Bill Text: CA AB1937 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011: school and hospital notification of nonemergency excavation or construction of gas pipelines.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Passed) 2014-08-25 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 287, Statutes of 2014. [AB1937 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB1937-Chaptered.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 1937 CHAPTERED
BILL TEXT
CHAPTER 287
FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE AUGUST 25, 2014
APPROVED BY GOVERNOR AUGUST 25, 2014
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 7, 2014
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 11, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 30, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 11, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 20, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 6, 2014
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 3, 2014
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Gordon
FEBRUARY 19, 2014
An act to add Section 955.5 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to natural gas.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1937, Gordon. Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011: school
and hospital notification of nonemergency excavation or construction
of gas pipelines.
(1) Existing federal law requires the Pipeline and Hazardous
Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) within the United States
Department of Transportation, to adopt minimum safety standards for
pipeline transportation and for pipeline facilities, including an
interstate gas pipeline facility and intrastate gas pipeline
facility, as defined. Existing law authorizes the United States
Secretary of Transportation to prescribe or enforce safety standards
and practices for an intrastate pipeline facility or intrastate
pipeline transportation to the extent that the safety standards and
practices are regulated by a state authority that submits to the
secretary annually a certification for the facilities and
transportation. Existing law authorizes a state authority that has
submitted a current certification to adopt additional or more
stringent safety standards for intrastate pipeline facilities and
intrastate pipeline transportation only if those standards are
compatible with the minimum standards prescribed by the PHMSA.
The Natural Gas Pipeline Safety Act of 2011, within the Public
Utilities Act, designates the Public Utilities Commission as the
state authority responsible for regulating and enforcing intrastate
gas pipeline transportation and pipeline facilities pursuant to
federal law, including the development, submission, and
administration of a state pipeline safety program certification for
natural gas pipelines. The act requires the commission, by July 1,
2012, to open an appropriate proceeding or expand the scope of an
existing proceeding to establish compatible emergency response
standards that owners or operators of certain commission-regulated
gas pipeline facilities would be required to follow. The standards
require owners or operators of intrastate transmission and
distribution lines to implement emergency response plans that are
compatible with PHMSA's regulations concerning emergency plans.
This bill would require a gas corporation to provide not less than
3 working days' notice, as specified, to the administration of a
school or hospital prior to undertaking nonemergency excavation or
construction of a gas pipeline when the work is located within 500
feet of the school or hospital. The bill would require the gas
corporation to maintain a record of the date and time of any
notification provided to the administration of a school or hospital
prior to undertaking nonemergency excavation or construction of a gas
pipeline and any subsequent contacts with the administration of a
school or hospital relative to the excavation or construction and the
actions taken, if any, in response to those subsequent contacts, and
would require the records to be maintained and available for
inspection for no less than 5 years from that date of notification.
(2) Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or
any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the
commission is a crime.
Because the requirements of this bill are within the act, a
violation of these requirements would impose a state-mandated local
program by creating a new crime.
(3) 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.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 955.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
955.5. (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have
the following meanings:
(1) "Gas pipeline" means an intrastate distribution line as
described in paragraph (1) of, or an intrastate transmission line as
described in paragraph (2) of, Section 950.
(2) "Hospital" means a licensed general acute care hospital as
defined in subdivision (a) of Section 1250 of the Health and Safety
Code.
(3) "School" means a public or private preschool, elementary, or
secondary school.
(b) A gas corporation shall provide not less than three working
days' notice to the administration of a school or hospital prior to
undertaking nonemergency excavation or construction of a gas pipeline
if the work is located within 500 feet of the school or hospital.
The notification shall include all of the following:
(1) The name, address, telephone number, and emergency contact
information for the gas corporation.
(2) The specific location of the gas pipeline where the excavation
or construction will be performed.
(3) The date and time the excavation or construction is to be
conducted and when the work is expected to be completed.
(4) An invitation and a telephone number to call for further
information on what the school or hospital should do in the event of
a leak.
(c) The gas corporation shall maintain a record of the date and
time of any notification provided to the administration of a school
or hospital prior to undertaking nonemergency excavation or
construction of a gas pipeline and any subsequent contacts with the
administration of a school or hospital relative to the excavation or
construction and the actions taken, if any, in response to those
subsequent contacts. The gas corporation shall maintain these records
and make them available for inspection for no less than five years
from the date of the notification.
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.
