Bill Text: CA AB1453 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Amended

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

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Bill Title: Protection of orcas: unlawful activities.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2016-11-30 - Died on Senate third reading file. [AB1453 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB1453-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1453	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 20, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Rendon

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

    An act to amend Section 1005.1 of the Public Utilities
Code, relating to electricity.   An act to add Section
768.3 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.




	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1453, as amended, Rendon.  Electrical transmission:
certificates of public convenience and necessity.  
Electrical corporations: underground electrical facilities: worker
safety.  
   The Public Utilities Act authorizes the Public Utilities
Commission to require public utilities, including electrical
corporations, to construct, maintain, and operate their facilities
and equipment to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its
employees. A violation of the Public Utilities Act, or any decision,
rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
 
   This bill would require the commission, by January 1, 2017, to
adopt a rule regulating work performed in underground electrical
facilities by, or on behalf of, an electrical corporation that is
consistent with certain worker safety protections. Because a
violation of the rule would be a crime, this 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.  
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations,
as defined. The Public Utilities Act prohibits any electrical
corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a
line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having
first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or
future public convenience and necessity require or will require that
construction (certificate of public convenience and necessity).
Existing law requires the commission to issue a decision on an
application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity
within 18 months of the filing of a completed application if the
application is for a certificate for building or upgrading an
electrical transmission line that the commission finds necessary to
provide transmission to load centers for electricity generated in a
high-priority renewable energy zone or is reasonably necessary to
facilitate achievement of the renewables portfolio standard
established pursuant to the California Renewables Portfolio Standard
Program and the commission considers specified matter. The matter
that the commission is required to consider includes the availability
of cost-effective alternatives to transmission, such as energy
efficiency measures and distributed generation.  
   This bill would require the commission to consider the
availability of cost-effective alternatives to transmission, such as
energy efficiency or demand response measures and distributed
generation. 
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program:  no   yes  .


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

   SECTION 1.    Section 768.3 is added to the 
 Public Utilities Code   , to read:  
   768.3.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
   (1) Electrical equipment, including transformers and switches,
housed in underground facilities, such as manholes and vaults,
present an extremely hazardous working environment if work is
attempted while the equipment is energized.
   (2) There have been numerous fatalities and serious injuries when
work has been performed in underground electrical facilities while
the equipment was energized.
   (3) California has thousands of underground electrical facilities.
The commission has provided electrical corporations with limited
authority to avoid installing additional underground electrical
facilities.
   (4) Work is performed in underground electrical facilities by both
employees of the electrical corporation and by employees of outside
contractors. Some of these employees do not have the technical
training to know how to deenergize the equipment, to perform a hot
scan or gas test, to determine if the equipment has been deenergized,
and to make safe a confined space working environment. These
employees can be at severe risk if electrical equipment is not
properly deenergized and set to avoid automatically becoming
reenergized.
   (5) Only a qualified electrical worker has the training and
qualifications to ensure that an underground electrical facility has
been fully deenergized and that it is safe to proceed with the work
in the facility.
   (b) By January 1, 2017, the commission shall adopt a rule
regulating work performed in underground electrical facilities by, or
on behalf of, an electrical corporation that does all of the
following:
   (1) Prohibits work directly on energized underground electrical
equipment.
   (2) Requires a qualified electrical worker to determine that
underground electrical equipment has been deenergized and is in a
mode that would make the equipment safe to be worked on.
   (c) For the purposes of this section, the following terms mean the
following:
   (1) "Qualified electrical worker" has the same meaning as set
forth in Section 2700 of Title 8 of the California Code of
Regulations.
   (2) "Underground electrical equipment" means equipment energized
in excess of 600 volts and all or part of the equipment is in an
underground electrical facility.
   (3) "Underground electrical facility" means a vault, manhole, or
other subsurface confined structure. 
   SEC. 2.    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.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 1005.1 of the Public
Utilities Code is amended to read:
   1005.1.  (a) The commission shall issue a decision on an
application for a certificate within 18 months of the date of filing
of the completed application, when all of the following are true:
   (1) The application is for a certificate for building or upgrading
an electrical transmission line that the commission finds necessary
to provide transmission to load centers for electricity generated in
a high priority renewable energy zone or is reasonably necessary to
facilitate achievement of the renewables portfolio standard
established in Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter
2.3.
   (2) The commission has considered all of the following:
   (A) The utilization of rights-of-way by upgrading existing
transmission facilities instead of building new transmission
facilities, where technically and economically justifiable.
   (B) The expansion of existing rights-of-way, if technically and
economically feasible, when construction of new transmission lines is
required.
   (C) The creation of new rights-of-way when justified by
environmental, technical, and economic reasons.
   (D) The availability of cost-effective alternatives to
transmission, such as energy efficiency or demand response measures
and distributed generation.
   (3) The commission has not expressly found any of the following:
   (A) That the investment is not reasonable and necessary to
maintain or enhance reliability of the transmission grid.
   (B) That the building or upgrading of the electrical transmission
line will not maintain or enhance efficient use of the transmission
grid.
   (C) That the transmission line fails to meet other applicable
standards and requirements for approval and construction.
   (b) An extension of time may be granted by the commission if it
finds the extension is necessary for completion of review pursuant to
the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing
with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).