BILL NUMBER: SB 837 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 20, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 2, 2010
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 22, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 1, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 12, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 27, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 15, 2010
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 25, 2010
INTRODUCED BY Senator Florez
JANUARY 5, 2010
An act to add Sections 779.3 and 8364.5 to the Public
Utilities Code, relating to utility service. An act to
add Section 32132.6 to the Health and Safety Code, relating to
health care districts.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 837, as amended, Florez. Utility service:
disconnection: smart meters: privacy. Corcoran
District Hospital: design- build.
Existing law provides for local health care districts that are
empowered to own and operate certain health facilities, including
hospitals. Each health care district has specific duties and powers
respecting the creation, administration, and maintenance of the
districts, including to purchase, receive, take, hold, lease, use,
and enjoy property of every kind and description of property within
the district.
Existing law permits the Sonoma Valley Health Care District, upon
the approval of its board of directors, to use a prescribed
design-build procedure set forth in a specific code section when
assigning contracts for the construction of a building and
improvements directly related to a hospital or health facility
building at the Sonoma Valley Hospital. Under existing law, that code
section would be repealed on January 1, 2011, unless that date is
deleted or extended.
This bill would also allow the Corcoran District Hospital, upon
approval by its board of directors, to use the above-mentioned
design-build procedure described in that code section to assign
contracts for the construction of an outpatient facility building.
Existing law requires that, under the existing design-build
procedure, a health care district would be required to pay a fee into
the continuously appropriated State Public Works Enforcement Fund,
the moneys in which are used by the Department of Industrial
relations to enforce applicable prevailing wage and labor
requirements.
Because this bill would authorize additional fees to be paid into
a continuously appropriated fund, the bill would constitute an
appropriation.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to
the necessity of a special statute for the Corcoran District
Hospital.
(1) The federal Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007
states that it is the policy of the United States to maintain a
reliable and secure electricity structure that achieves certain
objectives that characterize a smart grid. Existing federal law
requires each state regulatory authority, with respect to each
electric utility for which it has ratemaking authority, and each
nonregulated electric utility, to consider certain standards and to
determine whether or not it is appropriate to implement those
standards to carry out the purposes of the Public Utility Regulatory
Policies Act. The existing standards include time-based metering and
communications, consideration of smart grid investments, and
providing purchases with smart grid information, as specified.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations, as defined. Existing law requires
the CPUC, by July 1, 2010, and in consultation with the State Energy
Resources Conservation and Development Commission, the Independent
System Operator, and other key stakeholders, to determine the
requirements for a smart grid deployment plan consistent with certain
policies set forth in state and federal law. Existing law requires
that the smart grid improve overall efficiency, reliability, and
cost-effectiveness of electrical system operations, planning, and
maintenance. Existing law requires each electrical corporation, by
July 1, 2011, to develop and submit a smart grid deployment plan to
the commission for approval.
This bill would require the CPUC to ensure that each smart grid
deployment plan authorized by the CPUC after January 1, 2012, include
testing and technology standards, as specified. The bill would
require each electrical corporation to ensure that each metering
technology works properly in a field test in a real home setting.
(2) Existing law authorizes the CPUC to fix the rates and charges
for every public utility, and requires that those rates and charges
be just and reasonable. Existing law requires certain notice be given
before an electrical, gas, heat, or water corporation may terminate
residential service for nonpayment of a delinquent account and
prohibits termination of service for nonpayment in certain
circumstances.
This bill would require the CPUC to evaluate the impact of
advanced metering infrastructure technology, commonly referred to as
smart meters, on the frequency of energy utility disconnections,
adopt policies to minimize any adverse impacts, and consider
requiring electrical corporations and gas corporations to evaluate
their customer communication policies relative to disconnections of
service and share unsuccessful and successful practices in their
creation of best practices.
(3) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or
any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
Because certain of the bill's provisions would be within the act
and because the bill would require action by the commission to
implement certain of its requirements, a violation of these
provisions would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a
new crime.
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.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no yes
. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program:
yes no .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) Corcoran District Hospital is an essential service to an
underprivileged population of approximately 50,000 residents in the
City of Corcoran and surrounding areas.
(b) This underprivileged population is 80 percent Latino,
unemployment is 16 percent, and Corcoran District Hospital is the
only medical care available within a distance of more than 20 miles.
(c) Corcoran District Hospital is also specially secured and
equipped to provide health care services to the 5,500 inmates and
2,300 personnel at Corcoran State Prison.
(d) Corcoran District Hospital is facing a 2013 deadline to update
its facility to comply with seismic safety requirements for the
facility.
(e) Corcoran District Hospital has undertaken a project to expand
its facility to include an outpatient care center that would provide
the necessary revenue stream to complete the mandated seismic safety
upgrades.
(f) To accomplish this urgent need, the Corcoran District Hospital
has applied for a United States Department of Agriculture rural
development loan funded with federal stimulus funds.
(g) These funds are in short supply and will likely be unavailable
after September 15, 2010.
(h) However, without legislative approval, the Corcoran District
Hospital cannot access these funds.
(i) The use of design-build process for Corcoran District
Hospital, which would be authorized by this act, pursuant to Section
32132.6 of the Health and Safety Code, would be used solely for
buildings associated with hospitals and health care and not for other
infrastructure, including, but not limited to, streets, highways,
public rail transit, roads, bridges, other water resources
facilities, and related infrastructures.
SEC. 2. Section 32132.6 is added to the
Health and Safety Code , to read:
32132.6. (a) Notwithstanding Section 32132 or any other
provision of law, upon approval by the board of directors of the
Corcoran District Hospital, the design-build procedure described in
Section 20133 of the Public Contract Code may be used to assign
contracts to the construction of a building or improvements directly
related to construction of an outpatient facility building at the
Corcoran District Hospital.
(b) For purposes of this section, all references in Section 20133
of the Public Contract Code to "county" and "board of supervisors"
shall mean the Corcoran District Hospital and its board of directors.
(c) A hospital building project utilizing the design-build process
authorized by subdivision (a) shall be reviewed and inspected in
accordance with the standards and requirements of the Alfred E.
Alquist Hospital Facilities Seismic Safety Act of 1983 (Chapter 1
(commencing with Section 129675) of Part 7 of Division 107).
SEC. 3. 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 the unique circumstances served by
the Corcoran District Hospital.
SECTION 1. Section 779.3 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
779.3. The Legislature finds and declares that, due to the
importance of having electrical service to one's residence, the issue
of utility service disconnections requires careful scrutiny by the
commission. The commission shall evaluate the impact of advanced
metering infrastructure technology on the frequency of energy utility
disconnections and adopt policies to minimize any adverse impacts.
The commission shall also consider requiring electrical corporations
and gas corporations to evaluate their customer communication
policies relative to disconnections of service and share unsuccessful
and successful practices in their creation of best practices.
SEC. 2. Section 8364.5 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read:
8364.5. (a) The commission shall ensure that each smart grid
deployment plan authorized by the commission after January 1, 2012,
includes testing and technology standards.
(b) Testing standards shall include all of the following:
(1) A requirement that the smart metering technology have a
comprehensive security audit. The security auditing plan and the
results of the comprehensive security audit shall be made publicly
available in a manner that protects the reasonable expectation of
customers in the privacy of customer-specific or
customer-identifiable records, upon approval by the commission. The
commission shall ensure that any customer-specific or
customer-identifiable information included in any submission by an
electrical corporation or gas corporation is not disclosed in
response to a request for public records pursuant to the California
Public Records Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of
Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code).
(2) A requirement that the manufacturer disclose to the electrical
corporation or gas corporation whether it created a cryptographic
protocol for data encryption and specify the protocol used.
(3) A requirement that the manufacturer submit to the electrical
corporation or gas corporation security audit results as part of a
direct access meter project self-certification program.
(c) Technology standards shall do both of the following:
(1) Ensure that the particular smart metering technology is
compatible with other smart technologies.
(2) Ensure that the particular smart metering technology is
compatible with the electrical corporation's energy usage data
collection and billing system.
(d) Each electrical corporation shall ensure that each metering
technology works properly in a field test in a real home setting.
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.
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