BILL NUMBER: SB 1388	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Peace

                        JANUARY 24, 2000

   An act relating to public utilities.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1388, as introduced, Peace.  Electrical restructuring.
   The Public Utilities Act provides for the restructuring of the
electrical industry in this state, including specific provisions with
regard to the reliability and cost of electric transmission and
distribution services.
   This bill would make legislative findings and declarations with
regard to the reliability and cost of electricity service.
   Vote:  majority.  Appropriation:  no.  Fiscal committee:  no.
State-mandated local program:  no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:


  SECTION 1.  The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (a) Reliable, reasonably priced electricity service is and always
has been essential for California's economic growth and for the
health and welfare of its citizens.
   (b) To improve the reliability and cost of electricity service in
California, Chapter 854 of the Statutes of 1996 (hereafter AB 1890)
restructured the state's electricity industry to allow market-based
competition in the supply of electric power and created the
Independent System Operator to ensure reliability, efficiently
operate the statewide transmission system, and ensure that necessary
new transmission capacity was planned for and constructed.
   (c) Prior to electric industry restructuring, California had
experienced a decade-long hiatus in power plant construction that, in
conjunction with strong, population-driven electricity demand
growth, had begun to jeopardize electric system reliability.
   (d) The passage of AB 1890 ended this construction hiatus and
stimulated private developers to file an unprecedented number of
applications to build new, environmentally superior merchant power
plants in California.
   (e) However, because these new power plants will not be completed
until 2002 or 2003, the state's electric system reliability will
remain vulnerable during the next few years during periods when
California and its neighboring states simultaneously experience very
hot weather.
   (f) This vulnerability will be exacerbated, in the event of a
drought, by California's dependence on rainfall-driven hydroelectric
power for over 20 percent of its annual electricity requirements.
   (g) Adequate generation, transmission, and consumer-demand
responsiveness alternatives are critical to managing the
vulnerability of the state's electric system and ensuring reliable,
reasonably priced, electricity.
   (h) Therefore all of the following are necessary:
   (1) Timely and efficient public processes for siting, licensing,
and interconnecting new generation and transmission facilities.
   (2) Providing tools and information to the state's electricity
consumers to enable them to manage their energy use during periods
when electricity is most costly.
   (3) Equipping public and private institutions that protect the
interests of California's citizens with the tools and authority they
need to facilitate the timely development of required physical and
policy infrastructure.
   (i) This act is intended to ensure that needed processes and
institutional capabilities are in place so California's citizens and
businesses will continue to be assured reliable, reasonably priced,
electricity service.  Specifically, this bill is intended to do all
of the following:
   (1) Expedite the deployment of new in-state electric generation
capacity.
   (2) Expedite the development of necessary transmission capacity
identified by the Independent System Operator.
   (3) Expedite the development of necessary distribution capacity
identified by the Public Utilities Commission.
   (4) Maximize the potential benefits of energy conservation by
facilitating the deployment of appropriate metering and communication
and control technologies through the distribution system.