BILL NUMBER: ABX1 6 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Members Dutra and Pescetti
JANUARY 11, 2001
An act to amend Sections 216 and 377 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 6, as introduced, Dutra. Electrical restructuring.
(1) Existing law requires generation assets owned by any public
utility prior to June 1, 1997, and subject to rate regulation by the
Public Utilities Commission, to continue to be subject to regulation
by the commission until those assets have undergone market valuation,
as specified.
This bill, in addition, would require those assets to continue to
be subject to that regulation until the commission has authorized the
disposition of those assets pursuant to prescribed provisions of
law.
(2) Existing law requires the commission to continue to regulate
the nonnuclear generation assets owned by any public utility prior to
January 1, 1997, that are subject to regulation by the commission
until those assets have been subject to market valuation, as
prescribed.
This bill, in addition, would require those assets to continue to
be subject to that regulation until the commission has authorized the
disposition of those assets pursuant to prescribed provisions of
law.
Because, under existing law, a violation of the above provisions
with regard to regulation by the commission would be a crime, this
bill would impose a state-mandated local program by changing the
definition of a crime.
(3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse
local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 216 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
216. (a) "Public utility" includes every common carrier, toll
bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation, electrical
corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water
corporation, sewer system corporation, and heat corporation, where
the service is performed for, or the commodity is delivered to, the
public or any portion thereof.
(b) Whenever any common carrier, toll bridge corporation, pipeline
corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone
corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewer system
corporation, or heat corporation performs a service for, or delivers
a commodity to, the public or any portion thereof for which any
compensation or payment whatsoever is received, that common carrier,
toll bridge corporation, pipeline corporation, gas corporation,
electrical corporation, telephone corporation, telegraph corporation,
water corporation, sewer system corporation, or heat corporation, is
a public utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and
regulation of the commission and the provisions of this part.
(c) When any person or corporation performs any service for, or
delivers any commodity to, any person, private corporation,
municipality, or other political subdivision of the state, that in
turn either directly or indirectly, mediately or immediately,
performs that service for, or delivers that commodity to, the public
or any portion thereof, that person or corporation is a public
utility subject to the jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the
commission and the provisions of this part.
(d) Ownership or operation of a facility that employs cogeneration
technology or produces power from other than a conventional power
source or the ownership or operation of a facility which employs
landfill gas technology does not make a corporation or person a
public utility within the meaning of this section solely because of
the ownership or operation of such a that
facility.
(e) Any corporation or person engaged directly or indirectly in
developing, producing, transmitting, distributing, delivering, or
selling any form of heat derived from geothermal or solar resources
or from cogeneration technology to any privately owned or publicly
owned public utility, or to the public or any portion thereof, is not
a public utility within the meaning of this section solely by reason
of engaging in any of those activities.
(f) The ownership or operation of a facility that sells compressed
natural gas at retail to the public for use only as a motor vehicle
fuel, and the selling of compressed natural gas at retail from
such a that facility to the public for
use only as a motor vehicle fuel, does not make the corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, operation, or sale.
(g) Ownership or operation of a facility that has been certified
by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an exempt wholesale
generator pursuant to Section 32 of the Public Utility Holding
Company Act of 1935 (Chapter 2C (commencing with Section 79) of Title
15 of the United States Code) does not make a corporation or person
a public utility within the meaning of this section, solely due to
the ownership or operation of that facility.
(h) Generation assets owned by any public utility prior to January
1, 1997, and subject to rate regulation by the commission, shall
continue to be subject to regulation by the commission until the
owner of those assets have undergone market valuation
has applied to the commission, in accordance
with procedures established by the commission under Section 851,
to dispose of those assets and has been authorized by the commission
to undertake that disposal .
(i) The ownership, control, operation, or management of an
electric plant used for direct transactions or participation directly
or indirectly in direct transactions, as permitted by subdivision
(b) of Section 365, sales into the Power Exchange referred to in
Section 365, or the use or sale as permitted under subdivisions (b)
to (d), inclusive, of Section 218, shall not make a corporation or
person a public utility within the meaning of this section solely
because of that ownership, participation, or sale.
SEC. 2. Section 377 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
377. The commission shall continue to regulate the nonnuclear
generation assets owned by any public utility prior to January 1,
1997, that are subject to commission regulation until the owner
of those assets have been subject to market valuation
in accordance with procedures established by the commission. If,
after market valuation, the public utility wishes to retain ownership
of nonnuclear generation assets in the same corporation as the
distribution utility, the public utility shall demonstrate to the
satisfaction of the commission, through a public hearing, that it
would be consistent with the public interest and would not confer
undue competitive advantage on the public utility to retain that
ownership in the same corporation as the distribution utility
has applied to the commission to dispose of those
assets under Section 851 and has received approval from the
commission to undertake that disposal .
SEC. 3. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the
only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction,
eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime
or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government
Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution.