BILL NUMBER: AB 1329 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 16, 2004
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 1, 2003
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Levine
FEBRUARY 21, 2003
An act to add Section 2895.5 to the amend
Sections 216 and 12801 of, to add Section 242 to, and to add Chapter
8 (commencing with Section 2840) to Part 2 of Division 1 of, the
Public Utilities Code, relating to telecommunications
gasoline and diesel .
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1329, as amended, Levine. Public Utilities Commission:
telecommunications gasoline and diesel
.
(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has
regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical
corporations and gas corporations. The California Constitution
grants the commission certain general powers over all public
utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and authorizes the
Legislature, unlimited by the other provisions of the California
Constitution, to confer additional authority and jurisdiction upon
the commission, that is cognate and germane to the regulation of
public utilities. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the
rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those
rates and charges be just and reasonable.
This bill would make a gasoline corporation, as defined, a public
utility subject to the jurisdiction and authority of the commission.
The bill would require the commission to establish policies and
procedures for cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation
programs for gasoline corporations.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an
order or direction of the commission is a crime.
By making gasoline corporations subject to the act, this bill
would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes.
(2) The existing Municipal Utility District Act authorizes the
formation of a municipal utility district. The act authorizes a
district to acquire, construct, own, operate, control, or use works
for supplying the inhabitants of the district and public agencies
with light, water, power, heat, transportation, telephone service, or
other means of communication, or means for the collection,
treatment, or disposition of garbage, sewage, or refuse matter.
This bill would additionally authorize a district to acquire,
construct, own, operate, control, or use works for supplying the
inhabitants of the district and public agencies with gasoline and
diesel.
(3) 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.
Existing law establishes a Public Utilities Commission, with
powers and duties relating to public utilities, including the
authority to establish its own procedures, subject to statute and due
process, the duty to enforce provisions of law affecting public
utilities, and certain adjudicative powers.
The Telecommunications Customer Service Act of 1993 requires the
commission to require telephone corporations to provide certain
customer services to telecommunications customers and authorizes the
commission to require telephone corporations to provide additional
services.
This bill would provide that consumers of telecommunications
services have a right of disclosure, a right of choice, a right of
privacy, a right to public participation and enforcement, a right to
accurate bills and adequate remedies when bills are not accurate, a
right to be free from discrimination, and a right to safety and
security of their person and property.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee:
no yes . State-mandated local program:
no yes .
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 2895.5 is added to the Public Utilities
SECTION 1. 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,
gasoline 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, gasoline 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, gasoline 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. 2. Section 242 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
242. (a) "Gasoline plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and
personal property, owned, controlled, operated, or managed in
connection with or to facilitate the refining, transmission,
distribution, delivery, underground storage, sale, or furnishing of
gasoline or diesel. "Gasoline plant" does not include real estate,
fixtures, and personal property used for the drilling or storage of
petroleum prior to the petroleum beginning transport to a refinery.
(b) "Gasoline corporation" includes every corporation or person
owning, controlling, operating, or managing any gasoline plant for
compensation within this state, except where gasoline or diesel is
made or produced on and distributed by the maker or producer through
private property alone solely for his or her own use or the use of
his or her tenants and not for sale to others.
SEC. 3. Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 2840) is added to Part
2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
CHAPTER 8. GASOLINE CORPORATIONS
2840. The commission shall establish policies and procedures for
cost-effective energy efficiency and conservation programs for
gasoline corporations.
SEC. 4. Section 12801 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
12801. A district may acquire, construct, own, operate, control,
or use, within or without, or partly within or partly without, the
district, works or parts of works for supplying the inhabitants of
the district and public agencies therein, or some of them, with
light, water, power, heat, gasoline, diesel,
transportation, telephone service, or other means of communication,
or means for the collection, treatment, or disposition of garbage,
sewage, or refuse matter, and may do all things necessary or
convenient to the full exercise of the powers herein granted. The
district may also purchase any of such commodities or services from
any other utility district, public agency, person, or private
company, and distribute them.
SEC. 5. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIII B 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 XIII B of the California
Constitution. Code, to read:
2895.5. Consumers of telecommunications services have all of the
following rights:
(a) A right of disclosure, including the right to receive clear
and complete information about rates, charges, terms, and conditions
for available products and services, and to pay for products and
services according to the rates, charges, terms, and conditions they
have agreed to.
(b) A right of choice, including the right to select the products
and services they desire and to select the vendor of those products
and services, and to have those choices honored by the
telecommunications industry.
(c) A right of privacy, including a right to personal privacy, to
be protected from unauthorized use of their telecommunications
records and personal information, and to be free from intrusive
communications and technology.
(d) A right to public participation and enforcement, including a
right to participate in public policy proceedings, to be informed of
their rights and the agencies responsible for enforcing those rights,
and to have effective recourse if their rights are violated.
(e) A right to accurate bills and adequate remedies when bills are
not accurate, including a right to billings that accurately state
the products and services being charged, billings that enable the
consumer to understand what products and services are being charged,
and to receive fair, prompt, and courteous resolution of a
disagreement with, or question about, the appropriateness of any
charge.
(f) A right to be free from discrimination, including the right to
be treated equally to all other similarly situated consumers, free
of prejudice or disadvantage.
(g) A right to safety and security of their persons and property.