BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1650|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1650
Author: Portantino (D)
Amended: 8/24/12 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTIL. & COMMUNIC. COMMITTEE : 10-0, 7/3/12
AYES: Padilla, Fuller, Corbett, De Le�n, DeSaulnier,
Kehoe, Pavley, Rubio, Strickland, Wright
NO VOTE RECORDED: Berryhill, Emmerson, Simitian
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-0, 8/16/12
AYES: Kehoe, Walters, Alquist, Dutton, Lieu, Price,
Steinberg
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/30/12 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public utilities: emergency and disaster
preparedness
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to establish standards for disaster and
emergency preparedness plans within an existing procedure.
Senate Floor Amendments of 8/24/12 are technical.
ANALYSIS : Existing law authorizes the PUC to regulate
electric, gas, and water corporations and to determine
whether rates charged are just and reasonable and whether
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service provided is adequate.
Existing law requires the PUC to establish emergency
response standards for gas corporations.
Current decisions of PUC adopt General Orders requiring gas
and electric corporations to develop disaster and emergency
preparedness plans.
Existing law requires all public water systems, including
water corporations, with 10,000 or more service connections
to review and revise disaster preparedness plans in
conjunction with related agencies, including, but not
limited to, local fire departments and the California
Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA).
This bill requires electrical corporations and water
companies regulated by the PUC to develop, adopt and update
an emergency and disaster preparedness plan.
Background
The San Gabriel Valley was hit hard in early December 2011
by devastating winds that knocked out power to more than
400,000 customers, some of them for more than a week. In a
preliminary report after investigation of the outages, the
PUC stated that in some cases, Southern California Edison's
equipment did not meet safety standards and that the
utility was slow to restore power to homes and businesses.
Local utilities also had trouble with communications plans.
Numerous public officials, including first responders,
have recommended to the PUC that electric utilities consult
with local agencies to better prepare for disasters.
The PUC's General Order 166 requires each electric utility
to annually file an updated emergency response plan. The
order contains general requirements that the utility
communicate with local governments and provide notice of
its annual emergency response exercise, but it does not
require regular public meetings. It requires training and
planning for deployment of personnel in anticipation of an
event that may result in a "major outage," however, it does
not currently require deployment in the event of
anticipated severe weather. Moreover, the outages due to
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the November 2011 southern California windstorm would not
have triggered deployment of the emergency response plans.
In both the Southern California windstorm outage and the
widespread outage that occurred in the Pacific Southwest
region in September 2011, drinking water supplies were
impaired due to lack of electricity at pumping stations.
In San Diego, California, bottled water supplies were
distributed as a public health safeguard due to a sewage
spill in the vicinity of drinking water suppliers, although
the water supply was later tested and found to be safe.
The PUC regulates water corporations and classifies them
according to number of service connections, including 9
Class A corporations with more than 10,000 service
connections, five Class B corporations with 2,000 to 10,000
service connections, 25 Class C water corporations with 500
to 2,000 service connections, and 102 corporations with
less than 500 service connections. The PUC currently does
not require emergency response plans for water
corporations. However, Government Code Section 8607.2
requires all public water systems with 10,000 or more
service connections to review and revise disaster
preparedness plans in conjunction with related agencies,
including, but not limited to, local fire departments and
the CalEMA, and requires that these plans examine and
review pumping station and distribution facility operations
during an emergency, water pressure at both pumping
stations and hydrants, and whether there is sufficient
water reserve levels and alternative emergency power such
as backup and portable generators.
Comments
According to the author's office, this bill responds to an
apparent lack of emergency preparedness by utilities that
became evident when the December 2011 windstorm in San
Gabriel Valley knocked out electric power for an extended
period. Adopting an emergency and disaster preparedness
plan, with input from the public and local agencies, would
better protect the public from disaster because, as the
author states, "We all know the 'Big One' is coming- it's
just a matter of when - and we need to be prepared."
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FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee, $250,000
from the Public Utilities Reimbursement Account in 2012-13
and 2013-14 for a utility engineer and a limited term
administrative law judge to develop standards and conduct a
rule making in order to revise the commission's General
Order 166 relating to emergency plans; and $110,000 from
the Public Utilities Reimbursement Account annually to
review emergency plans, update standards, consult with
utility staff and local officials and attend public
meetings.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/21/12)
Public Utilities Commission
Southern California Edison
OPPOSITION : (Verified 8/21/12)
California Water Association (unless amended)
PacifiCorp (unless amended)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/30/12
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Block, Blumenfield, Bonilla, Bradford,
Brownley, Buchanan, Butler, Charles Calderon, Campos,
Carter, Cedillo, Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Davis, Dickinson,
Donnelly, Eng, Feuer, Fong, Fuentes, Furutani, Beth
Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick, Gatto, Gordon, Gorell, Grove,
Hagman, Halderman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Roger
Hern�ndez, Hill, Huber, Hueso, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones,
Knight, Lara, Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mansoor,
Mendoza, Miller, Mitchell, Monning, Morrell, Nestande,
Nielsen, Norby, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel P�rez,
Portantino, Silva, Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Swanson,
Torres, Wagner, Wieckowski, Williams, Yamada, John A.
P�rez
NO VOTE RECORDED: Fletcher, Valadao
RM:d 8/24/12 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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