BILL NUMBER: SBX1 39 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE MARCH 15, 2001
AMENDED IN SENATE FEBRUARY 27, 2001
INTRODUCED BY Senator Speier
FEBRUARY 8, 2001
An act to amend Sections 216 and 362 ,
362, and 431 of, and to add Section 761.3 to, the Public
Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 39, as amended, 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
Public Utilities 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
require that generation facilities located in
California that have been disposed of pursuant to specified
existing law are operated by the persons or corporations who
own or control them in a manner that assures
ensures 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 that it determines
to be necessary and appropriate, after a hearing. The bill would
authorize the commission to ensure electric service reliability 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) Existing law requires the commission to annually
determine a fee to be paid by public utilities, except as specified,
to produce a total amount equal to that amount established in the
authorized commission budget for the same year.
This bill would require the commission to annually determine a fee
to be paid by certain generation facilities subject to the
jurisdiction of the commission, or upon which the commission imposes
requirements, as prescribed. Because a violation of a requirement of
the commission is a crime, this bill would impose a state-mandated
local program by creating a new crime.
(4) Under existing law, the Public Utilities
Commission commission has regulatory authority
over public utilities, including electric corporations.
This bill would authorize the commission, in consultation with the
applicable control area operator, 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)
(5) 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) 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 require
that generation facilities located in California that have
been disposed of in proceedings pursuant to Section 851 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 that it determines to be necessary and
appropriate, after a hearing. The commission may ensure electric
service reliability 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 431 of the Public Utilities Code is amended
to read:
431. (a) The commission shall annually determine a fee
to be paid by every electrical, gas, telephone, telegraph, water,
sewer system, and heat corporation and every other public utility
providing service directly to customers or subscribers and subject to
the jurisdiction of the commission other than a railroad, except as
otherwise provided in Article 2 (commencing with Section 421).
The commission shall also annually determine a fee to be paid by
every generation facility subject to the jurisdiction of the
commission pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 362 or upon which
the commission imposes requirements pursuant to Section 761.3.
The
(b) The commission shall establish the annual fee
shall be established to produce a total amount equal to
that amount established in the authorized commission budget for the
same year, including adjustments for increases in employee
compensation, other increases appropriated by the Legislature, and an
appropriate reserve to regulate public utilities less the amount to
be paid from special accounts or funds pursuant to Section 402,
reimbursements, federal funds, and any other revenues, and the amount
of unencumbered funds from the preceding year.
This
(c) This article shall does
not apply to any electrical cooperative as defined in Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 2776) of Part 2.
On and after January 1, 1985, this
(d) This article shall apply applies
to radiotelephone utilities as defined in Section 4902 as
those provisions read on December 31, 1984.
SEC. 5. Section 761.3 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
to read:
761.3. Notwithstanding Section 216, the commission, in
consultation with the applicable control area operator, 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.
SEC. 6. 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.