BILL NUMBER: AB 1214	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act relating to electricity.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1214, as introduced, Skinner. Electrical transmission.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations,
as defined. The Public Utilities Act prohibits any electrical
corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a
line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having
first obtained from the CPUC a certificate that the present or future
public convenience and necessity require or will require that
construction (certificate of public convenience and necessity).
   This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would eliminate redundant needs determinations for
electrical transmission investments and that would enable a single
certificate of public convenience and necessity proceeding to address
federally approved electrical transmission plans.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


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

  SECTION 1.  It is the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation to do both of the following:
   (a) Eliminate redundant needs determinations for electrical
transmission investments. It is the intent of the Legislature that
when the Independent Systems Operator (ISO) has determined that the
building or upgrading of electrical transmission is necessary, and
that determination has been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (FERC), that absent a showing of good cause based upon
newly developed information that was not available at the time of the
determination by the ISO, the Public Utilities Commission shall find
that the construction or extension is necessary for the present or
future public convenience and necessity pursuant to Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 1001) of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public
Utilities Code. It is the further intent of the Legislature that the
Public Utilities Commission shall find that the construction or
extension is necessary for purposes of Section 399.2.5 of the Public
Utilities Code if the commission finds that the construction or
extension is for the purpose of achieving the renewables portfolio
standard established pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section
399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of, or adopted by a
local publicly owned electric utility pursuant to Section 387 of, the
Public Utilities Code.
   (b) To enable a single certificate of public convenience and
necessity proceeding to address federally approved electrical
transmission plans. It is the intent of the Legislature that with
respect to a transmission plan or generator interconnection agreement
that is for the purpose of achieving the renewables portfolio
standard, that has multiple stages, and that been approved by the
FERC, a project sponsor shall have the option of filing a single
application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity.