BILL ANALYSIS
------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 28XX|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|1020 N Street, Suite 524 | |
|(916) 445-6614 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 28XX
Author: Migden (D)
Amended: 8/21/01 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 7-0, 7/17/01
AYES: Bowen, Alarcon, Dunn, Sher, Speier, Vasconcellos,
Vincent
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 7-5, 9/6/01
AYES: Alpert, Bowen, Burton, Escutia, Karnette, Murray,
Speier
NOES: Battin, Johannessen, Johnson, McPherson, Poochigian
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 63-6, 5/24/01 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Electrical restructuring: Oversight Board:
Independent
System Operator
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill makes changes to the authority of the
Electricity Oversight Board, as specified, and establishes
reporting procedures for electric generation and
transmission facilities related to their availability. The
bill attempts to establish a mechanism for the rational
scheduling of planned outages, as well as monitoring,
investigation, and enforcement related to unplanned
outages.
CONTINUED
AB 28XX
Page
2
ANALYSIS : Current law, established by AB 1890 (Brulte),
Chapter 854, Statutes of 1996, created the Electricity
Oversight Board (OEB) to, among other things, oversee the
Independent System Operator (ISO) and the Power Exchange
(PX). The ISO maintains a schedule of facilities' outages
for planned maintenance.
This bill establishes procedures governing the operating
availability of power plants and transmission facilities.
Specifically, this bill:
1.Requires the OEB, in consultation with the California
Public Utilities Commission (PUC) and the ISO, to adopt
protocols for scheduling of transmission and generation
equipment outages for maintenance, repair or upgrade.
2.Requires the EOB, in consultation with the PUC and the
ISO, to schedule such outages according to protocols.
3.Requires the EOB to direct the ISO to prepare, and the
EOB to adopt, generation maintenance, operation and
availability standards for units 10 megawatts or larger.
4.Authorizes the PUC to adopt and enforce such standards
for facilities under its jurisdiction.
5.Prohibits this bill from resulting in any modification,
delay or abrogation of any environmental standard.
6.Requires the ISO to maintain records of power plant
outages and provide them to the EOB and the PUC each
day.
7.Requires owners and operators of power plants over 10
megawatts to report any periods of unavailability each
month to the ISO and requires the ISO to immediately
transmit this information to the EOB and the PUC.
8.Requires the PUC, in consultation with the EOB, to adopt
a penalty schedule for violations of this bill and the
rest of the article governing the EOB.
9.Authorizes the PUC to assess monetary penalties for
non-compliance upon request of the EOB.
AB 28XX
Page
3
10.Authorizes the EOB, in consultaiton with the PUC, to
seek an injunction from a court to require compliance
with outage plans, standards or protocols.
11.Exempts local, publicly-owned (municipal) electric
utilities, public water or water treatment agencies that
generate electricity, nuclear generating facilities and
qualifying facilities (QFs) from the foregoing
provisions and requires these entities to, instead, file
with the EOB:
A. An annual maintenance schedule.
B. A report of any significant deviations from the
schedule.
C. A monthly report of actual planned and unplanned
outages.
D. A daily report of operational status.
12.Exempts generation units installed, operated and
maintained at a customer site, exclusively serving that
customer's load, from the foregoing provisions.
13.Deletes EOB's exclusive right to decline to confirm
appointments of members to the ISO governing board.
This bill also authorizes the EOB to obtain specified
records of the ISO and the PX and maintain the
confidentiality of the records pursuant to a process
analogous to the one currently applicable to the California
Energy Commission. The EOB is required to share
information with the PUC at the PUC's request.
This bill provides for repeal of the above provisions upon
a determination of the Attorney General that the EOB has
been abolished, merged, replaced or duplicated by statute,
executive order or otherwise.
In addition, this bill gives the EOB the following general
powers:
AB 28XX
Page
4
A. Investigating any matter related to the wholesale
electricity market to serve, protect and represent the
interest of consumers in relation to the availability of
generation and transmission and related costs during
periods of peak demand.
B. Directing the ISO to report to the EOB as it determines
necessary and appropriate to the exercise of its public
oversight duties.
This bill requires the EOB to provide a quarterly report of
its progress implementing this act to the Legislature's
appropriate policy committee.
This bill is double-joined to SB 39XX.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
EOB -- Potentially $575,000 to $750,000 annually until
January 1, 2003 from the General Fund. The 2001 Budget
Act contains $750,000 for similar purpose.
PUC -- Probably minor costs from the Public Utilities
Reimbursement Account and offset by fee revenues.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Alquist, Aroner, Bates, Briggs, Calderon, Bill
Campbell, Canciamilla, Cardenas, Cardoza, Chan, Chavez,
Chu, Cohn, Corbett, Correa, Daucher, Diaz, Dutra,
Firebaugh, Florez, Frommer, Goldberg, Harman, Havice,
Horton, Jackson, Keeley, Kehoe, Kelley, Koretz, La Suer,
Leonard, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal, Maddox, Migden,
Mountjoy, Nakano, Nation, Negrete McLeod, Oropeza, Robert
Pacheco, Papan, Pavley, Pescetti, Reyes, Runner, Salinas,
Shelley, Simitian, Steinberg, Strickland, Strom-Martin,
Thomson, Vargas, Washington, Wayne, Wesson, Wiggins,
Wyland, Wyman, Hertzberg
NOES: Aanestad, Bogh, Cogdill, Dickerson, Hollingsworth,
Rod Pacheco
NC:cm 9/7/01 Senate Floor Analyses
AB 28XX
Page
5
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
**** END ****