitiesVote:15-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to  
          study the efficacy of state and federal agencies conducting  
          concurrent environmental reviews of proposed transmission  
          facilities.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Minor absorbable costs to the PUC for the required assessment.

           COMMENTS  

           Purpose  .  The author intends for this bill is to streamline the  
          transmission line siting process, which can take up to 10 years,  
          depending on the distance and complexity of the geography.  The  
          California Independent System Operator (CAISO) performs much of  
          the transmission planning.  The responsibility for actually  
          building the transmission lines lies with the  
          transmission-owning utilities, most of whom need to obtain prior  
          approval from the PUC.  If it deems the project as warranted,  
          the PUC conducts a public hearing process and issues a  
          Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN).  The  
          utilities must then initiate a filing at the Federal Energy  
          Regulatory Commission (FERC) to request cost-recovery for both  
          inter- and intra-state transmission lines.

          The utilities are frequently delayed with construction because  
          the federal government owns much of the land that transmission  
          lines must cross.  Of the federal government agencies required  
          to provide approval, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is  
          involved the most.  The transmission-owning utilities are  








                                                                  AB 435
                                                                  Page  2

          concerned that the BLM process is too slow, there's not enough  
          staff, and the existing staff are spread too thin among the 50  
          states.  The state imposes additional delays depending on  
          whether the transmission line traverses a state park, or whether  
          there's an endangered species in the proposed corridor.  This  
          bill seeks better coordination in the pre-development process  
          among state and federal agencies, and particularly whether  
          certain required activities can be done simultaneously in order  
          to the reduce time required for project approval.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081