Bill Text: CA SB420 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Enrolled
Bill Title: Electricity: electrical transmission facility projects.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Vetoed) 2024-01-25 - Veto sustained. [SB420 Detail]
Download: California-2023-SB420-Enrolled.html
|
Enrolled
September 18, 2023 |
|
Passed
IN
Senate
September 14, 2023 |
|
Passed
IN
Assembly
September 11, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
September 07, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
September 01, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
June 30, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Assembly
June 20, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Senate
May 18, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Senate
May 01, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 30, 2023 |
|
Amended
IN
Senate
March 16, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 420
| Introduced by Senator Becker (Coauthor: Assembly Member Muratsuchi) |
February 09, 2023 |
An act to amend Section 1001 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 420, Becker.
Electricity: electrical transmission facility projects.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law, implemented by the PUC through a general order, generally prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of 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 its construction, as specified. However, existing law exempts the extension, expansion, upgrade, or other modification of an existing electrical transmission facility, including transmission lines and substations, from that certification requirement.
This bill would
additionally exempt the rebuilding of an existing electrical transmission facility from that requirement, and would provide that the construction of a new electrical transmission facility, or the extension, expansion, upgrade, rebuilding, or other modification of an electrical transmission facility, including lines and substations, by an electrical corporation serving 10,000 or more retail customers does not require that certification, a permit to construct, or any other discretionary permit from the commission, if the new or modified electrical transmission facility meets certain requirements. The
bill would also require the PUC, no later than January 1, 2025, to revise the general order to implement these changes, as specified.
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 certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the 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.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: YES Local Program: YESBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this act to streamline the regulatory approval process for electrical transmission lines and equipment that are critical to maintaining electrical reliability and meeting California’s renewable and zero-carbon energy resource goals established in Senate Bill 100 (Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018).SEC. 2.
Section 1001 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:1001.
(a) A railroad corporation whose railroad is operated primarily by electricity, street railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telegraph corporation, telephone corporation, water corporation, or sewer system corporation shall not begin the construction of a street railroad, of 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 its construction.(b) (1) The extension, expansion, upgrade,
rebuilding, or other modification of an existing electrical transmission facility, including transmission lines and substations, does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require its construction.
(2) The construction of a new electrical transmission facility, or the extension, expansion, upgrade, rebuilding, or other modification of an electrical transmission facility, including lines and substations, by an electrical corporation serving 10,000 or more retail customers, does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and
necessity requires or will require its construction, a permit to construct, or any other discretionary permit from the commission, if the new or modified electrical transmission facility meets all of the following requirements:
(A) It will be rated at not more than 138 kilovolts.
(B) It will meet one of the following requirements:
(i) It will be located entirely on previously disturbed land, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 25794.6 of the Public Resources Code.
(ii) It will be located entirely in an urbanized area, as delineated by the United States Census Bureau.
(iii) It will be part of a
project that has undergone review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
(C) It will not be located on any of the following:
(i) A wetland, as defined by the State Water Resources Control Board.
(ii) Any unremediated hazardous waste site designated under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.), or pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code.
(iii) A critical habitat as designated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act
of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), or habitat essential to the continued existence of an endangered or threatened species as determined by the Department of Fish and Wildlife pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code).
(3) No later than January 1, 2025, the commission shall update General Order 131 to implement paragraph (2) so that all facilities that qualify under paragraph (2) will be treated as electric distribution facilities are treated under General Order 131-D.
(c) This article does not require those
corporations to secure that certificate for an extension within any city or city and county within which it has lawfully commenced operations, for an extension into territory either within or without a city or city and county contiguous to its street railroad, line, plant, or system, and not served by a public utility of like character, or for an extension within or to territory already served by it, necessary in the ordinary course of its business. If any public utility, in constructing or extending its line, plant, or system, interferes or is about to interfere with the operation of the line, plant, or system of any other public utility or of the water system of a public agency, already constructed, the commission, on complaint of the public utility or public agency claiming to be injuriously affected, may, after hearing, make an order and prescribe terms and conditions for the location of the
lines, plants, or systems affected as it may seem just and reasonable.
