BILL NUMBER: AB 1650 ENROLLED
BILL TEXT
PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 28, 2012
PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 29, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 24, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 21, 2012
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 6, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 25, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2012
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 9, 2012
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Portantino
FEBRUARY 13, 2012
An act to add Section 768.6 to the Public Utilities Code, relating
to public utilities.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1650, Portantino. Public utilities: emergency and disaster
preparedness.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations
and water corporations, as defined.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes
local governments to create disaster councils by ordinance to develop
plans for meeting any condition constituting a local emergency or
state of emergency, as specified.
This bill would require the commission to establish standards for
disaster and emergency preparedness plans within an existing
proceeding, as specified. The bill would require an electrical
corporation to develop, adopt, and update an emergency and disaster
preparedness plan, as specified. The bill would authorize every city,
county, or city and county within the electrical corporation's
service area to designate a point of contact for the electrical
corporation to consult with on emergency and disaster preparedness
plans. The bill would require a water company regulated by the
commission to develop, adopt, and update an emergency and disaster
preparedness plan, as specified. The bill would find and declare that
county and city participation in the preparation of electrical
corporations' emergency and disaster preparedness plans is critical
to a statewide emergency response and, thus, is an issue of statewide
concern.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 768.6 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
768.6. (a) The commission shall establish standards for disaster
and emergency preparedness plans within an existing proceeding,
including, but not limited to, use of weather reports to preposition
manpower and equipment before anticipated severe weather, methods of
improving communications between governmental agencies and the
public, and methods of working to control and mitigate an emergency
or disaster and its aftereffects. The commission, when establishing
standards pursuant to this subdivision, may make requirements for
small water corporations similar to those imposed on class A water
corporations under paragraph (2) of subdivision (f).
(b) An electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218,
providing service in California shall develop, adopt, and update an
emergency and disaster preparedness plan in compliance with the
standards established by the commission pursuant to subdivision (a).
(1) (A) In developing and adopting an emergency and disaster
preparedness plan, an electrical corporation providing service in
California shall invite appropriate representatives of every city,
county, or city and county within that electrical corporation's
service area in California to meet with, and provide consultation to,
the electrical corporation.
(B) Every city, county, or city and county within the electrical
corporation's service area in California may designate a point of
contact for the electrical corporation to consult with on emergency
and disaster preparedness plans.
(C) The electrical corporation shall provide the point of contact
designated pursuant to subparagraph (B) with an opportunity to
comment on draft emergency and disaster preparedness plans.
(2) For the purposes of best preparing an electrical corporation
for future emergencies or disasters, an emergency and disaster
preparedness plan shall address recent emergencies and disasters
associated with the electrical corporation or similarly situated
corporations, and shall address remedial actions for possible
emergencies or disasters that may involve that corporation's
provision of service.
(3) Every two years, in order to update and improve that
electrical corporation's emergency and disaster preparedness plan, an
electrical corporation providing service in California shall invite
appropriate representatives of every city, county, or city and county
within that electrical corporation's service area to meet with, and
provide consultation to, the electrical corporation.
(4) For the purposes of best preparing an electrical corporation
for future emergencies or disasters, an electrical corporation
updating its emergency and disaster preparedness plan shall review
the disasters and emergencies that have affected similarly situated
corporations since the adoption of the plan, remedial actions taken
during those emergencies or disasters, and proposed changes to the
plan. The electrical corporation shall adopt in its plan the changes
that will best ensure the electrical corporation is reasonably
prepared to deal with a disaster or emergency.
(c) A meeting pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be noticed and
shall be conducted in a public meeting that allows for the
participation of appropriate representatives of counties and cities
within the electrical corporation's service area.
(1) A county participating in a meeting pursuant to subdivision
(b) may inform each city within the county of the time and place of
the meeting.
(2) An electrical corporation holding a meeting pursuant to
subdivision (b) shall provide participating counties and cities with
the opportunity to provide written and verbal input regarding the
corporation's emergency and disaster preparedness plan. For purposes
of this public meeting, an electrical corporation may convene a
closed meeting with representatives from every city, county, or city
and county within that electrical corporation's service area to
discuss sensitive security-related information in the electrical
corporation's emergency and disaster preparedness plan and to solicit
comment.
(3) An electrical corporation shall notify the commission of the
date, time, and location of a meeting pursuant to subdivision (b).
(d) An electrical corporation shall conduct a meeting pursuant to
subdivision (b) no later than April 1, 2013, and every two years
thereafter.
(e) An electrical corporation shall memorialize a meeting pursuant
to subdivision (b), and shall submit its records of the meeting to
the commission.
(f) (1) A water company regulated by the commission shall develop,
adopt, and update an emergency and disaster preparedness plan in
compliance with the standards established by the commission pursuant
to subdivision (a). This requirement shall be deemed fulfilled when
the water company files an emergency and disaster preparedness plan
pursuant to another state statutory requirement.
(2) A water company developing, adopting, or updating an emergency
and disaster preparedness plan pursuant to paragraph (1) shall hold
meetings with representatives from each city, county, or city and
county in the water company's service area regarding the emergency
and disaster preparedness plan.
(g) An electrical corporation or a water corporation may fulfill a
meeting requirement imposed by this section by making a presentation
regarding its emergency and disaster preparedness plan at a
regularly scheduled public meeting of each disaster council created
pursuant to Article 10 (commencing with Section 8610) of Chapter 7 of
Division 1 of Title 2 of the Government Code within the corporation'
s service area, or at a regularly scheduled public meeting of the
governing body of each city, county, or city and county within the
service area.
SEC. 2. The Legislature finds and declares that county and city
participation in the preparation of electrical corporations'
emergency and disaster preparedness plans is critical to a statewide
emergency response and, thus, is an issue of statewide concern and
not a municipal affair, as that term is used in Section 5 of Article
XI of the California Constitution.