BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1939|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: SB 1939
Author: Alarcon (D)
Amended: 5/18/00
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 8-2, 5/9/00
AYES: Bowen, Alarcon, Hughes, Mountjoy, Murray, Peace,
Solis, Vasconcellos
NOES: Brulte, Kelley
NOT VOTING: Speier
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 4-0, 5/17/00
AYES: Johannessen, Johnston, Soto, Rainey
NOT VOTING: Monteith, Perata, Polanco
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SUBJECT : Public utilities: electric power: irrigation
districts
SOURCE : Latino Issues Forum
DIGEST : This bill (1) makes changes to programs serving
low-income electricity customers and (2) repeals the
requirement that irrigation district board members be
landowners of the district they represent.
ANALYSIS : Current law allows municipal utilities and
irrigation districts to provide electric service both
inside and outside the boundaries of their service
territory.
CONTINUED
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Current law requires all utilities to collect a "public
goods surcharge" on each customer bill.
Current law requires the investor-owned utilities to spend
specific dollar amounts or percentages in each of the
public goods program categories. Municipal utilities and
irrigation districts have complete discretion over which of
the four public goods programs to fund and at what levels.
Current law requires that, in order to be a member of an
irrigation district board of directors, a person must be a
"freeholder" (or landowner) in the district and a resident
of the division he represents at the time of nomination or
appointment and for the duration of "his" entire term.
This bill requires publicly-owned utilities to establish
low-income programs to be funded through an allocation of
the public goods funds based on an assessment of need.
This bill requires publicly-owned utilities to conduct a
low-income program needs assessment by December 31, 2001.
If a publicly-owned utility is already providing a rate
discount of 15% or more as part of a low-income program, it
is exempted from the needs assessment requirement.
This bill removes the requirement that a member of an
irrigation district board of directors must also be a
landowner and adds the word "she" where appropriate.
This bill allows the board of directors of an irrigation
district to adopt a resolution authorizing a resident or
nonresident holding title to property within the district
to vote.
The bill provides that any eligible voter may be a member
of the board of directors.
The bill specifies that those provisions regarding
titleholders are operative only as long as the district
doesn't provide water, drainage services, electricity,
flood control services, or sewage disposal, as specified.
The bill requires the district to notify the Secretary of
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State 30 days prior to commencing to provide any of those
services.
Background
Public Goods . AB 1890 (Brulte), (Chapter 854, Statutes of
1996) requires investor-owned and municipal utilities to
collect money from each electricity customer to fund four
specific "public goods" programs promoting energy
efficiency, investing in renewable energy sources,
researching alternative energy supplies, and providing rate
discounts to low-income users. The law requires the
investor-owned utilities to spend specific amounts of money
or percentages of money in each of the first three
categories while the fourth, the low-income assistance
program, is a needs-based program. In contrast, the
publicly-owned or municipal electric utilities aren't
required to comply with any particular spending formula and
have complete discretion over how they spend their public
goods monies.
The surcharge collected from each municipal customer can't
be less than the lowest percentage level of the three
largest electrical corporations in the state. Currently,
the surcharge directs about 2.85% of a customer's electric
bill toward the public goods programs.
Irrigation District Directors' Qualifications . Most of
California's 3,400 special districts are registered voter
districts; both the electors and the members of the
governing boards must be registered to vote within the
district's boundaries. But about 350 water districts are
landowner-voter districts. State law assigns voting power
in these districts to those who own real property within
the district. Members of these districts' governing boards
must be landowners or sometimes landowners'
representatives.
California's 97 irrigation districts are a hybrid of
registered voter and landowner-voter type districts. In
general, registered voters are eligible to vote in district
elections, but board members must also be freeholders
(landowners) in the district. However, lawmakers have
granted exceptions, allowing eight irrigation districts to
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be landowner-voter districts.
The Legislature added the freeholder requirement for
irrigation districts' board members in 1897 when the
districts primarily delivered agricultural water to
landowners. Since then, the Legislature has allowed
irrigation districts to provide other services including
drainage, electricity, flood control, sewage disposal, and
water storage and distribution. Irrigation districts
deliver these services to their residents regardless of
land tenure.
Four irrigation districts (Imperial, Merced, Modesto, and
Turlock) provide electricity services. These districts
provide electrical services to residents much like
community services districts, municipal utility districts,
and public utility districts. Existing law does not
require board members of these other districts to be
landowners.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: Yes
SUPPORT : (Per Local Government Committee analysis)
California Journal For Filipino Americans
California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation
Central Valley Opportunity Center
Coalition of California Utility Employees
Community Action Agency of San Mateo County, Inc.
Community Medical Center
Congress of California Seniors
Consumer Federation of California
Finca Management, Inc.
Foundation For Quality Housing Opportunities,Inc.
The Greenlining Institute
Hermandad Mexicana Nacional -- several members
JERICHO
Latin American Civic Association
Latino Issues Forum
Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
San Fernando Gardens Resident Management Corporation
Sempra Energy
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Southern California Gas Workers Council
TELACU
United Farm Workers of America AFL-CIO
Watts/Century Latino Organization
West Angeles Community Development Corporation
OPPOSITION : (Per Local Government Committee analysis)
Agricultural Energy Consumers Association
Alameda Power and Telecom
Association of California Water Agencies
California League of Food Processors
California Municipal Utilities Association
City of Azusa Light and Water Department
Cities of Gridley, Lodi and Lompoc
City of San Bernardino Municipal Water Department
Imperial Irrigation District
Lassen Municipal Utility District
Merced Irrigation District
Modesto Irrigation District
Northern California Power Agency
Roseville Electric
Sacramento Municipal Utility District
Southern California Public Power Authority
Trinity Public Utilities District
Turlock Irrigation District
NC:sl 5/27/00 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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