BILL NUMBER: SB 900 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hill
JANUARY 15, 2014
An act to add Sections 750 and 761.1 to the Public Utilities Code,
relating to public utility services.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 900, as introduced, Hill. Public utilities: safety.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, as defined. Existing law authorizes
the commission to fix the rates and charges for every public utility
and authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public
utilities, subject to control by the Legislature. If the commission
finds after a hearing that the rules, practices, equipment,
appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or the
methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or
supply employed by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable,
unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, the Public Utilities
Act requires that the commission determine and, by order or rule, fix
the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or
methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or
employed.
This bill would require the commission to develop safety risk
management procedures for use in quasi-legislative proceedings to
assist the commission in determining whether or not a proposed policy
or rule change will affect safety. The bill would require that the
safety risk management procedures ensure the sufficient development
of the evidentiary record to support findings with regard to the
incremental effect on safety of the proposed policy or rule changes
made in quasi-legislative proceedings. The bill would require the
commission to implement the safety risk management procedures by
October 1, 2015. The bill would additionally require the commission
to develop formal procedures to consider safety in a general rate
case application by an electrical corporation or gas corporation,
including a separate rate case application that considers a subset of
the corporation's revenues, expenses, and investments in plant and
equipment to establish an approved revenue requirement.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 750 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
750. The commission shall develop formal procedures to consider
safety in a general rate case application by an electrical
corporation or gas corporation, including a separate rate case
application that considers a subset of the corporation's revenues,
expenses, and investments in plant and equipment to establish an
approved revenue requirement. The procedures shall include all of the
following:
(a) In advance of, or concurrent with, the scheduled submission of
a rate case application by an electrical corporation or gas
corporation, commission staff shall produce a report on the safety
performance of that corporation in those areas in which the
corporation's revenue requirement is under consideration. The report
shall examine the safety performance of the electrical corporation or
gas corporation over a time period no shorter than the period
between the scheduled rate case applications. The report shall be
entered into the record of the rate case proceeding.
(b) Subsequent to the submission of a rate case application by an
electrical corporation or gas corporation, commission staff units
responsible for safety risk assessment shall evaluate the quality of
the risk analysis of the applicant's incremental safety-related
revenue requests, including the quality of the alternatives analysis.
The report shall be entered into the record of the rate case
proceeding.
(c) The commission, in approving a decision determining the
revenue requirements of an electrical corporation or a gas
corporation in a rate case proceeding, shall make risk-informed
findings as to the safety benefits of incremental funding requests of
safety-related proposed expenditures by the corporation.
(d) The commission, in approving a decision determining the
revenue requirements of an electrical corporation or gas corporation
in a rate case proceeding, shall order commission staff to monitor
the safety performance of the corporation and to prepare a report on
the safety performance of that corporation in advance of, or
concurrent with, the next rate case application by the corporation.
SEC. 2. Section 761.1 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
761.1. (a) The commission shall develop safety risk management
procedures for use in quasi-legislative proceedings. The safety risk
management procedures shall assist the commission in determining
whether or not a proposed policy or rule change will affect safety.
The safety risk management procedures shall ensure the sufficient
development of the evidentiary record to support findings with regard
to the incremental effect on safety of the proposed policy or rule
changes made in quasi-legislative proceedings.
(b) The safety risk management procedures shall include all of the
following:
(1) A description of a plant, equipment, or system proposed to be
changed.
(2) Identification of the hazards that may be created, eliminated,
or modified by the proposed policy or rule change.
(3) An analysis of risks using quantitative or qualitative
estimates of the likelihood of hazards occurring in a plant,
equipment, or system.
(4) The assessment of risks, which is a decision as to whether a
risk is or is not acceptable to the commission.
(5) The inclusion of risk controls, which may be used to eliminate
or mitigate the risks of a proposed policy or rule change. The
controls may include any or all of the following:
(A) The redesign of the approach to achieve the policy goal that
eliminates or reduces the safety risk.
(B) Incorporation of technological or other devices to reduce
safety risks.
(C) The use of warning procedures or devices to alert an actor of
a hazardous condition in order to give that actor time to avert the
hazard.
(D) Development of procedures or training to manage the
consequences of a hazardous condition.
(c) The safety risk management procedures shall ensure the
opportunity for the commission to exercise future safety assurance
activities, including monitoring, data tracking and analysis, audits,
investigations, and enforcement action.
(d) If another state entity holds or shares regulatory authority
to ensure safety, including the State Fire Marshal or the California
Building Standards Commission, the commission shall consult with that
state entity.
(e) The commission shall implement the safety risk management
procedures by October 1, 2015.