BILL NUMBER: AB 1529	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 10, 2002
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 27, 2001

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Wyman

                        FEBRUARY 23, 2001

   An act to add Section  25551 to the Public Resources
  1001.1 to the Public Utilities  Code, relating to
energy  resources  .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1529, as amended, Wyman.   Transmission lines 
 Public Utilities Commission:  expeditious review and action
 . 
   The Public Utilities Act prohibits, among other entities, any gas
corporation or electrical corporation from beginning the construction
of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any
extension thereof, without having first obtained from the Public
Utilities Commission a certificate that the present or future public
convenience and necessity require or will require that construction.

   This bill would require the commission to act as expeditiously as
possible, but in no event exceed the timelines provided for in the
existing Permit Streamling Act, when reviewing or acting upon an
application for a certificate for public convenience and necessity
authorizing the construction of any electric plant, line, or
extension, or gas plant, line, or extension.  
   Existing law authorizes the State Energy Resources Conservation
and Development Commission to establish a process for the expedited
review of applications to construct and operate powerplants and
thermal powerplants and related facilities.  The definition of
facility includes any electric transmission line or thermal
powerplant or both electric transmission line and thermal powerplant.

   This bill would require the commission to establish a procedure
for the expedited review of any utility corridor, defined by the bill
to mean an area in which an electric transmission line, natural gas
pipeline, and water pipeline converge. 
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  yes.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  
  SECTION 1.  Section 25551 is added to the Public Resources
 
  SECTION 1.  Section 1001.1 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
   1001.1.  The commission shall act as expeditiously as possible,
but in no event exceed the timelines provided for in Chapter 4.5
(commencing with Section 65920) of Division 1 of Title 7 of the
Government Code, when reviewing or acting upon an application for a
certificate for public convenience and necessity pursuant to this
article authorizing the construction of any electric plant, line, or
extension, or gas plant, line, or extension.   Code, to
read:
   25551.  (a) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 25522, and
Section 25540.6, the commission shall establish a process to issue
its final certification for any utility corridor within four months
after the filing of the application for certification which, on the
basis of an initial review, shows that the utility corridor will
comply with all applicable standards, ordinances, statutes, or
regulations.
   (b) "Utility corridor," for purposes of this section, means an
area in which an electric transmission line, natural gas pipeline,
and water pipeline converge.