BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1565|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1565
Author: Bowen (D)
Amended: 3/30/04
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, UTIL. & COMM. COMMITTEE : 5-1, 3/23/04
AYES: Bowen, Alarcon, Dunn, Sher, Vasconcellos
NOES: Battin
NO VOTE RECORDED: McClintock, Morrow, Murray
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : California Energy Commission: strategic plan
SOURCE : Author
DIGEST : This bill requires the California Energy
Commission to adopt a strategic plan for investments in the
state's electric transmission grid.
ANALYSIS : Like the state's highway and water systems,
improvements to the electric transmission system are
critical to ease existing congestion, meet growth in
demand, ensure reliable delivery of existing resources, and
accommodate delivery of new resources.
According to the California Energy Commission's (CEC's)
2003 Integrated Energy Policy Report (IEPR), "(t)he state's
bulk transmission system needs major upgrades and
improvements. The broken transmission permitting process
in the state must be fixed so that needed transmission
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investments can move forward."
In spite of the recognition of the CEC and other observers
that the public will benefit from new investments in the
transmission grid, little progress has been made in
implementing major transmission improvements in many years.
Electric restructuring has complicated the question of who
is responsible for transmission planning, who should pay
for transmission improvements, and who will benefit.
The Independent System Operator (ISO) plans for and
recommends transmission projects within its control area,
but the responsibility for building lies with the
transmission-owning utilities, who must initiate projects
and obtain approval from the State Public Utilities
Commission (PUC). A significant share of the state's
transmission grid is publicly owned and outside the
jurisdiction of the ISO or the PUC. No state agency is
charged specifically with planning for the future of the
transmission system as a whole.
The CEC's significant planning and reporting duties were
consolidated into the biennial IEPR by SB 1389 (Bowen),
Chapter 568, Statutes of 2002. The next IEPR is due for
adoption on November 1, 2005.
This bill requires the CEC to adopt a strategic plan for
investments in the state's electric transmission grid. The
bill requires the strategic plan to be included in the IEPR
to be adopted on November 1, 2005.
Comments
According to the author's office, the state is suffering
from a lack of direction on electric transmission
infrastructure. Notwithstanding the fact that most of the
state's transmission grid is now supposed to operate as an
integrated system, responsibility from planning and
permitting transmission projects is divided between a
multitude of federal, state and local agencies, as well as
private corporations, who either own or manage pieces of
the grid. The author's office believes the CEC is the most
appropriate entity to examine these issues, reconcile the
concerns of the various players, and recommend a path
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forward to the Legislature.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
NC:mel 4/20/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: NONE RECEIVED
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