Amended in Assembly August 21, 2014

Amended in Assembly August 5, 2014

Amended in Assembly June 4, 2014

Amended in Senate April 21, 2014

Amended in Senate April 2, 2014

Senate Bill No. 1409

Introduced by Senator Hill

February 21, 2014

An act to begin delete amend Section 321.6 of end delete begin insert add Section 915 to end insert the Public Utilities Code, relating to the Public Utilities Commission.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

SB 1409, as amended, Hill. Public Utilities Commission: safety investigations.

The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities and authorizes the commission to establish its own procedures, subject to statutory limitations or directions and constitutional requirements of due process. begin delete Existing law end delete begin insert The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to publish and maintain certain documents and information and make specified materials available on the commission’s Internet Web site. The act end insert requires the commission to submit certain information about its activities to the Governor and the Legislature no later than February 1 of each year, including a work plan describing its scheduled ratemaking proceedings, an accounting of its transactions and proceedings, and a report on the number of cases where resolution of the case exceeded the time periods prescribed in scoping memos and on the number of days that commissioners presided in hearings.

begin delete

This bill, with respect to this annual submission of information, would also require the commission to provide a succinct description of each open staff safety investigation and each staff safety investigation concluded during the prior calendar year, including the month of the safety incident, the reason for the investigation, the facility type involved, and the owner of the facility.

end delete begin insert

This bill would require the commission, beginning February 1, 2016, to annually publish a report that includes all investigations into gas or electric service safety incidents reported, pursuant to commission requirements, by any gas corporation or electrical corporation including the month of the safety incident, the reason for the investigation, the facility type involved, and the owner of the facility. The bill would require that the report succinctly describe safety investigations concluded during the prior calendar year and investigations that remain open. The bill would require that the work plan submitted to the Governor and the Legislature include a summary of staff safety investigations concluded during the prior calendar year and staff safety investigations that remain open for any gas corporation or electrical corporation, with a link to the Internet Web site with the report that contains the above-described information that the commission is required to annually report.

end insert

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

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begin insert SECTION 1. end insert   

end insert

begin insert Section 915 is added to the end insert begin insert Public Utilities Code end insert begin insert ,
to read: end insert

begin insert

begin insert 915. end insert   

(a) Beginning February 1, 2016, the commission shall
annually publish a report that includes all investigations into gas
or electric service safety incidents reported, pursuant to
commission requirements, by any gas corporation or electrical
corporation. The report shall succinctly describe each safety
investigation concluded during the prior calendar year and each
investigation that remains open. The categories within the
description shall include the month of the safety incident, the
reason for the investigation, the facility type involved, and the
owner of the facility.

(b) The commission shall include in its work plan required
pursuant Section 321.6, a summary of the staff safety investigations
concluded during the prior calendar year and the staff safety
investigations that remain open for any gas corporation or
electrical corporation, with a link to the Internet Web site with the
report that contains the information required pursuant to
subdivision (a).

end insert

begin delete

SECTION 1.  

Section 321.6 of the Public Utilities Code is
amended to read:

321.6.  

(a) The commission shall do all of the following:

(1) Develop, publish, and annually update an annual work plan
that describes in clear detail the scheduled ratemaking proceedings
and other decisions that may be considered by the commission
during the calendar year. The plan shall include, but is not limited
to, information on how members of the public and ratepayers can
gain access to the commission’s ratemaking process and
information regarding the specific matters to be decided. The plan
shall also include information on the operation of the office of the
public adviser and identify the names and telephone numbers of
those contact persons responsible for specific cases and matters
to be decided. The plan shall also include a statement that specifies
activities that the commission proposes to reduce the costs of, and
rates for, energy, including electricity, and for improving the
competitive opportunities for state agriculture and other rural
energy consumers. The commission shall post the plan under the
official documents area of its Internet Web site and shall develop
a program to disseminate the information in the plan utilizing
computer mailing lists to provide regular updates on the
information to those members of the public and organizations
which request that information.

(2) Produce a complete accounting of its transactions and
proceedings for the preceding year, together with other facts,
suggestions, and recommendations that it deems of value to the
people of the state and a statement that specifies the activities and
achievements of the commission in reducing the costs of, and rates
for, energy, including electricity, for state agriculture and other
rural energy consumers.

(3) Create a report on the number of cases where resolution
exceeded the time periods prescribed in scoping memos and the
days that commissioners presided in hearings.

(4) Describe succinctly in a report each open staff safety
investigation and each staff safety investigation concluded during
the prior calendar year. The categories within the description shall
include the month of the safety incident, the reason for the
investigation, the facility type involved, and the owner of the
facility.

(5) Submit annually the work plan, accounting, and reports
required by paragraphs (1), (2), (3), and (4) to the Governor and
Legislature no later than February 1 of each year.

(b) The president of the commission shall annually appear before
the appropriate policy committees of the Senate and Assembly to
report on the annual work plan access guide of the commission
required pursuant to this section.

(c) The president of the commission shall annually appear before
the appropriate policy committees of the Senate and Assembly to
report on the annual report of the commission on the number of
cases where resolution exceeded the time periods prescribed in
scoping memos and the days that commissioners presided in
hearings, pursuant to Section 13 of Chapter 856 of the Statutes of
1996.

end delete