Bill Text: CA SB52 | 2021-2022 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: State of emergency: local emergency: planned power outage.
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Passed) 2021-10-06 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 597, Statutes of 2021. [SB52 Detail]
Download: California-2021-SB52-Chaptered.html
Senate Bill
No. 52
CHAPTER 597
An act to amend Sections 8557 and 8558 of the Government Code, relating to emergency services.
[
Approved by
Governor
October 06, 2021.
Filed with
Secretary of State
October 06, 2021.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 52, Dodd.
State of emergency: local emergency: planned power outage.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes the Governor to proclaim a state of emergency, and local officials and local governments to proclaim a local emergency, when specified conditions of disaster or extreme peril to the safety of persons and property exist, and authorizes the Governor or the appropriate local government to exercise certain powers in response to that emergency. Existing law defines the terms “state of emergency” and “local emergency” to mean a duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state or the territorial limits of a local government caused by, among other things, a sudden and severe energy shortage.
This bill would define a “deenergization event” as a planned power outage, as specified, and would make a deenergization
event one of those conditions constituting a local emergency, with prescribed limitations.
This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 8558 of the Government Code proposed by AB 1403 to be operative only if this bill and AB 1403 are enacted and this bill is enacted last.
Digest Key
Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NO Local Program: NOBill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 8557 of the Government Code is amended to read:8557.
(a) “State agency” means any department, division, independent establishment, or agency of the executive branch of the state government.(b) “Political subdivision” includes any city, city and county, county, district, or other local governmental agency or public agency authorized by law.
(c) “Governing body” means the legislative body, trustees, or directors of a political subdivision.
(d) “Chief executive” means that individual authorized by law to act for the governing body of a political subdivision.
(e) “Disaster council” and “disaster service worker” have the meaning prescribed in Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 3201) of Part 1 of Division 4 of the Labor Code.
(f) “Public facility” means any facility of the state or a political subdivision, which facility is owned, operated, or maintained, or any combination thereof, through moneys derived by taxation or assessment.
(g) “Sudden and severe energy shortage” means a rapid, unforeseen shortage of energy, resulting from, but not limited to, events such as an embargo, sabotage, or natural disasters, and that has statewide, regional, or local impact.
(h) For purposes of this
chapter, a “deenergization event” means a planned power outage, undertaken by an electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, to reduce the risk of wildfires caused by utility equipment, pursuant to Public Utilities Commission Resolution ESRB-8 and any decisions issued by the commission, the Wildfire Safety Division, as set forth in Section 326 of the Public Utilities Code, the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety, or any other agency with authority over electrical corporations. A deenergization event begins when an electrical corporation provides notice to any state agency or political subdivision of the potential need to initiate a planned deenergization
of the electrical grid, and ends when the electrical corporation restores electrical services to all deenergized customers,
or when the electrical corporation cancels the deenergization event for some or all of its affected customers, and rescinds the notice of the potential need to initiate the deenergization event. A deenergization event does not include any planned outages in connection with regular utility work.
SEC. 2.
Section 8558 of the Government Code is amended to read:8558.
Three conditions or degrees of emergency are established by this chapter:(a) “State of war emergency” means the condition that exists immediately, with or without a proclamation thereof by the Governor, whenever this state or nation is attacked by an enemy of the United States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning from the federal government indicating that an enemy attack is probable or imminent.
(b) “State of emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot,
drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy or conditions causing a “state of war emergency,” which, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.
(c) (1) “Local emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of
conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city, caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, deenergization event, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat, or with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage or deenergization event that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities
Commission.
(2) A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not trigger the electric utility obligations set forth in Public Utilities Commission Decision 19-07-015 or its successor decisions as related to deenergization events. A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not alter the electric utilities’ Public Utilities Commission-approved cost-recovery mechanisms for their own costs associated with deenergization events.
SEC. 2.5.
Section 8558 of the Government Code is amended to read:8558.
Three conditions or degrees of emergency are established by this chapter:(a) “State of war emergency” means the condition that exists immediately, with or without a proclamation thereof by the Governor, whenever this state or nation is attacked by an enemy of the United States, or upon receipt by the state of a warning from the federal government indicating that an enemy attack is probable or imminent.
(b) “State of emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the state caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm,
epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, deenergization event, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy or conditions causing a “state of war emergency,” that, by reason of their magnitude, are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of any single county, city and county, or city and require the combined forces of a mutual aid region or regions to combat,
or, with respect to regulated energy utilities, a deenergization event or a sudden and severe energy shortage that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.
(c) (1) “Local emergency” means the duly proclaimed existence of conditions of disaster or of extreme peril to the safety of persons and property within the territorial limits of a county, city and county, or city, caused by conditions such as air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy
shortage, deenergization event, plant or animal infestation or disease, the Governor’s warning of an earthquake or volcanic prediction, or an earthquake, or other conditions, other than conditions resulting from a labor controversy, which are or are likely to be beyond the control of the services, personnel, equipment, and facilities of that political subdivision and require the combined forces of other political subdivisions to combat, or, with respect to regulated energy utilities, a sudden and severe energy shortage or deenergization event that requires extraordinary measures beyond the authority
vested in the California Public Utilities Commission.
(2) A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not trigger the electric utility obligations set forth in Public Utilities Commission Decision 19-07-015 or its successor decisions as related to deenergization events. A local emergency proclaimed as the result of a deenergization event does not alter the electric utilities’ Public Utilities Commission-approved cost-recovery mechanisms for their own costs associated with deenergization events.
