BILL NUMBER: SBX1 39 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Speier
FEBRUARY 8, 2001
An act to amend Sections 216 and 362 of, and to add Section 761.3
to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 39, as introduced, Speier. Public Utilities.
(1) Under existing law, ownership or operation of a facility that
has been certified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as an
exempt wholesale generator is not sufficient to make a corporation or
person a public utility under the Public Utilities Act, a violation
of which is a crime.
This bill would delete this provision. To the extent that this
change would expand the class of utilities subject to the act, this
bill would impose a state-mandated local program by changing the
definition of an existing crime.
(2) Existing law requires the commission in proceedings to ensure
that facilities needed to maintain the reliability of the electric
supply remain available and operational, consistent with maintaining
open competition and avoiding an overconcentration of market power.
This bill would require the commission to ensure that generation
facilities located in California are operated by the persons or
corporations who own or control them in a manner that assures their
availability to maintain the reliability of the electric supply
system. The bill would authorize the commission to accomplish this
by issuing orders and directives as it deems necessary and
appropriate, after a hearing. The bill would authorize the
commission to prevent the exercise of market power by prohibiting
economic or physical withholding of the output of a divested
generation facility from delivery to or for the benefit of California
end users.
(3) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electric
corporations.
This bill would authorize the commission to prescribe inspection,
maintenance, and operating practices and procedures for any electric
plant used to produce or generate electric energy located in the
State of California that is necessary to ensure public health and
safety and electric service reliability and adequacy.
(4) 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. The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(a) Electric generating facilities and powerplants in California
are essential facilities for maintaining and protecting the public
health and safety of California residents and businesses.
(b) It is in the public interest to ensure that electric
generating facilities and powerplants located in California are
effectively and appropriately maintained and efficiently operated.
(c) Owners and operators of electric generating facilities and
powerplants are public utilities subject to the control of the
Legislature.
SEC. 2. 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 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 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) 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. 3. Section 362 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
362. (a) In proceedings pursuant to Section 455.5,
851, or 854, the commission shall ensure that facilities needed to
maintain the reliability of the electric supply remain available and
operational, consistent with maintaining open competition and
avoiding an overconcentration of market power. In order to determine
whether the facility needs to remain available and operational, the
commission shall utilize standards that are no less stringent that
the Western Systems Coordinating Council and North American Electric
Reliability Council standards for planning reserve criteria.
(b) The commission shall ensure that generation facilities located
in California are operated by the persons or corporations who own or
control them in a manner that ensures their availability to maintain
the reliability of the electric supply system. The commission may
accomplish this by issuing orders and directives as it deems
necessary and appropriate, after a hearing. The commission may
prevent the exercise of market power by prohibiting economic or
physical withholding of the output of a divested generation facility
from delivery to or for the benefit of California end users.
SEC. 4. Section 761.3 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
761.3. Notwithstanding Section 216, the commission may prescribe
inspection, maintenance, and operating practices and procedures for
any electric plant used to produce or generate electric energy
located in the State of California that is necessary to ensure public
health and safety and electric service reliability and adequacy.
Nothing in this section authorizes the commission to regulate rates
for wholesale electric energy transactions in interstate commerce.
SEC. 5. 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.