BILL NUMBER: AB 69 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 19, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 14, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Wright
(Coauthor: Assembly Member Robert Pacheco)
(Coauthor: Senators Alarcon and Murray)
DECEMBER 13, 2000
An act to amend Section 12078 of the Government Code,
relating to environmental quality. An act to add
Section 9601.5 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 69, as amended, Wright. Environmental quality
Electricity: governmental entities in Los Angeles
County: contracts .
Existing law prohibits a city or municipally owned electric
utility from selling electric power to the retail customers of a
public utility unless the city or municipally owned electric utility
agrees to let the public utility make sales of electric power to its
retail customers. Existing law requires that a customer of a public
utility that purchases electricity through a direct transaction
contract pay certain generation-related transition charges.
This bill would permit specified governmental entities that are
served by the Southern California Edison Company within Los Angeles
County to purchase electricity for use in those areas from the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power. The bill would require that
the electricity be used only for facilities owned or leased by a
governmental entity that are used for governmental purposes. The
bill would prohibit reselling the electricity. The bill would not
require that reciprocity of electrical sales be provided to the
Southern California Edison Company. The bill would exempt the sales
from specified generation-related transition charges.
Existing law establishes the Governor's Clean Energy GREEN TEAM,
which provides assistance to persons proposing to construct
powerplants.
This bill would require the GREEN TEAM to make the repowering of
existing powerplants a top priority, and would require it to ensure
that any expedited repowering is subject to conditions that ensure a
reduction in the environmental impacts of the facility. The bill
would also require the GREEN TEAM to encourage regulatory agencies to
promote and accelerate the repowering of existing powerplants within
their existing authority.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:
yes no . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) The ability of local agencies to secure stable and affordable
power is necessary to ensure that those agencies can provide
essential services such as health and public safety.
(b) The reality of rolling blackouts and higher electric costs for
those areas of local agencies served by investor-owned utilities
requires the state to assist local agencies.
(c) In some parts of the state there are local agencies in which
parts of the geographical area served by the local agency is served
by an investor-owned utility and the remaining parts are served by a
publicly owned utility that has surplus electrical generating
capacity.
(d) Allowing those local agencies to buy more of their electricity
from the publicly owned utility would reduce demand on the
investor-owned utility and help ensure reliable and affordable
electric power for the local agency.
SEC. 2. Section 9601.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
9601.5. (a) (1) This section is only applicable to the Los
Angeles Department of Water and Power and the governmental entities
described in subdivision (h).
(2) For purposes of this section, a "contract" means a direct
transaction as defined in Section 331 entered into pursuant to this
section by a governmental entity described in subdivision (h) and the
Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a governmental
entity may enter into a contract for electricity to be delivered for
use within the geographical boundaries of the County of Los Angeles
in areas served by the Southern California Edison Company. The
electricity purchased may only be used for facilities owned or leased
by the governmental entity and used to perform governmental
services. The electricity may not be resold by the governmental
entity.
(c) This section may not be interpreted to require either a
governmental entity or the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
to enter into a contract.
(d) The Southern California Edison Company shall deliver the
electricity provided by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power
under a contract entered into pursuant to this section. The
delivery service shall be provided at the rates, terms, and
conditions approved by the commission and applicable to customers who
have entered into a direct transaction. Section 9602 and
subdivisions (a) and (c) of Section 9601 are not applicable to the
parties of a contract entered into pursuant to this section.
(e) If there is a legal challenge to a contract by the Southern
California Edison Company based on a theory of vested rights under
former Section 19 of Article XI of the California Constitution, as it
read on January 1, 1911, and a court determines that there is a
vested right affected by the contract which requires payment to the
Southern California Edison Company by either the governmental entity
or the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for the right to
sell power in the service areas covered by the contract, then the
party which would have to make such payment may rescind the contract.
(f) A contract may not permit the Southern California Edison
Company to have a reciprocal right to sell electricity within the
service area of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The
fact of a contract does not give the Southern California Edison
Company a legal right to sell electricity to the retail customers of
the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Subdivision (c) of
Section 9601 is not applicable to a contract entered into pursuant to
this section.
(g) Upon termination of a contract entered into pursuant to this
section, the default provider of power shall be the Southern
California Edison Company. Customers as described in subdivision (h)
who return to Southern California Edison Company for procurement
service shall be subject to the same terms and conditions as are
applicable to other returning direct access customers as authorized
by the commission pursuant to this code or any other applicable
provision of law.
(h) This section is only applicable to the following governmental
entities:
(1) The County of Los Angeles.
(2) The Los Angeles Unified School District.
(3) The Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
(4) The Los Angeles County Office of Education.
(5) The Los Angeles Community College District.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that, because of the
unique circumstances applicable only to the County of Los Angeles, a
statute of general applicability cannot be enacted within the meaning
of subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution. Therefore, this special statute is necessary.
all of the following:
(1) The state has an abundance of aging fossil-fuel powerplants.
(2) New technologies exist that are more efficient and that
provide superior protection to the environment.
(3) These new technologies can substantially reduce air emissions
and other pollutants emitted by aging powerplants.
(4) Repowering aging powerplants helps minimize the environmental
damage caused by those powerplants, and conserves land by utilizing
existing powerplants rather than constructing new plants.
(5) Repowering aging powerplants could save residents of the state
as much as $1.5 billion per year by reducing wholesale electric
costs.
(b) It is, therefore, the intent of the Legislature to encourage
the repowering of existing powerplants in a manner that accomplishes
all of the following:
(1) Subjects the repowering to conditions that would ensure
reductions in the air emissions and water discharge impacts of those
powerplants.
(2) Increases the power production of those powerplants, without
compromising existing environmental protections.
(3) Yields a net improvement in environmental quality.
SEC. 2. Section 12078 of the Government Code is amended to read:
12078. (a) There is hereby established the Governor's Clean
Energy GREEN TEAM, which shall consist of a chairperson and not more
than 15 members as follows:
(1) The Chair of the Electricity Oversight Board.
(2) The President of the California Public Utilities Commission.
(3) The Chair of the Energy Resources Conservation and Development
Commission.
(4) The Secretary for Environmental Protection.
(5) The Secretary of the Resources Agency.
(6) The Secretary of the Trade and Commerce Agency.
(7) The Director of the Governor's Office of Planning and
Research.
(8) Representatives from the United States Environmental
Protection Agency, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, and
other affected federal agencies appointed by the Governor.
(9) Representatives of local and regional agencies, including, but
not limited to, air pollution control districts and air quality
management districts appointed by the Governor.
(b) Prior to January 1, 2002, the GREEN TEAM shall do all of the
following:
(1) Compile and, upon request, make available to persons proposing
to construct powerplants, all available guidance documents and other
information on the environmental effects associated with powerplants
proposed to be certified pursuant to Division 15 (commencing with
Section 25000) of the Public Resources Code, and including
state-of-the-art and best available control technologies and air
emissions offsets that could be used to mitigate those environmental
effects.
(2) Upon request, provide assistance to persons proposing to
construct powerplants in obtaining essential inputs, including, but
not limited to, natural gas supply, emission offsets, and necessary
water supply.
(3) Upon request, provide assistance to persons proposing to
construct powerplants pursuant to Chapter 6 (commencing with Section
25500) of Division 15 of the Public Resources Code in identifying the
environmental effects of those powerplants and any actions the
person may take to mitigate those effects.
(4) Upon request, provide assistance to persons proposing to
construct powerplants in working with local governments in ensuring
that local permits, land use authorizations, and other approvals made
at the local level are undertaken in the most expeditious manner
feasible without compromising public participation or environmental
protection.
(5) Develop recommendations for low- or zero-interest financing
programs for renewable energy, including distributed renewable energy
for state and nonprofit corporations.
(c) The GREEN TEAM shall do all of the following:
(1) Make the expedited repowering of existing powerplants in the
state a top priority consistent with ensuring that those plants
operate in a manner that lessens their impact on the environment.
(2) Encourage all regulatory agencies in the state with
jurisdiction over those powerplants to take all actions within their
respective authority to promote and accelerate the repowering of
existing powerplants and to do so in a manner that lessens their
impact on the environment.
(d) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2004, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2004, deletes or extends
that date.