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

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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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-Amended.html

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BILL NUMBER: AB 1180	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	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  Section 755.5  
Sections 755.5 and 915  of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to utility service.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1180, as amended, 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   2,000 or
more service  connections to seek commission  approval
  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 and debit   card,
debit card, and prepaid  card bill payment options,  for
their water bills  and to assess the cost-effectiveness of,
and  public   customer  interests served
by, customer access to those bill payment options.  The bill
would limit the duration of the pilot program to the duration of the
water corporation's rate case cycle, but would authorize the
commission to extend the program upon the request of the water
corporation in its subsequent rate case application.  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  by 
 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 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 water bills on household debt burden, and an assessment of
data regarding customer utilization and the cost-effectiveness of the
bill payment options provided under the pilot program. The bill
would require the report, based on these assessments and an
assessment of the public interests served by these bill payment
options, to evaluate   that, based on specified
assessments, evaluates  the usefulness of an individual customer
transaction fee and  include   includes  a
recommendation regarding individual customer transaction fees for
credit  card and debit   card, debit card, and
prepaid  card bill payments accepted by water corporations.
   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 755.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
   755.5.  (a) A water corporation with  more than 10,000
  2,000 or more service connections  may
seek, through its general rate case application, commission approval
  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 and
debit   card, debit card, and prepaid  card bill
payment options,  for their water bills  and to
assess the cost-effectiveness of, and  public  
customer  interests served by, customer access to those bill
payment  options.   options, shall do so by
requesting commission approval through its general rate case
application. The pilot program shall be limited to the dura 
 tion of the water corporation's rate case cycle, but may be
extended by the commission at the request of the water corporation in
its next general rate case   application. 
   (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.    By July 1, 2020, the commission, in
consultation with the Low-Income Oversight Board established pursuant
to Section 382.1 of the Public Utilities Code, shall submit to the
Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce and the Senate Committee
on Energy, Utilities and Communications a report 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 water 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 provided by the water corporations operating pilot programs
pursuant to Section 755.5 of the Public Utilities Code. Based on
these assessments and an assessment of the public interests served by
providing these bill payment options, the report shall evaluate the
usefulness of the individual customer transaction fee required by
Section 755 of the Public Utilities Code, and include a
recommendation regarding individual customer transaction fees for
credit card and debit card payments accepted by water corporations.

   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.