BILL NUMBER: SB 216 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 521
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE OCTOBER 7, 2011
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR OCTOBER 7, 2011
PASSED THE SENATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2011
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 30, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY AUGUST 26, 2011
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 5, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 31, 2011
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 25, 2011
INTRODUCED BY Senator Yee
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Blumenfield, Ma, and Portantino)
FEBRUARY 9, 2011
An act to add Section 957 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 216, Yee. Public utilities: intrastate natural gas pipeline
safety.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including gas corporations, as
defined. The Public Utilities Act authorizes the commission to
ascertain and fix just and reasonable standards, classifications,
regulations, practices, measurements, or services to be furnished,
imposed, observed, and followed by specified public utilities,
including gas corporations.
Existing federal law requires the United States Department of
Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration
(PHMSA) to adopt minimum safety standards for pipeline
transportation and for pipeline facilities, including an interstate
gas pipeline facility and intrastate gas pipeline facility, as
defined. Existing law authorizes the United States Secretary of
Transportation to prescribe or enforce safety standards and practices
for an intrastate pipeline facility or intrastate pipeline
transportation to the extent that the safety standards and practices
are regulated by a state authority that annually submits to the
secretary a certification for the facilities and transportation or,
alternatively, authorizes the secretary to make an agreement with a
state authority authorizing it to take necessary action to meet
certain pipeline safety requirements. Existing law prohibits a state
authority from adopting or continuing in force safety standards for
interstate pipeline facilities or interstate pipeline transportation.
Existing law authorizes a state authority that has submitted a
current certification to adopt additional or more stringent safety
standards for intrastate pipeline facilities and intrastate pipeline
transportation only if those standards are compatible with the
minimum standards prescribed by the PHMSA.
The bill would require the commission, unless it determines that
doing so is preempted under federal law, to require the installation
of automatic shutoff or remote controlled sectionalized block valves
on certain intrastate transmission lines that are located in a high
consequence area, as defined, or that traverse an active seismic
earthquake fault. The bill would require the owner or operator of a
commission-regulated gas pipeline facility that is an intrastate
transmission line to provide the commission with a valve location
plan, along with any recommendations for valve locations, and would
authorize the commission to make modifications to the valve location
plan.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any
order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and
because a violation of an order or decision of the commission
implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose
a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime.
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.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 957 is added to the Public Utilities Code,
immediately following Section 956, to read:
957. (a) (1) Unless the commission determines that it is
prohibited from doing so by subdivision (c) of Section 60104 of Title
49 of the United States Code, the commission shall require the
installation of automatic shutoff or remote controlled sectionalized
block valves on both of the following facilities, if it determines
those valves are necessary for the protection of the public:
(A) Intrastate transmission lines that are located in a high
consequence area.
(B) Intrastate transmission lines that traverse an active seismic
earthquake fault.
(2) Each owner or operator of a commission-regulated gas pipeline
facility that is an intrastate transmission line shall provide the
commission with a valve location plan, along with any recommendations
for valve locations. The commission may make modifications to the
valve location plan or provide for variations from any location
requirements adopted by the commission pursuant to this section that
it deems necessary or appropriate and consistent with protection of
the public.
(3) The commission shall additionally establish action timelines,
adopt standards for how to prioritize installation of automatic
shutoff or remote controlled sectionalized block valves pursuant to
paragraph (1), ensure that remote and automatic shutoff valves are
installed as quickly as is reasonably possible, and establish ongoing
procedures for monitoring progress in achieving the requirements of
this section.
(b) The commission shall authorize recovery in rates for all
reasonably incurred costs incurred for implementation of the
requirements of this section.
(c) The commission, in consultation with the Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administration of the United States
Department of Transportation, shall adopt and enforce compatible
safety standards for commission-regulated gas pipeline facilities
that the commission determines should be adopted to implement the
requirements of this section.
SEC. 2. 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.