BILL NUMBER: AB 84 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 22, 2003
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 18, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Cogdill
JANUARY 6, 2003
An act to amend Section 421 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 84, as amended, Cogdill. Public utilities: common carrier
fees: annual audit.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission is required to
establish fees to be paid by every common carrier and related
business, equaling the amount of the commission's annual budget
prorated to the extent of the commission's regulatory duties with
respect to each class of carrier or related business for which each
particular fee is established. Existing law requires the commission,
commencing with the 1993-94 fiscal year, until the 1999-2000 fiscal
year, to conduct an audit of the expenditure of the funds received
pursuant to these provisions, except that beginning with the 1996-97
fiscal year and until the 1999-2000 fiscal year, the audit was
required to be conducted by the Bureau of State Audits, with the
commission reimbursing the bureau for the costs of the audits.
This bill would require the bureau to contract with an
outside independent auditor to conduct the annual audit for
each fiscal year, indefinitely. The bill would require the
commission to reimburse the bureau for those annual audits
, at a cost not to exceed $75,000, adjusted for inflation
.
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 421 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
421. (a) The commission shall annually determine a fee to be paid
by every passenger stage corporation, charter-party carrier of
passengers, pipeline corporation, for-hire vessel operator, common
carrier vessel operator, railroad corporation, and commercial air
operator and every other common carrier and related business subject
to the jurisdiction of the commission, except as otherwise provided
in Article 3 (commencing with Section 431) of this chapter and
Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 5001) of Division 2.
(b) The annual fee shall be established to produce a total amount
equal to the amount established in the authorized commission budget
for the same year, including adjustments appropriated by the
Legislature and an appropriate reserve, to regulate common carriers
and related businesses, less the amount to be paid from special
accounts or funds pursuant to Section 403, reimbursements, federal
funds, other revenues, and unencumbered funds from the preceding
year.
(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the fees paid by
railroad corporations shall be used for state-funded railroad
investigation and enforcement activities of the commission, other
than the rail safety activities funded by the Transportation Planning
and Development Account pursuant to Section 99315.5. The railroad
fees shall be set annually at a level which generates not less than
the amount sufficient to fund activities pursuant to Sections 765.5,
7711, and 7712.
(d) On January 1, 1992, the commission shall submit to the
Legislature a detailed budget implementing this section for the
1992-93 fiscal year. The commission shall also submit to the
Legislature by January 1, 1993, and on each January 1 thereafter, a
detailed budget for expenditure of railroad corporation fees for the
ensuing budget year. The budget for expenditure of railroad
corporation fees, for each of the 1996-97 and 1997-98 fiscal years,
shall not exceed the amount of three million dollars ($3,000,000).
Expenditures of this budget shall be limited to the following items:
(1) Expenditures for employees occupying, and actually performing
service in, railroad-safety personnel positions that are directly
involved in inspecting railroads and enforcing rail safety
regulations. The commission shall expend the funds budgeted pursuant
to this subdivision for the salaries, per diem, and travel expenses
of employees specified in this paragraph, unless by statute, the
commission is specifically prohibited from expending all or part of
those funds.
(2) Expenditures for employees occupying, and actually performing
service in, clerical and support staff positions that are directly
associated with railroad-safety inspections.
(3) Expenditures for legal personnel who actually pursue
violations of rail safety regulations beyond the informal complaint
level.
(4) Expenditures for an audit by the Bureau of State Audits
pursuant to subdivision (f), not to exceed seventy-five thousand
dollars ($75,000).
(5) Expenditures for the pro rata share of the commission's
overhead costs while state personnel are actually occupying the
positions, and are performing the duties specified in paragraphs (1)
to (4), inclusive.
(e) The Department of Finance shall notify the Joint Legislative
Budget Committee, pursuant to Section 28.00 of the annual Budget Act,
prior to authorizing any change in the Budget Act appropriation for
railroad corporation fees that is larger than one hundred thousand
dollars ($100,000), or 10 percent of the amount budgeted, whichever
is less.
(f) The Bureau of State Audits shall , pursuant to Section
8546 of the Government Code, contract with an outside independent
auditor to conduct an annual audit of the expenditure of the
funds received pursuant to this section for each fiscal year. The
Bureau of State Audits shall report the results of this audit in
writing, on or before January 15 of each year , with respect to the
audit for the fiscal year ending on the previous June 30, to the
appropriate policy and budget committees of the respective houses of
the Legislature. The commission shall reimburse the Bureau of State
Audits for the costs of the audits. The outside independent
auditor shall be hired pursuant to public bid in accordance with
rules and procedures established by the Bureau of State Audits. The
cost of the outside audit for each fiscal year shall not exceed
seventy-five thousand dollars ($75,000), adjusted annually for
inflation.
(g) On or before January 1, 1994, the commission shall hire a
minimum of four additional operating practices inspectors, exclusive
of supervisory personnel, who are, or shall become, by July 1, 1994,
federally certified, for the purpose of enforcing compliance by
railroads operating in this state with state and federal safety
regulations.
(h) The commission, in performing its duties, shall limit the
expenditure of funds for rail safety division purposes to those
railroad corporation fees collected pursuant to subdivision (d). In
no event, shall the commission fund railroad safety activities
utilizing funds from other commission accounts unrelated to railroad
safety.