Bill Text: CA AB1279 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: The California Climate Crisis Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 17-0)
Status: (Passed) 2022-09-16 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 337, Statutes of 2022. [AB1279 Detail]
Download: California-2021-AB1279-Amended.html
Amended
IN
Senate
August 28, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Senate
June 13, 2022 |
Amended
IN
Assembly
March 25, 2021 |
Introduced by Assembly (Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Luz Rivas) (Principal coauthors: Senators Allen, Becker, Gonzalez, Laird, Leyva, Limón, McGuire, Skinner, Stern, and Wiener) (Coauthors: Assembly Members Holden, McCarty, Robert Rivas, and Stone) |
February 19, 2021 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory jurisdiction over electrical and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility, including electrical and gas corporations, and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable.
This bill would, as a part of an electrical or gas corporation’s application for recovery of previously incurred costs or costs proposed to be incurred in the future, require the electrical or gas corporation to include certain information in the application. For a general rate case application, the bill would require
electrical or gas corporations to take certain actions if the cumulative cost recovery request in the application added to certain amounts requested for cost recovery, as specified, results in an increase in the total costs for programs under the jurisdiction of the commission authorized to be recovered from ratepayers that exceeds the projected rate of inflation. The bill would require the commission to implement these requirements, as provided.
Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and because a violation of a commission action implementing the bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated
local program.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares the following:SEC. 2.
Section 38562.2 is added to the Health and Safety Code, to read:38562.2.
(a) This section shall be known, and may be cited, as the California Climate Crisis Act.SEC. 3.
This act shall become operative only if Senate Bill 905 of the 2021–22 Regular Session is enacted and becomes operative on or before January 1, 2023.(a)As a part of an application for recovery of previously incurred costs or costs proposed to be incurred in the future filed by an electrical or gas corporation, the commission shall require the electrical or gas corporation to include in the application all of the following:
(1)A comprehensive list of all applications or advice letters for cost recovery filed by the electrical or gas corporation in the past 24 months that have been authorized by the commission but not yet implemented through a rate change or that are pending before the commission. The list shall include, at a minimum, both of the following:
(A)The date of the prior applications or advice letters.
(B)The amount requested for cost recovery.
(2)An analysis showing the impact on current rates of the prior applications specified in paragraph (1) if those applications were all approved by the commission. The analysis shall include, at a minimum, both of the following:
(A)A calculation of the average rate increase for each customer class.
(B)A calculation of the impact on residential customers, including impact for customers using an average amount of electricity or gas, customers using electricity or gas in the 25th and 75th percentile of consumption, and customers who qualify for reduced low-income rates.
(b)In a general rate case application, if the cumulative cost recovery request
in the application added to the amounts described in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) results in an increase in the total costs of programs under the jurisdiction of the commission authorized to be recovered from ratepayers that exceeds the projected rate of inflation, calculated in a manner determined by the commission, for the period covered by the application, the electrical or gas corporation shall provide a written justification for the increase of that size and provide an alternative proposal that would increase cost recovery no more than the projected rate of inflation.
(c)The commission shall implement this section, including any necessary additional requirements, on or before December 31, 2023, through an order issued either in the existing commission Rulemaking 18-07-006 (July 12, 2018) Order Instituting Rulemaking to Establish a Framework and Processes for Assessing the Affordability of Utility Service, or in another relevant
proceeding.
No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.