BILL NUMBER: AB 80 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2002
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 28, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 26, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 25, 2002
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 8, 2002
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 31, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 30, 2001
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 27, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Havice
(Principal coauthor: Senator Karnette)
(Coauthor: Senator Soto)
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Correa, Lowenthal, Robert Pacheco,
and Wesson)
JANUARY 4, 2001
An act to add Section 366.1 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 80, Havice. Aggregation: Magnolia Power Project.
(1) Existing law suspends the right of retail end-use customers to
acquire direct access service from certain electricity suppliers
after a period of time to be determined by the Public Utilities
Commission until the Department of Water Resources no longer supplies
electricity under a certain provision of law.
This bill would provide that, notwithstanding the above provision
of law, a city with rights and obligations to the Magnolia Power
Project, as defined, may serve as a community aggregator on behalf of
all retail end-use customers within its jurisdiction, if the
Magnolia Power Project has been constructed and is otherwise capable
of beginning deliveries of electricity to the existing project
participants. This provision would not become operative until the
commission implements a cost-recovery mechanism applicable to
customers electing to purchase electricity from an alternate provider
beginning February 1, 2001, in accordance with specified criteria
that are declared to be declaratory of existing law, and submits a
report on that implementation to specified committees of the
Legislature. The bill would require retail end-use customers
purchasing power from a community aggregator to reimburse the
department and the electrical corporation that previously serviced
the customer, for specified costs, as determined by the commission.
Because under the Public Utilities Act a violation of an order or
decision of the commission is a crime, this bill would impose a
state-mandated local program by expanding the definition of a crime.
(2) 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.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) It is the intent of the Legislature, in enacting
the act adding this section, to recognize contributions made in
response to California's need for the expedited investment in and
development of new environmentally superior electrical generation
projects.
(b) It is further the intent of the Legislature to avoid the
potential delay in adding new electrical generating capacity that
might be caused if certain project participants are not allowed to
utilize community aggregation to deliver their share of the project
output to customers within their jurisdiction.
SEC. 2. Section 366.1 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
366.1. (a) As used in this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:
(1) "Department" means the Department of Water Resources with
respect to its power program described in Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 80100) of Division 27 of the Water Code.
(2) "Existing project participant" means a city with rights and
obligations to the Magnolia Power Project under the Magnolia Power
Project Planning Agreement, dated May 1, 2001.
(3) "Magnolia Power Project" means a proposed natural gas-fired
electric generating facility to be located at an existing site in
Burbank and for which an application for certification has been filed
with the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Act
(Docket No. 00-SIT-1) and deemed data adequate pursuant to the
expedited six-month licensing process established under Section 25550
of the Public Resources Code.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 80110 of the Water Code or Commission
Decision 01-09-060, if the Magnolia Power Project has been
constructed and is otherwise capable of beginning deliveries of
electricity to the existing project participants, an existing project
participant may serve as a community aggregator on behalf of all
retail end-use customers within its jurisdiction.
(c) Subdivision (b) shall not become operative until both of the
following occur:
(1) The commission implements a cost-recovery mechanism,
consistent with subdivision (d), that is applicable to customers that
elected to purchase electricity from an alternate provider between
February 1, 2001, and the effective date of the act adding this
section.
(2) The commission submits a report certifying its satisfaction of
paragraph (1) to the Senate Energy, Utilities and Communications
Committee, or its successor, and the Assembly Committee on Utilities
and Commerce, or its successor.
(d) (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that each retail
end-use customer that has purchased power from an electrical
corporation on or after February 1, 2001, should bear a fair share
of the department's power purchase costs, as well as power purchase
contract obligations incurred as of January 1, 2003, that are
recoverable from electrical corporation customers in
commission-approved rates. It is the further intent of the
Legislature to prevent any shifting of recoverable costs between
customers.
(2) The Legislature finds and declares that the provisions in this
subdivision are consistent with the requirements of Section 360.5
and Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water Code,
and are therefore declaratory of existing law.
(e) A retail end-use customer purchasing power from a community
aggregator pursuant to subdivision (b) shall reimburse the department
for all of the following:
(1) A charge equivalent to the charge which would otherwise be
imposed on the customer by the commission to recover bond related
costs pursuant to an agreement between the commission and the
Department of Water Resources pursuant to Section 80110 of the Water
Code, that charge shall be payable until all obligations of the
Department of Water Resources pursuant to Division 27 of the Water
Code are fully paid or otherwise discharged.
(2) The costs of the department, equal to the share of the
department's estimated net unavoidable power purchase contract costs
attributable to the customer, as determined by the commission, for
the period commencing with the customer's purchases of electricity
from a community aggregator, through the expiration of all then
existing power purchase contracts entered into by the department.
(f) A retail end-use customer purchasing power from a community
aggregator pursuant to subdivision (b) shall reimburse the electrical
corporation that previously served the customer for all of the
following:
(1) The electrical corporation's unrecovered past
undercollections, including all financing costs attributable to that
customer, that the commission lawfully determines may be recovered in
rates.
(2) The costs of the electrical corporation recoverable in
commission-approved rates, equal to the share of the electrical
corporation's estimated net unavoidable power purchase contract costs
attributable to the customer, as determined by the commission, for
the period commencing with the customer's purchases of electricity
from the community aggregator, through the expiration of all then
existing power purchase contracts entered into by the electrical
corporation.
(g) (1) A charge or cost imposed pursuant to subdivision (e), and
all revenues received to pay the charge or cost, shall be the
property of the Department of Water Resources. A charge or cost
imposed pursuant to subdivision (f), and all revenues received to pay
the charge or cost, shall be the property of the particular
electrical corporation. The commission shall establish mechanisms,
including agreements with, or orders with respect to, electrical
corporations necessary to assure that the revenues received to pay a
charge or cost payable pursuant to this section are promptly remitted
to the party entitled to those revenues.
(2) A charge or cost imposed pursuant to this section shall be
nonbypassable.
SEC. 3. The Legislature finds and declares that, because of the
unique circumstances applicable only to the Magnolia Power Project
and a city with rights and obligations to the Magnolia Power Project
under the Magnolia Power Project Planning Agreement dated May 1,
2001, 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.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B 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 XIII B of the California
Constitution.