BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 1514
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Date of Hearing: May 16, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
AB 1514 (Bonnie Lowenthal) - As Amended: May 9, 2012
Policy Committee:
UtilitiesVote:12-0
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
Yes Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This bill increases civil penalties for violations of
excavations laws, and authorizes the Public Utilities Commission
(PUC) to provide a copy of an investigation report to
prosecutors following an excavation-related violation.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Increases, from $10,000 to $100,000, the maximum civil penalty
for subsequent negligent violations of excavation
requirements, and increases, from $50,000 to $250,000, the
maximum civil penalty for subsequent violations.
2)Stipulates that an action, for violation of excavation law
provisions, may be brought by the Attorney General (AG) or
district attorney upon receipt of an investigation report
prepared by the PUC or an operator, or the PUC or an operator
may provide the report to a local or state agency, who may
take action to assess a civil penalty.
FISCAL EFFECT
The AG's Office indicates that, though it has authority under
current law to bring actions, it has never received any
referrals or incident reports and has never been made aware of
any violation of excavation laws. As a result of this bill, the
AG anticipates receiving PUC reports, which will require
additional resources for evaluation, investigation, and
prosecution. These costs are unknown, and will depend on the
number of incidents reported and the circumstances of those
incidents, but could exceed $150,000 annually. These costs could
be offset to some extent by penalty revenues. Local prosecutors
AB 1514
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could experience similar impacts. The PUC indicates it currently
has 37 excavation incident reports completed and under review,
and 50 incidents under investigation.
COMMENTS
1)Purpose . Current law generally requires any party planning to
conduct an excavation to contact a regional notification
center (One Call Center) prior to the excavation, and, if
practical, to delineate the areas to be excavated. According
to the author, "When a backhoe hits an underground power line
or gas main what ensues can range from a simple delay to a
deadly occurrence. Despite the terrible risks involved
California lacks both data collection and liability
assessment? Worse, even when such an accident results from the
failure to check with One-Call Centers, the state has a pretty
poor track record when it comes to investigating or
prosecuting such breaches. What we need is an improved
process for investigating and responding to incidents of
underground infrastructure damage."
2)Opposition . Los Angeles County is seeks an amendment
clarifying that a public entity's liability be limited to the
costs of the enforcement action and not include any punitive
fines.
Analysis Prepared by : Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081