BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 1939
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 23, 2000

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS 
                              Carole Migden, Chairwoman

                  SB 1939 (Alarcon) - As Amended:  August 18, 2000 

          Policy Committee:                              Utilities and  
          Commerce     Vote:                            9-0
                        Local Government                      8-1

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill:

          1)Requires local publicly-owned utilities, including irrigation  
            districts, which have not implemented programs for low-income  
            electricity customers, to perform a needs assessment and  
            establish rate assistance and energy efficiency programs.  

          2)Prohibits irrigation districts from providing electric  
            transmission or distribution service to retail customers in  
            another utility's service territory unless the district  
            certifies by ordinance that it provides public purpose  
            programs, and has universal service, consumer protection, and  
            environmental policies comparable to those of the incumbent  
            utility provider.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          1)Any costs to the Public Utilities Commission to enforce the  
            requirements of this bill would be absorbable.

          2)Any costs to local utilities to comply with the bill  
            requirements would be non-reimbursable because the costs could  
            be offset from the electric rates charged by those utilities.

           COMMENTS  

           Background and Purpose  .  As part of Chapter 854, Statutes of  
          1996 (AB 1890, Brulte),  the electric restructuring law,  
          investor-owned utilities (IOUs) and publicly-owned utilities  








                                                                  SB 1939
                                                                  Page  2

          were required to impose a surcharge on each electricity customer  
          to fund needs-based public purpose programs for low-income  
          electricity customers.  The publicly-owned utilities, unlike the  
          IOUs, are not required to spend specified amounts on public  
          purpose programs and have total discretion as to how these  
          monies are spent.  A majority of the publicly-owned utilities  
          provide substantial funding for public purpose programs,  
          including low-income services. 

          Of the four irrigation districts providing electrical  
          service-Imperial, Merced, Modesto, and Turlock-only Imperial has  
          been willing to establish programs aimed primarily at low-income  
          customers.  The other three districts have either modest  
          low-income programs or none at all.  The sponsor of this  
          measure, Latino Issues Forum, asserts that this bill is needed  
          to ensure that publicly-owned utilities and irrigation districts  
          devote adequate resources to low-income programs within their  
          service area.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916)319-2081