BILL ANALYSIS
SB 1388
Page 1
Date of Hearing: June 19, 2000
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON NATURAL RESOURCES
Howard Wayne, Chair
SB 1388 (Peace) - As Amended: May 16, 2000
SENATE VOTE : 39-0
SUBJECT : Electrical power facilities.
SUMMARY : This bill enacts California Energy Commission (CEC)
recommended changes to current electrical power plant siting
processes. The bill also makes several changes to continued
implementation of electrical restructuring in California.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Provides the CEC with authority over licensing of power plants
in California.
1)Provides certain state and local agencies with advisory
responsibilities to the CEC during the power plant siting
process.
1)Requires the CEC to prepare a geothermal resource sufficiency
study whenever it considers a proposal to site a geothermal
electrical generation facility.
1)Provides the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with
the authority to set electric transmission rates.
1)Provides for competition in the generation and sale of
electricity.
THIS BILL :
1)Requires local agencies that provide recommendations on power
plant sitings to the CEC to do so within 180 days.
1)Eliminates the requirement that the CEC prepare a geothermal
resource sufficiency study whenever it considers a proposal to
site geothermal electrical generation facilities.
1)Requires the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC), in
conjunction with the Electrical Oversight Board, to facilitate
SB 1388
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approval of reasonable transmission facility planning and
engineering procedures.
1)Requires the CPUC to conduct specified pilot projects of
certain customers to gauge small consumer responsiveness to
energy usage and price information.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Senate Appropriations
Committee, the bill would have negligible costs.
COMMENTS :
1)Background
This bill contains three main sections: the first reflecting
recent recommendations by the CEC, the second attempting to
address the issue of the need for better responsiveness to
residential and small commercial electricity customers, and the
third to generally help ensure that electrical corporations
continue developing plans to improve the functioning of the
current electrical transmission system.
The second and third sections of the bill are not within the
jurisdiction of this committee. Those sections should be
addressed in the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce to
which this bill has been referred following this committee.
2) 180 Days
The first section of the bill, reflecting the addition of the
180 day requirement for comments on the power plant siting
process and the deletion of the geothermal sufficiency study are
both recommendations of the CEC, based on a recent report
released in March, 2000 on changes to the electric industry.
According to the author's office, the current power plant siting
process takes about 12 months, and in order for comments from
local and state agencies to be accommodated in the process, a
time limit is necessary. Thus, a compromise of 180 days was
recommended by the CEC.
3) Geothermal resource sufficiency studies
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Geothermal projects in California are generally electrical
generation projects that use underground heat and steam as their
energy source. A resource sufficiency study, required by
current law, analyzes whether there is enough underground heat
and steam to power the plant through its projected life. In its
recent report, the CEC recommended deleting this requirement
because in a competitive generation market, it believes the
responsibility of ensuring an adequate fuel supply should fall
to the power plant developer and not with the CEC.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Kyra Emanuels / NAT. RES. / (916)
319-2092