BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2584
Page 1
CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS
AB 2584 (Bradford)
As Amended July 6, 2012
Majority vote
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|ASSEMBLY: |73-0 |(May 10, 2012) |SENATE: |36-0 |(August 9, |
| | | | | |2012) |
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Original Committee Reference: U. & C.
SUMMARY : Requires electric and gas corporations to fully
cooperate with the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) in its
investigations and provide the commission, upon its request,
with access to specified information and retain documentation
from an accident for five years.
The Senate amendments make technical changes.
AS PASSED BY THE ASSEMBLY , this bill was substantially similar
to the version passed by the Senate.
FISCAL EFFECT : No fiscal impact as this bill codifies an
existing PUC order. According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8, negligible state costs.
COMMENTS :
Author's Statement : At a Joint Hearing of the Assembly
Utilities and Commerce Committee and the Joint Legislative
Committee on Emergency Management, the PUC reported that
materials and equipment that would have been useful for
determining the cause of a widespread and lengthy power outage
may have been destroyed. This bill will make it clear that
evidence related to an outage shall be preserved until the PUC
has determined that it can be released.
Background : On April 22, 1911, the Legislature passed an act
(Chapter 499, Statutes of 1911) which regulated the erection and
maintenance of poles, wires, etc. employed in overhead electric
line construction. In 1915 the Legislature issued Chapter 600,
which amended Chapter 499 and required the Railroad Commission
(the PUC's predecessor) to inspect all such work.
AB 2584
Page 2
On May 1, 1922, the Railroad Commission issued its General Order
No. 64 covering rules and regulations for overhead electric line
construction. On December 17, 1928, General Order 64-A was
issued applicable to lines constructed or reconstructed on and
after that date.
Since that time, the PUC has issued its General Order No. 95
that pertains to the Rules for Overhead Electric Line
Construction. Contained in General Order 95 is PUC Rule 19
which orders each regulated utility with electric lines on its
duties for preserving evidence related to accidents.
Service Outages: While Californians like to believe that
"blackouts" ceased with the closure of the California Energy
Crisis in 2001-02, outages for various reasons continue today
and remain a significant safety risk. On September 8, 2011,
more than 4 million people lost power after the North
Gila-Hassayampa 500 kV transmission line was tripped offline,
triggering a massive blackout in Mexico, Southern California and
Arizona. Usually this type of outage would have been isolated
to the Yuma area. Questions have arisen as to why this was not
the case. San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E) said that 1.4
million customers were affected. Two million more people were
reported to be without power in Mexico. A multi-stage
restoration plan was needed to restore all power. Then on
November 30, 2012 and December 1, 2012, a windstorm with gusts
of 60-80 mph hit the Los Angeles area knocking out power to more
than 250,000 residents. A number of residents were without
service for 7 days.
Analysis Prepared by : Susan Kateley / U. & C. / (916)
319-2083
FN: 0004459