BILL NUMBER: SB 1962 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 288
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 1, 2000
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 31, 2000
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 22, 2000
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 18, 2000
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 29, 2000
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 2, 2000
INTRODUCED BY Senator Costa
(Coauthors: Assembly Members Ashburn and Strom-Martin)
FEBRUARY 25, 2000
An act to amend Sections 25000.5, 25350, 25354, 25356, and 25364
of, and to add Section 25141 to, the Public Resources Code, relating
to petroleum fuel.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 1962, Costa. Petroleum products: reports.
Existing law requires each refiner of petroleum products to submit
monthly information to the State Energy Resources Conservation and
Development Commission, including information on feedstock inputs,
origin of petroleum receipts, refinery outputs, refinery stocks, and
finished product supply and distribution, and each major marketer of
petroleum products to report on petroleum and petroleum product
receipts, inventories, and distributions.
This bill would require refiners to additionally report on imports
and exports of petroleum products, including the sale of gasoline
sold "unbranded" by the refiner, blender or importer. The bill would
also require marketers to report on receipts of finished petroleum
products and blendstocks, by type, through branded and unbranded
distribution networks, and exports of unfinished petroleum products
and blendstocks, by type. The bill would define "unbranded" for
these purposes.
Existing law requires the commission to gather, analyze, and
interpret the information submitted to it pursuant to the foregoing
provisions concerning, among other things, motor fuel prices, and any
significant changes in prices charged by the petroleum industry for
petroleum or petroleum products sold in California and the reasons
for those changes.
This bill would additionally require the commission to gather,
analyze, and interpret information submitted to it concerning sales
of fuel to unbranded retail markets.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 25000.5 of the Public Resources Code is amended
to read:
25000.5. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that
overdependence on the production, marketing, and consumption of
petroleum based fuels as an energy resource in the transportation
sector is a threat to the energy security of the state due to
continuing market and supply uncertainties. In addition, petroleum
use as an energy resource contributes substantially to the following
public health and environmental problems: air pollution, acid rain,
global warming, and the degradation of California's marine
environment and fisheries.
(b) Therefore, it is the policy of this state to fully evaluate
the economic and environmental costs of petroleum use, and the
economic and environmental costs of other transportation fuels,
including the costs and values of environmental impacts, and to
establish a state transportation energy policy that results in the
least environmental and economic cost to the state. In pursuing the
"least environmental and economic cost" strategy, it is the policy of
the state to exploit all practicable and cost-effective conservation
and improvements in the efficiency of energy use and distribution,
and to achieve energy security, diversity of supply sources, and
competitiveness of transportation energy markets based on the least
environmental and economic cost.
(c) For the purposes of this section, "petroleum based fuels"
means fuels derived from liquid unrefined crude oil, including
natural gas liquids, liquefied petroleum gas, or the energy fraction
of methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) or other ethers that is not
attributed to natural gas.
SEC. 2. Section 25141 is added to the Public Resources Code, to
read:
25141. "Unbranded," as applied to fuel, means gasoline and diesel
fuel sold for wholesale or retail distribution to consumers without
proprietary additives or marketing under a brand name or trademark
owned or controlled by an independent refiner or an integrated
refining and marketing company.
SEC. 3. Section 25350 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25350. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that the petroleum
industry is an essential element of the California economy and is
therefore of vital importance to the health and welfare of all
Californians.
(b) The Legislature further finds and declares that a complete and
thorough understanding of the operations of the petroleum industry
is required by state government at all times to enable it to respond
to possible shortages, oversupplies, or other disruptions and to
assess whether all consumers, including emergency service agencies,
state and local government agencies, and agricultural and business
consumers of petroleum products have adequate and economic supplies
of fuel.
(c) The Legislature further finds and declares that information
and data concerning all aspects of the petroleum industry, including,
but not limited to, crude oil production, production and supplies of
finished branded and unbranded gasoline, supplies of diesel fuel and
other distillates, supplies of blendstocks used to make gasoline and
other refined products, refining, product output, exports of
finished gasoline, diesel fuel, and blendstocks, prices,
distribution, demand, and investment choices and decisions are
essential for the state to develop and administer energy policies
that are in the interest of the state's economy and the public's
well-being.
SEC. 4. Section 25354 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25354. (a) Each refiner and major marketer shall submit
information each month to the commission in such form and extent as
the commission prescribes pursuant to this section. The information
shall be submitted within 30 days after the end of each monthly
reporting period and shall include the following:
(1) Refiners shall report, for each of their refineries, feedstock
inputs, origin of petroleum receipts, imports of finished petroleum
products and blendstocks, by type, including the source of those
imports, exports of finished petroleum products and blendstocks, by
type, including the destination of those exports, refinery outputs,
refinery stocks, and finished product supply and distribution,
including all gasoline sold unbranded by the refiner, blender, or
importer.
(2) Major marketers shall report on petroleum product receipts and
the sources of these receipts, inventories of finished petroleum
products and blendstocks, by type, distributions through branded and
unbranded distribution networks, and exports of finished petroleum
products and blendstocks, by type, from the state.
(b) Each major oil producer, refiner, marketer, oil transporter,
and oil storer shall annually submit information to the commission in
such form and extent as the commission prescribes pursuant to this
section. The information shall be submitted within 30 days after the
end of each reporting period, and shall include the following:
(1) Major oil transporters shall report on petroleum by reporting
the capacities of each major transportation system, the amount
transported by each system, and inventories thereof. The commission
may prescribe rules and regulations that exclude pipeline and
transportation modes operated entirely on property owned by major oil
transporters from the reporting requirements of this section if the
data or information is not needed to fulfill the purposes of this
chapter. The provision of the information shall not be construed to
increase or decrease any authority the Public Utilities Commission
may otherwise have.
(2) Major oil storers shall report on storage capacity,
inventories, receipts and distributions, and methods of
transportation of receipts and distributions.
(3) Major oil producers shall, with respect to thermally enhanced
oil recovery operations, report annually by designated oil field, the
monthly use, as fuel, of crude oil and natural gas.
(4) Refiners shall report on facility capacity, and utilization
and method of transportation of refinery receipts and distributions.
(5) Major oil marketers shall report on facility capacity and
methods of transportation of receipts and distributions.
(c) Each person required to report pursuant to subdivision (a)
shall submit a projection each month of the information to be
submitted pursuant to subdivision (a) for the quarter following the
month in which the information is submitted to the commission.
(d) In addition to the data required under subdivision (a), each
integrated oil refiner (produces, refines, transports, and markets in
interstate commerce) who supplies more than 500 branded retail
outlets in California shall submit to the commission an annual
industry forecast for Petroleum Administration for Defense, District
V (covering Arizona, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, California, Alaska,
and Hawaii). The forecast shall include the information to be
submitted under subdivision (a), and shall be submitted by March 15
of each year. The commission may require California-specific
forecasts. However, those forecasts shall be required only if the
commission finds them necessary to carry out its responsibilities.
(e) The commission may by order or regulation modify the reporting
period as to any individual item of information setting forth in the
order or regulation its reason for so doing.
(f) The commission may request additional information as necessary
to perform its responsibilities under this chapter.
(g) Any person required to submit information or data under this
chapter, in lieu thereof, may submit a report made to any other
governmental agency, if:
(1) The alternate report or reports contain all of the information
or data required by specific request under this chapter.
(2) The person clearly identifies the specific request to which
the alternate report is responsive.
(h) Each refiner shall submit to the commission, within 30 days
after the end of each monthly reporting period, all of the following
information in such form and extent as the commission prescribes:
(1) Monthly California weighted average prices and sales volumes
of finished leaded regular, unleaded regular, and premium motor
gasoline sold through company-operated retail outlets, to other
end-users, and to wholesale customers.
(2) Monthly California weighted average prices and sales volumes
for residential sales, commercial and institutional sales, industrial
sales, sales through company-operated retail outlets, sales to other
end-users, and wholesale sales of No. 2 diesel fuel and No. 2 fuel
oil.
(3) Monthly California weighted average prices and sales volumes
for retail sales and wholesale sales of No. 1 distillate, kerosene,
finished aviation gasoline, kerosene-type jet fuel, No. 4 fuel oil,
residual fuel oil with 1 percent or less sulfur, residual fuel oil
with greater than 1 percent sulfur and consumer grade propane.
SEC. 5. Section 25356 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25356. (a) The commission, utilizing its own staff and other
support staff having expertise and experience in, or with, the
petroleum industry, shall gather, analyze, and interpret the
information submitted to it pursuant to Section 25354 and other
information relating to the supply and price of petroleum products,
with particular emphasis on motor vehicle fuels, including, but not
limited to, all of the following:
(1) The nature, cause, and extent of any petroleum or petroleum
products shortage or condition affecting supply.
(2) The economic and environmental impacts of any petroleum and
petroleum product shortage or condition affecting supply.
(3) Petroleum or petroleum product demand and supply forecasting
methodologies utilized by the petroleum industry in California.
(4) The prices, with particular emphasis on retail motor fuel
prices, including sales to unbranded retail markets, and any
significant changes in prices charged by the petroleum industry for
petroleum or petroleum products sold in California and the reasons
for those changes.
(5) The profits, both before and after taxes, of the industry as a
whole and of major firms within it, including a comparison with
other major industry groups and major firms within them as to
profits, return on equity and capital, and price-earnings ratio.
(6) The emerging trends relating to supply, demand, and
conservation of petroleum and petroleum products.
(7) The nature and extent of efforts of the petroleum industry to
expand refinery capacity and to make acquisitions of additional
supplies of petroleum and petroleum products, including activities
relative to the exploration, development, and extraction of resources
within the state.
(8) The development of a petroleum and petroleum products
information system in a manner that will enable the state to take
action to meet and mitigate any petroleum or petroleum products
shortage or condition affecting supply.
(b) The commission shall analyze the impacts of state and federal
policies and regulations upon the supply and pricing of petroleum
products.
SEC. 6. Section 25364 of the Public Resources Code is amended to
read:
25364. (a) Any person required to present information to the
commission pursuant to Section 25354 may request that specific
information be held in confidence.
(b) Information presented to the commission pursuant to Section
25354 shall be held in confidence by the commission or aggregated to
the extent necessary to assure confidentiality if public disclosure
of the specific information or data would result in unfair
competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information.
(c) (1) Whenever the commission receives a request to publicly
disclose unaggregated information, or otherwise proposes to publicly
disclose information submitted pursuant to Section 25354, notice of
the request or proposal shall be provided to the person submitting
the information. The notice shall indicate the form in which the
information is to be released. Upon receipt of notice, the person
submitting the information shall have 10 working days in which to
respond to the notice to justify the claim of confidentiality on each
specific item of information covered by the notice on the basis that
public disclosure of the specific information would result in unfair
competitive disadvantage to the person supplying the information.
(2) The commission shall consider the respondent's submittal in
determining whether to publicly disclose the information submitted to
it to which a claim of confidentiality is made. The commission
shall issue a written decision which sets forth its reasons for
making the determination whether each item of information for which a
claim of confidentiality is made shall remain confidential or shall
be publicly disclosed.
(d) The commission shall not make public disclosure of information
submitted to it pursuant to Section 25354 within 10 working days
after the commission has issued its written decision required in this
section.
(e) No information submitted to the commission pursuant to Section
25354 shall be deemed confidential if the person submitting the
information or data has made it public.
(f) With respect to petroleum products and blendstocks reported by
type pursuant to paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section
25354 and information provided pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section
25354, neither the commission nor any employee of the commission may
do any of the following:
(1) Use the information furnished under paragraph (1) or (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 25354 or under subdivision (h) of Section
25354 for any purpose other than the statistical purposes for which
it is supplied.
(2) Make any publication whereby the information furnished by any
particular establishment or individual under paragraph (1) or (2) of
subdivision (a) of Section 25354 or under subdivision (h) of Section
25354 can be identified.
(3) Permit anyone other than commission members and employees of
the commission to examine the individual reports provided under
paragraph (1) or (2) of subdivision (a) of Section 25354 or under
subdivision (h) of Section 25354.
(g) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission may
disclose confidential information received pursuant to subdivision
(a) of Section 25310.4 or Section 25354 to the State Air Resources
Board if the state board agrees to keep the information confidential.
With respect to the information it receives, the state board shall
be subject to all pertinent provisions of this section.