BILL NUMBER: AB 1214	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 31, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

   An act  to add Section 1103 to the Public Utilities Code,
  relating to electricity.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1214, as amended, Skinner. Electrical transmission.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission  (CPUC)
 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 
 ,   when the Independent System Operator (ISO)
determines that building or upgrading of electrical transmission is
necessary and that determination has been approved by the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, require the commission to find that the
construction or extension is necessary for the present or future
public convenience and necessity 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 bill would require that a
transmission project sponsor be given the option of filing a single
application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity
with respect to a transmission plan or generator interconnection
agreement that has multiple stages if the project is for the purpose
of achieving the renewables portfolio standard, as specified  .

   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:  no
  yes  . 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  
  SECTION 1.    Section 1103 is added to the Public
Utilities Code, to read: 
    1103.   (a)     When  the
Independent  Systems   System  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  
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
  this chapter. The 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

    (b)     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.