BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    




                    Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
          
                                           41 (Speier)
          
          Hearing Date:  7/9/01           Amended: 5/25/01       
          Consultant:  Lisa Matocq            Policy Vote: E, U & C  
          6-2                      
          ____________________________________________________________ 
          ___
          BILL SUMMARY: 
          
          SB 41xx, requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to  
          take into consideration, when establishing baseline  
          quantities, the presence of dependent children in the  
          household, based on a self-certification process, and  
          increase baseline quantities accordingly.   

                              Fiscal Impact (in thousands)
           
          Major Provisions                 2001-02           2002-03              
           2003-04               Fund  
          
          PUC                        Unknown, potentially significant, costs    
                 Special*
                                     probably offset by revenues

          *Public Utilities' Reimbursement Account (PURA)
          
          STAFF COMMENTS:  Increased costs to the PUC are unknown,  
          but potentially significant to adjust baseline quantities.   
          PURA revenues are derived from an annual fee charged to  
          utilities and are used to pay for the PUC's budget.    
          Therefore, the PUC's costs are probably offset by increased  
          fee revenues.  

          STAFF RECOMMENDS that the bill be amended to (1) clarify  
          whether the baseline adjustment would vary based on the  
          number of children or be a single adjustment regardless of  
          the number of children, and (2) clarify whether the PUC or  
          the utilities would be responsible for receiving and  
          reviewing the self-certifications, and for adjusting  
          customers' baseline quantities.  Currently, the PUC  
          establishes standard baseline quantities and the utilities  
          apply those to customers' accounts.  Therefore, it might be  
          appropriate to have the PUC adjust standard baseline  
          quantities for use by the utilities, taking into  










          consideration the presence of dependent children, but  
          require the self-certifications to be submitted to the  
          utilities for adjustment of individual accounts.