Bill Text: CA AB1403 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Enrolled

California Assembly Bill 1403 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Emergency services.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Vetoed) 2022-02-03 - Consideration of Governor's veto stricken from file. [AB1403 Detail]

Download: California-2021-AB1403-Enrolled.html

Enrolled September 14, 2021

Passed IN Senate September 08, 2021

Passed IN Assembly September 09, 2021

Amended IN Senate September 03, 2021

Amended IN Senate June 09, 2021

Amended IN Assembly April 08, 2021

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2021–2022 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill

No. 1403

Introduced by Assembly Member Levine

February 19, 2021

An act to amend Sections 8557 and 8558 of the Government Code, relating to emergency services, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

AB 1403, Levine. Emergency services.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist, and authorizes the Governor to exercise certain powers in response to that emergency. Existing law defines the term “state of emergency” to mean a duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by, among other things, fire, storm, or riot.

This bill would additionally include a “deenergization event,” defined as a planned power outage, as specified, within those conditions constituting a state of emergency.

This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 8558 of the Government Code proposed by SB 52 to be operative only if this bill and SB 52 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.

This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.

Vote: 2/3 Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: NO

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.

In light of the significant disruptions that may result from the loss of electricity, and in recognition of the fact that local governments have previously used the California Emergency Services Act to declare local emergencies in response to deenergization events, it is the intent of the Legislature that local governments may continue using their existing authority under the California Emergency Services Act to declare local emergencies in response to deenergization events.

SEC. 2.

Section 8557 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8557.

(a) “State agency” means any department, division, independent establishment, or agency of the executive branch of the state government.

(b) “Political subdivision” includes any city, city and county, county, district, or other local governmental agency or public agency authorized by law.

(d) “Chief executive” means that individual authorized by law to act for the governing body of a political subdivision.

(e) “Disaster council” and “disaster service worker” have the meaning prescribed in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 3201) of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Labor Code.

(f) “Public facility” means any facility of the state or a political subdivision, which facility is owned, operated, or maintained, or any combination thereof, through moneys derived by taxation or assessment.

(g) “Sudden and severe energy shortage” means a rapid, unforeseen shortage of energy, resulting from, but not limited to, events such as an embargo, sabotage, or natural disasters, and that has statewide, regional, or local impact.

(h) For purposes of this chapter, “deenergization event” means a planned power outage, undertaken by an electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by utility equipment, pursuant to Public Utilities Commission Resolution ESRB-8 and any decisions issued by the commission, the Wildfire Safety Division, as set forth in Section 326 of the Public Utilities Code, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, or any other agency with authority over electrical corporations. A deenergization event begins when an electrical corporation provides notice to any state agency or political subdivision of the potential need to initiate a planned deenergization of the electrical grid, and ends when the electrical corporation restores electrical services to all deenergized customers, or when the electrical corporation cancels the deenergization event for some or all of its affected customers, and rescinds the notice of the potential need to initiate the deenergization event. A deenergization event does not include any planned outages in connection with regular utility work.

SEC. 3.

Section 8558 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8558.

Three conditions or degrees of emergency are established by this chapter:

(a) “State of war emergency” means the condition that exists immediately, with or without a proclamation thereof by the Governor, whenever this state or nation is attacked by an enemy of the United States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning from the federal government indicating that an enemy attack is probable or imminent.

(b) “State of emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, deenergization event, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy or conditions causing a “state of war emergency,” that, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat, or, with respect to regulated energy utilities, a deenergization event or a sudden and severe energy shortage that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

(c) “Local emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city, caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat, or, with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

SEC. 3.5.

Section 8558 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8558.

Three conditions or degrees of emergency are established by this chapter:

(c) (1) “Local emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city, caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, deenergization event, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat, or, with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage or deenergization event that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.

(2) A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not trigger the electric utility obligations set forth in Public Utilities Commission Decision 19-07-015 or its successor decisions as related to deenergization events. A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not alter the electric utilities’ Public Utilities Commission-approved cost-recovery mechanisms for their own costs associated with deenergization events.

SEC. 4.

Section 3.5 of this bill incorporates amendments to Section 8558 of the Government Code proposed by both this bill and Senate Bill 52. That section shall only become operative if (1) both bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2022, but this bill becomes operative first, (2) each bill amends Section 8558 of the Government Code, and (3) this bill is enacted after Senate Bill 52, in which case Section 8558 of the Government Code, as amended by Section 3 of this bill, shall remain operative only until the operative date of Senate Bill 52, at which time Section 3.5 of this bill shall become operative.

SEC. 5.

This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the California Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:

In order for state and local officials to address the public safety impacts of a prolonged wildfire season, and to mitigate the devastating effects thereof, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.