Bill Text: CA AB361 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced

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

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Bill Title: Nuclear powerplants.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-1)

Status: (Passed) 2015-10-01 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 399, Statutes of 2015. [AB361 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB361-Introduced.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 361	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Achadjian

                        FEBRUARY 17, 2015

   An act to amend Section 8610.5 of the Government Code, relating to
emergency services.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 361, as introduced, Achadjian. California Emergency Services
Act: nuclear powerplants.
   Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes
local government entities to create disaster councils by ordinance
and in turn develop disaster plans specific to their jurisdictions.
Existing law, the Radiation Protection Act of 1999, requires local
governments to develop and maintain radiological emergency
preparedness and response plans to safeguard the public in the
emergency planning zone around a nuclear powerplant and generally
makes the Office of Emergency Services responsible for the
coordination and integration of all emergency planning programs and
response plans created pursuant to the Radiation Protection Act of
1999. The California Emergency Services Act, until January 1, 2020,
prescribes a method for funding state and local costs for carrying
out these activities that are not reimbursed by federal funds, with
the costs borne by utilities operating nuclear powerplants with a
generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more.
   This bill would make technical, nonsubstantive changes to the
funding of state and local costs, described above.
   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 8610.5 of the Government Code is amended to
read:
   8610.5.  (a) For purposes of this section, the following
definitions shall apply:
   (1) "Agency" or "office" means the Office of Emergency Services.
   (2) "Previous fiscal year" means the fiscal year immediately prior
to the current fiscal year.
   (3) "Utility" means an "electrical corporation" as defined in
Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, and "utilities" means more
than one electrical corporation.
   (b) (1) State and local costs to carry out activities pursuant to
this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9
of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code that are not
reimbursed by federal funds shall be borne by utilities operating
nuclear powerplants with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or
more.
   (2) The Public Utilities Commission shall develop and transmit to
the office an equitable method of assessing the utilities operating
the powerplants for their reasonable pro rata share of state agency
costs specified in paragraph (1).
   (3) Each local government involved shall submit a statement of its
costs specified in paragraph (1), as required, to the office.
   (4) Upon each utility's notification by the office, from time to
time, of the amount of its share of the actual or anticipated state
and local agency costs, the utility shall pay this amount to the
Controller for deposit in the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special
Account, which is continued in existence, for allocation by the
Controller, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out
activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with
Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety
Code. The Controller shall pay from this account the state and local
costs relative to carrying out this section and Chapter 4 (commencing
with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and
Safety Code, upon certification  thereof   of
the costs  by the office.
   (5) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Controller may
disburse up to 80 percent of a fiscal year allocation from the
Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, in advance, for
anticipated local expenses, as certified by the agency pursuant to
paragraph (4). The office shall review program expenditures related
to the balance of funds in the account and the Controller shall pay
the portion, or the entire balance, of the account, based upon those
approved expenditures.
   (c) (1) The total annual disbursement of state costs from the
utilities operating the nuclear powerplants within the state for
activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with
Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety
Code, shall not exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum
funding levels established in this section, subject to subdivisions
(e) and (f), to be shared equally among the utilities.
   (2) Of the annual amount of two million forty-seven thousand
dollars ($2,047,000) for the 2009-10 fiscal year, the sum of one
million ninety-four thousand dollars ($1,094,000) shall be for
support of the office for activities pursuant to this section and
Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104
of the Health and Safety Code, and the sum of nine hundred
fifty-three thousand dollars ($953,000) shall be for support of the
State Department of Public Health for activities pursuant to this
section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of
Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code.
   (d) (1) The total annual disbursement for each fiscal year,
commencing July 1, 2009, of local costs from the utilities shall not
exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum funding levels
established in this section, in support of activities pursuant to
this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9
of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The maximum annual
amount available for disbursement for local costs, subject to
subdivisions (e) and (f), shall, for the fiscal year beginning July
1, 2009, be one million seven hundred thirty-two thousand dollars
($1,732,000) for the Diablo Canyon site and one million six hundred
thousand dollars ($1,600,000) for the San Onofre site.
   (2) The amounts paid by the utilities under this section shall be
allowed for ratemaking purposes by the Public Utilities Commission.
   (e) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the amounts available
for disbursement for state and local costs as specified in this
section shall be adjusted and compounded each fiscal year by the
percentage increase in the California Consumer Price Index of the
previous fiscal year.
   (2) For the Diablo Canyon site, the amounts available for
disbursement for state and local costs as specified in this section
shall be adjusted and compounded each fiscal year by the larger of
the percentage change in the prevailing wage for San Luis Obispo
County employees, not to exceed 5 percent, or the percentage increase
in the California Consumer Price Index from the previous fiscal
year.
   (f) Through the inoperative date specified in subdivision (g), the
amounts available for disbursement for state and local costs as
specified in this section shall be cumulative biennially. Any
unexpended funds from a year shall be carried over for one year. The
funds carried over from the previous year may be expended when the
current year's funding cap is exceeded.
   (g) This section shall become inoperative on July 1, 2019, and, as
of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
which becomes effective on or before July 1, 2019, deletes or extends
the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
   (h) Upon inoperation of this section, any amounts remaining in the
special account shall be refunded pro rata to the utilities
contributing  thereto,   to it,  to be
credited to the utility's ratepayers.