Bill Text: CA AB2495 | 2009-2010 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Electrical restructuring.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-02-22 - Read first time. [AB2495 Detail]

Download: California-2009-AB2495-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 2495	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Galgiani

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Section 334 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to electricity.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2495, as introduced, Galgiani. Electrical restructuring.
   The existing restructuring of the electrical industry within the
Public Utilities Act declares that reliable electric service is of
paramount importance to the safety, health, and comfort of the people
of California and that the Legislature has an interest in ensuring
that the transfer of responsibility for ensuring short- and long-term
reliability for the operation of the transmission grid does not
expose California citizens to undue economic risk.
   This bill would make a technical, nonsubstantive change to that
declaration.
   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 334 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   334.  The Legislature finds and declares that in order to ensure
the success of electric industry restructuring, in the transition to
a new market structure it is important to ensure a reliable supply of
electricity. Reliable electric service is of paramount importance to
the safety, health, and comfort of the  people 
 citizens  of California. Transmission connections between
electric utilities allow them to share generation resources and
reduce the number of powerplants necessary to maintain a reliable
system. The connections between utilities also create exposure to
events that can cause widespread and extended transmission and
service outages that reach far beyond the originating utility service
area. California utilities and those in the western United States
voluntarily adhere to reliability standards developed by the Western
Electricity Coordinating Council. The economic cost of extended
electricity outages, such as those that occurred in California and
throughout the Western Electricity Coordinating Council on July 2,
1996, and August 10, 1996, to California's residential, commercial,
agricultural, and industrial customers is significant. The proposed
restructuring of the electricity industry would transfer
responsibility for ensuring  both  short- and long-term
reliability away from electric utilities and regulatory bodies to the
Independent System Operator and various market-based mechanisms. The
Legislature has an interest in ensuring that the change in the locus
of responsibility for reliability does not expose California
citizens to undue economic risk in connection with system
reliability.