BILL ANALYSIS �
SB 1409
Page A
SENATE THIRD READING
SB 1409 (Hill)
As Amended June 4, 2014
Majority vote
SENATE VOTE :36-0
UTILITIES & COMMERCE 14-0
APPROPRIATIONS 17-0
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|Ayes:|Bradford, Patterson, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bigelow, |
| |Bonilla, Buchanan, | |Bocanegra, Bradford, Ian |
| |Ch�vez, Dahle, Fong, Beth | |Calderon, Campos, |
| |Gaines, Garcia, | |Donnelly, Eggman, Gomez, |
| |Roger Hern�ndez, Jones, | |Holden, Jones, Linder, |
| |Mullin, Quirk, Rendon | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Wagner, |
| | | |Lowenthal |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Requires descriptions of staff safety investigations
to be included in the California Public Utilities Commission's
(PUC) annual workplan. Specifically, this bill :
1)Requires the PUC to provide a succinct description of each
open staff safety investigation and each staff safety
investigation concluded within the last year, to include the
month of the incident, reason for the investigation, the
facility type involved, and the owner of the facility.
2)Requires the PUC to annually submit this information as part
of the workplan to the Governor and Legislature no later than
February 1 of each year.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee, minor, if any, additional state costs.
COMMENTS :
1)Author's statement: "An annual reporting requirement will
raise the profile of accident investigations with CPUC
management and the public and will be consistent with the
SB 1409
Page B
CPUC's focus on transparency in safety matters."
2)PUC safety investigations. Safety investigations serve
various purposes. They a) help utilities, PUC staff, and the
public learn from accidents and prevent future accidents; b)
serve as a prerequisite for PUC enforcement actions; and c)
guide decisions related to whether claims against utilities
are an expense recoverable in future rates.
The PUC has issued several orders related to safety
investigations, but even with these rules in place,
information surrounding safety investigations is not always
available. According to the PUC's 2009 (and regrettably, most
recent) Electric, Natural Gas, and Propane Safety Report, the
PUC received 82 reports related to natural gas incidents and
93 related to electric incidents in 2009.<1> A typical
timetable for investigations is not outlined, thus it is
unclear whether incidents occurring in 2009 have been fully
investigated. Furthermore, the number of incidents occurring
since 2009 is unknown.
Safety investigations are initially conducted by PUC staff,
and if deemed necessary, the commission may open a formal
proceeding (an order instituting investigation - OII) to
further investigate the incident. OIIs are outlined in the
PUC's annual workplan, but the open staff safety
investigations are not. This bill seeks to require inclusion
and descriptions of open PUC staff safety investigations in
the annual workplan.
3)PUC rulemaking on safety enforcement. As per SB 291 (Hill),
Chapter 601, Statutes of 2013, the PUC has opened a proceeding
to implement an electric safety enforcement program by January
1, 2015, and a gas safety enforcement program by July 1,
2014.<2>
Analysis Prepared by : Brandon Gaytan / U. & C. / (916)
---------------------------
<1>
http://www.cpuc.ca.gov/NR/rdonlyres/BDDBF3F2-8BE0-4C70-8D25-7987A
CF3E7CD/0/2009USRBANNUALREPORT.pdf
<2>
http://docs.cpuc.ca.gov/PublishedDocs/Published/G000/M091/K638/91
638006.PDF
SB 1409
Page C
319-2083
FN: 0004226