Bill Text: CA AB1359 | 2011-2012 | Regular Session | Amended

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Public social services: CalFresh.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2012-09-23 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 468, Statutes of 2012. [AB1359 Detail]

Download: California-2011-AB1359-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1359	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  MARCH 25, 2011

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Skinner

                        FEBRUARY 18, 2011

    An act to amend Section 454 of the Public Utilities Code,
relating to public utilities.   An act to amend Section
43600 of the Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste. 


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1359, as amended, Skinner.  Public utilities: rates.
  Solid waste: landfills: evidence of financial ability:
closure and postclosure maintenance.  
   Existing law, the California Integrated Waste Management Act of
1989, establishes an integrated waste management program administered
by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. The act
requires a person owning or operating a solid waste landfill, as
defined, to submit to the board, with the closure plan and
postclosure maintenance plan, evidence of financial ability to
provide for the cost of closure and postclosure maintenance, in an
amount that is equal to the estimated cost of closure and 15 years of
postclosure maintenance, contained in the closure plan and the
postclosure maintenance plan submitted.  
   This bill would specify that the evidence of financial ability to
provide for the cost of the closure and postclosure maintenance shall
be in an amount that is equal to the estimated cost of closure and
not less than 15 years of postclosure maintenance.  
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, as defined. Existing law authorizes
the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public
utility, and requires that those rates and charges be just and
reasonable. Existing law, with certain exceptions, prohibits a public
utility from changing any rate, except upon a showing before the
commission and a finding by the commission that the new rate is
justified.  
   This bill would make a nonsubstantive, technical change to this
prohibition. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 43600 of the   Public
Resources Code   is amended to read: 
   43600.  (a) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b),
 any   a  person owning or operating a
solid waste landfill, as defined in  subdivision (a) of 
Section 40195.1, shall, with the closure plan and postclosure
maintenance plan submitted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section
43501, submit to the board evidence of financial ability to provide
for the cost of closure and postclosure maintenance, in an amount
that is equal to the estimated cost of closure and  not less than
 15 years of postclosure maintenance, contained in the closure
plan and the postclosure maintenance plan submitted.
   (b) On and after the effective date of the federal regulations set
forth in Subpart G (commencing with Section 258.70) of Part 258 of
Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations,  any 
 a  person owning or operating a solid waste landfill,
shall, with the closure plan and postclosure maintenance plan
submitted pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 43501, submit to the
board evidence of financial ability to provide for closure and
postclosure maintenance, in an amount that is equal to the estimated
cost of closure and 30 years of postclosure maintenance, contained in
the closure plan and the postclosure maintenance plan submitted.

  SECTION 1.    Section 454 of the Public Utilities
Code is amended to read:
   454.  (a) Except as provided in Section 455, a public utility
shall not change any rate or so alter any classification, contract,
practice, or rule as to result in any new rate, except upon a showing
before the commission and a finding by the commission that the new
rate is justified. Whenever any electrical, gas, heat, telephone,
water, or sewer system corporation files an application to change any
rate, other than a change reflecting and passing through to
customers only new costs to the corporation that do not result in
changes in revenue allocation, for the services or commodities
furnished by it, the corporation shall furnish to its customers
affected by the proposed rate change notice of its application to the
commission for approval of the new rate. This notice requirement
does not apply to any rate change proposed by a corporation pursuant
to an advice letter submitted to the commission in accordance with
commission procedures for this means of submission. The procedures
for advice letters may include provision for notice to customers or
subscribers on a case-by-case basis, as determined by the commission.
The corporation may include the notice with the regular bill for
charges transmitted to the customers within 45 days if the
corporation operates on a 30-day billing cycle, or within 75 days if
the corporation operates on a 60-day billing cycle. If more than one
application to change any rate is filed within a single billing
cycle, the corporation may combine the notices into a single notice
if the applications are separately identified. The notice shall state
the amount of the proposed rate change expressed in both dollar and
percentage terms for the entire rate change as well as for each
customer classification, a brief statement of the reasons the change
is required or sought, and the mailing, and if available, the e-mail
address of the commission to which any customer inquiries may be
directed regarding how to participate in, or receive further notices
regarding the date, time, or place of, any hearing on the
application, and the mailing address of the corporation to which any
customer inquiries relative to the proposed rate change may be
directed.
   (b) The commission may adopt rules it considers reasonable and
proper for each class of public utility providing for the nature of
the showing required to be made in support of proposed rate changes,
the form and manner of the presentation of the showing, with or
without a hearing, and the procedure to be followed in the
consideration thereof. Rules applicable to common carriers may
provide for the publication and filing of any proposed rate change
together with a written showing in support thereof, giving notice of
the filing and showing in support thereof to the public, granting an
opportunity for protests thereto, and to the consideration of, and
action on, the showing and any protests filed thereto by the
commission, with or without hearing. However, the proposed rate
change does not become effective until it has been approved by the
commission.
   (c) The commission shall permit individual public utility
customers and subscribers affected by a proposed rate change, and
organizations formed to represent their interests, to testify at any
hearing on the proposed rate change, except that the presiding
officer need not allow repetitive or irrelevant testimony and may
conduct the hearing in an efficient manner.