SB 1088, as amended, Dodd. Safety, reliability, and resiliency planning.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission, after a hearing, to require every public utility to construct, maintain, and operate its line, plant, system, equipment, apparatus, tracks, and premises in a manner so as to promote and safeguard the health and safety of its employees, passengers, customers, and the public. Existing law requires electrical corporations to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the commission for review. Existing law requires the commission to establish standards for disaster and emergency preparedness plans, as specified, and requires an electrical corporation to develop, adopt, and update an emergency and disaster preparedness plan, as specified.
The California Emergency Services Act, among other things, establishes the Office of Emergency Services for the purpose of mitigating the effects of natural, manmade, or war-caused emergencies and makes findings and declarations relating to ensuring that preparation within the state will be adequate to deal with those emergencies.
This bill would require the office, in consultation with specified public entities, by September 30, 2019, to adopt standards for reducing risks from a major event, as defined. The bill would require that those standards include model policies for implementation by local governments regarding, among other things, defensible space, and actions to be undertaken by an electrical or gas corporation, a local publicly owned electric or gas utility, or a water utility to reduce the risk of fire occurring during a major event. The bill would require the office to update the standards at least once every 2 years.
The bill would require each electrical corporation or gas corporation, beginning January 15, 2019, and by January 15 every 2 years thereafter, to prepare and submit a safety, reliability, and resiliency plan, containing specified elements, to the commission for review and approval. The bill would require the commission to approve, or approve with modifications, the submitted plan by December 31 of the year in which the plan is submitted. The bill would require the commission to authorize recovery of the costs in of implementing the plan through rates, as provided. The bill would require the commission to conduct an annual proceeding to review each electrical corporation’s and gas corporation’s compliance with its plan, as provided. The bill would require, if, after completing the compliance review, the commission determines that an electrical corporation or gas corporation is in substantial compliance with its plan, that the commission deem the performance, operations, management, and investment addressed in the plan to be reasonable and prudent. The bill would require the commission to assess a penalty on an electrical corporation or gas corporation for noncompliance with its plan.
The bill would, except as provided, prohibit an electrical corporation from delegating, transferring, or contracting out any of its distribution safety or reliability performance obligations, as defined, and would prohibit the commission from authorizing an electrical corporation to do so.