Bill Text: CA AB1180 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Chaptered

California Assembly Bill 1180 (Prior Session Legislation)

Bill Title: Rates and charges for water service: payment transaction fees.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2016-09-09 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 254, Statutes of 2016. [AB1180 Detail]

Download: California-2015-AB1180-Chaptered.html

BILL NUMBER: AB 1180	CHAPTERED
	BILL TEXT

	CHAPTER  254
	FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE  SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
	APPROVED BY GOVERNOR  SEPTEMBER 9, 2016
	PASSED THE SENATE  AUGUST 15, 2016
	PASSED THE ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 22, 2016
	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 8, 2016
	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 6, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 13, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JANUARY 4, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 9, 2015

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Cristina Garcia

                        FEBRUARY 27, 2015

   An act to add and repeal Sections 755.5 and 915 of the Public
Utilities Code, relating to utility service.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1180, Cristina Garcia. Rates and charges for water service:
payment transaction fees.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical, gas, and
water corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the
rates and charges for every public utility, and requires that those
rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law authorizes an
electrical, gas, or water corporation to offer credit card and debit
card bill payment options, if approved by the commission, and, upon
approval, authorizes an electrical, gas, or water corporation to
recover, through an individual customer transaction fee, reasonable
transaction costs incurred by the electrical, gas, or water
corporation from those customers that choose those methods of
payment. Existing law includes statements of legislative intent
relative to electrical, gas, and water corporations offering
customers the option to pay by credit card or debit card.
   This bill would, until January 1, 2022, authorize a water
corporation with more than 10,000 service connections to seek
commission approval, through its general rate case application, to
operate a pilot program designed to evaluate customer interest in,
and utilization of, bill payment options, including, but not limited
to, credit card, debit card, and prepaid card bill payment options,
and to assess the cost-effectiveness of, and customer interests
served by, customer access to those bill payment options. The bill
would limit the duration of a pilot program to the duration of the
water corporation's rate case cycle. The bill would require the
commission to allow a water corporation to recover the reasonable
expenses incurred by the water corporation in providing its customers
with these bill payment options, and to allow water corporations to
not impose a transaction fee on its customers for using these bill
payment options. The bill would prohibit the costs of a pilot program
from being collected from low-income customers who participate in
specified programs, and would require a water corporation that is
operating a pilot program to provide certain notifications to its
customers. The bill would require the commission, in consultation
with the Low-Income Oversight Board, by July 1, 2020, to submit a
report to specified legislative committees that, based on specified
assessments, evaluates the usefulness of an individual customer
transaction fee and includes a recommendation regarding individual
customer transaction fees for credit card, debit card, and prepaid
card bill payments accepted by water corporations.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 755.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   755.5.  (a) A water corporation with more than 10,000 service
connections that seeks to operate a pilot program designed to
evaluate customer interest in, and utilization of, bill payment
options, including, but not limited to, credit card, debit card, and
prepaid card bill payment options, and to assess the
cost-effectiveness of, and customer interests served by, customer
access to those bill payment options, shall do so by requesting
commission approval through its general rate case application. A
pilot program adopted pursuant to this subdivision shall be limited
to the duration of the water corporation's rate case cycle.
   (b) Notwithstanding Section 755, the commission shall allow a
water corporation to recover the reasonable expenses incurred by the
water corporation in providing to its customers bill payment options
pursuant to subdivision (a) and shall not require the water
corporation to impose a transaction fee on its customers.
   (c) The costs of a pilot program adopted pursuant to subdivision
(a) may not be recovered from customers participating in the
California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program established
pursuant to Section 739.1 or in a water rate relief program for
low-income ratepayers established pursuant to Section 739.8.
   (d) The commission shall require a water corporation that is
operating a pilot program to notify its customers that the water
corporation is participating in a pilot program and that the pilot
program may not continue, pending an assessment of the costs and
benefits of the pilot program to customers.
   (e) The commission shall ensure that accepting bill payment
options pursuant to subdivision (a) neither increases nor decreases
the rate of return of the water corporation.
   (f) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2022, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2022, deletes or extends
that date.
  SEC. 2.  Section 915 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   915.  (a) By July 1, 2020, the commission, in consultation with
the Low-Income Oversight Board established pursuant to Section 382.1,
shall submit to the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce and
the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications a
report on the pilot programs operated by water corporations pursuant
to Section 755.5 that includes an assessment of the use of credit
cards by low-income customers to avoid service disconnections, an
assessment of the impact of the use of credit cards for customer
bills on household debt burden, and an assessment of data, considered
on an aggregated basis, regarding customer utilization and the
cost-effectiveness of the bill payment options. Based on these
assessments and an assessment of the customers' interests served by
providing these bill payment options, the report shall evaluate the
usefulness of the individual customer transaction fee required by
Section 755, and include a recommendation regarding individual
customer transaction fees for credit card, debit card, and prepaid
card payments accepted by water corporations.
   (b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2024, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2024, deletes or extends
that date.