Bill Text: CA AB551 | 2023-2024 | Regular Session | Amended
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Public Utilities Commission.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-09-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 299, Statutes of 2024. [AB551 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB551-Amended.html
An act to amend Sections 14717.1 and 14717.2 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, relating to Medi-Cal, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. An act to amend Sections 311 and 1731 of, and to add Section 1002.4 to, the Public Utilities Code, relating to the Public Utilities Commission.
TWO_THIRDSMAJORITY
Appropriation:
NO
Fiscal Committee:
YES
Local Program:
YESNO
Bill Title: Public Utilities Commission.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2024-09-20 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 299, Statutes of 2024. [AB551 Detail]
Download: California-2023-AB551-Amended.html
|
Amended
IN
Senate
June 10, 2024 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 27, 2023 |
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Amended
IN
Assembly
April 06, 2023 |
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE—
2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION
Assembly Bill
No. 551
| Introduced by Assembly Member Bennett |
February 08, 2023 |
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 551, as amended, Bennett.
Medi-Cal: specialty mental health services: foster children. Public Utilities Commission.
Existing law requires the Public Utilities Commission to submit amendments, revisions, or modifications of its Rules of Practice and Procedure to the Office of Administrative Law for prior review, but exempts from that requirement general orders, resolutions, or other substantive regulations.
This bill would clarify that regulations and guidelines related to the California Environmental Quality Act are also exempt from that requirement.
Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the commission a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require
or will require that construction. Under existing law, the extension, expansion, upgrade, or other modification of an existing electrical transmission facility, including transmission lines and substations, does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require its construction.
This bill would authorize the commission to adopt guidelines at a publicly noticed meeting to carry out its review of and actions on applications for the construction of electrical transmission facilities, as described, subject to its regulatory jurisdiction, as provided. The bill would prohibit a cause of action arising out of an executive director disposition of a protest to a specified notice of proposed construction deemed exempt from the requirement to submit an application for a permit or certificate for electrical transmission facilities from accruing in any court to any entity or person unless the entity or person has filed
an application to the commission for a rehearing within 10 days after the date of issuance of the disposition. The bill would require the commission to issue its decision and order on rehearing within 90 days after the filing of that application.
Existing law establishes the Medi-Cal program, which is administered by the State Department of Health Care Services (department), under which qualified low-income individuals receive health care services. The Medi-Cal program is, in part, governed and funded by federal Medicaid program provisions. Under existing law, specialty mental health services include federal Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic, and Treatment (EPSDT) services provided to eligible Medi-Cal beneficiaries under 21 years of age. Existing law requires each local mental health plan to establish a procedure to ensure access to outpatient specialty mental health services, as required by the EPSDT program standards, for youth in foster care who have been placed outside their county of adjudication, as described.
Existing law requires the department to issue policy guidance
on the conditions for, and exceptions to, presumptive transfer of responsibility for providing or arranging for specialty mental health services to a foster youth from the county of original jurisdiction to the county in which the foster youth resides, as prescribed. On a case-by-case basis, and when consistent with the medical rights of children in foster care, existing law authorizes the waiver of presumptive transfer, with the responsibility for the provision of specialty mental health services remaining with the county of original jurisdiction if certain exceptions exist. Under existing law, the county probation agency or the child welfare services agency is responsible for determining whether waiver of the presumptive transfer is appropriate, with notice provided to the person requesting the exception.
Under existing law, commencing July 1, 2023, in the case of placement of foster children in short-term residential therapeutic programs, community treatment
facilities, or group homes, or in the case of admission of foster children to children’s crisis residential programs, the county of original jurisdiction is required to retain responsibility and presumptive transfer provisions apply only if certain circumstances exist.
This bill, for purposes of foster children placed or admitted in those specific settings, would delay, until July 1, 2024, the requirement on the county of original jurisdiction to retain responsibility and the limitation on the presumptive transfer provisions. By extending the period during which a county agency is responsible for making determinations about presumptive transfer waivers and making certain notifications, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Existing law conditions implementation of the above-described provisions on the availability of federal financial participation and receipt of all necessary federal approvals. If the
department makes the determination that it is necessary to seek federal approval, existing law requires the department to make an official request for approval from the federal government no later than July 1, 2024.
This bill would delay the deadline for any necessary federal approval requests to July 1, 2025.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.
Digest Key
Vote:Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1.
Section 311 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:311.
(a) The commission, each commissioner, the executive director, and the assistant executive directors may administer oaths, certify to all official acts, and issue subpoenas for the attendance of witnesses and the production of papers, waybills, books, accounts, documents, and testimony in any inquiry, investigation, hearing, or proceeding in any part of the state.(b) The administrative law judges may administer oaths, examine witnesses, issue subpoenas, and receive evidence, under rules that the commission adopts.
(c) The evidence in any hearing shall be taken by the commissioner or the administrative law judge designated for that purpose. The commissioner or the administrative law judge may receive and
exclude evidence offered in the hearing in accordance with the rules of practice and procedure of the commission.
(d) Consistent with the procedures contained in Sections 1701.1, 1701.2, 1701.3, 1701.4, and 1701.8, the assigned commissioner or the administrative law judge shall prepare and file an opinion setting forth recommendations, findings, and conclusions. The opinion of the assigned commissioner or the administrative law judge is the proposed decision and a part of the public record in the proceeding. The proposed decision of the assigned commissioner or the administrative law judge shall be filed with the commission and served upon all parties to the action or proceeding without undue delay, not later than 90 days after the matter has been submitted for decision. The commission shall issue its decision not sooner than 30 days following filing and service of the proposed decision by the assigned commissioner or the administrative law
judge, except that the 30-day period may be reduced or waived by the commission in an unforeseen emergency situation or upon the stipulation of all parties to the proceeding or as otherwise provided by law. The commission may, in issuing its decision, adopt, modify, or set aside the proposed decision or any part of the decision. Where the modification is of a decision in an adjudicatory hearing it shall be based upon the evidence in the record. Every finding, opinion, and order made in the proposed decision and approved or confirmed by the commission shall, upon that approval or confirmation, be the finding, opinion, and order of the commission.
(e) Any item appearing on the commission’s public agenda as an alternate item to a proposed decision or to a decision subject to subdivision (g) shall be served upon all parties to the proceeding without undue delay and shall be subject to public review and comment before it may be voted upon. For
purposes of this subdivision, “alternate” means either a substantive revision to a proposed decision that materially changes the resolution of a contested issue or any substantive addition to the findings of fact, conclusions of law, or ordering paragraphs. The commission shall adopt rules that provide for the time and manner of review and comment and the rescheduling of the item on a subsequent public agenda, except that the item may shall not be rescheduled for consideration sooner than 30 days following service of the alternate item upon all parties. The alternate item shall be accompanied by a digest that clearly explains the substantive revisions to the proposed decision. The commission’s rules may provide that the time and manner of review and comment on an alternate item may be reduced or waived by the commission
in an unforeseen emergency situation.
(f) The commission may specify that the administrative law judge assigned to a proceeding involving an electrical, gas, telephone, railroad, or water corporation, or a highway carrier, initiated by customer or subscriber complaint need not prepare, file, and serve an opinion, unless the commission finds that to do so is required in the public interest in a particular case.
(g) (1) Before voting on any commission decision not subject to subdivision (d), the decision shall be served on parties and subject to at least 30 days public review and comment. Any alternate to any commission decision shall be subject to the same requirements as provided for alternate decisions under subdivision (e). For purposes of this subdivision, “decision” also includes resolutions, including resolutions on advice letter filings.
(2) The 30-day period may be reduced or waived in an unforeseen emergency situation, upon the stipulation of all parties in the proceeding, for an uncontested matter in which the decision grants the relief requested, or for an order seeking temporary injunctive relief, or, in the case of a catastrophic wildfire proceeding, may be reduced to no less than 15 days at the discretion of the assigned commissioner.
(3) This subdivision does not apply to uncontested matters that pertain solely to water corporations, or to orders instituting investigations or rulemakings, categorization resolutions under Sections 1701.1 to 1701.4, inclusive, and Section 1701.8, or orders authorized by law to be considered in executive session. Consistent with regulatory efficiency and the need for adequate prior notice and comment on commission decisions, the commission may adopt rules, after notice and
comment, establishing additional categories of decisions subject to waiver or reduction of the time period in this section.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, amendments, revisions, or modifications by the commission of its Rules of Practice and Procedure shall be submitted to the Office of Administrative Law for prior review in accordance with Sections 11349, 11349.3, 11349.4, 11349.5, 11349.6, and 11350.3 of, and subdivisions (a) and (b) of Section 11349.1 of, the Government Code. If the commission adopts an emergency revision to its Rules of Practice and Procedure based upon a finding that the revision is necessary for the preservation of the public peace, health and safety, or general welfare, this emergency revision shall only be reviewed by the Office of Administrative Law in accordance with subdivisions (b) to (d), inclusive, of Section
11349.6 of the Government Code. The emergency revision shall become effective upon filing with the Secretary of State and shall remain in effect for no more than 120 days. A petition for writ of review pursuant to Section 1756 of a commission decision amending, revising, or modifying its Rules of Practice and Procedure shall not be filed until the regulation has been approved by the Office of Administrative Law, the Governor, or a court pursuant to Section 11350.3 of the Government Code. If the period for filing the petition for writ of review would otherwise have already commenced under Section 1733 or 1756 at the time of that approval, then the period for filing the petition for writ of review shall continue until 30 days after the date of that approval. Nothing in this subdivision shall This subdivision does not
require the commission to comply with Article 5 (commencing with Section 11346) of Chapter 3.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code. This subdivision is only intended to provide for the Office of Administrative Law review of procedural commission decisions relating to commission Rules of Practice and Procedure, and not general orders, resolutions, regulations and guidelines related to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code), or other substantive regulations.
(i) The commission shall immediately notify the Legislature whenever the commission reduces or waives the time period for public review and comment due to an unforeseen emergency situation, as provided in subdivision (d), (e), or (g).
SEC. 2.
Section 1002.4 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:1002.4.
(a) The commission may, by resolution, adopt guidelines at a publicly noticed meeting to carry out its review of and actions on applications for the construction of electrical transmission facilities subject to its regulatory jurisdiction.(b) To the extent there is a conflict or inconsistency between the guidelines adopted or revised pursuant to this section and a commission general order or rule of practice or procedure addressing the submission and review of applications for electrical transmission facilities, the guidelines shall prevail.
(c) The guidelines adopted pursuant to this section shall supersede the commission’s Guidelines for Energy Project Applications Requiring
CEQA Compliance: Pre-filing and Proponent’s Environmental Assessments (November 2019), unless the guidelines adopted pursuant to this section specify otherwise.
(d) Notwithstanding any other law, guidelines adopted pursuant to this section are exempt from the requirements of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.
(e) For purposes of this section, “electrical transmission facilities” means electrical generation facilities, transmission, power, and distribution line facilities, and substations, as described in commission General Order No. 131-D, as it may be amended from time to time.
SEC. 3.
Section 1731 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:1731.
(a) The commission shall set an effective date when issuing an order or decision. The commission may set the effective date of an order or decision before the date of issuance of the order or decision.(b) (1) After an order or decision has been made by the commission, a party to the action or proceeding, or a stockholder, bondholder, or other party pecuniarily interested in the public utility affected affected, may apply for a rehearing in respect to matters determined in the action or proceeding and specified in the application for rehearing. The
commission may grant and hold a rehearing on those matters, if in its judgment sufficient reason is made to appear. A cause of action arising out of any order or decision of the commission shall not accrue in any court to any corporation or person unless the corporation or person has filed an application to the commission for a rehearing within 30 days after the date of issuance or within 10 days after the date of issuance in the case of an order issued pursuant to either Article 5 (commencing with Section 816) or Article 6 (commencing with Section 851) of Chapter 4 relating to security transactions and the transfer or encumbrance of utility property.
(2) The commission shall notify the parties of the issuance of an order or decision by either mail or electronic transmission. Notification of the parties may be accomplished by one of the following methods:
(A) Mailing the order or
decision to the parties to the action or proceeding.
(B) If a party to an action or proceeding consents in advance to receive notice of any order or decision related to the action or proceeding by electronic mail address, notification of the party may be accomplished by transmitting an electronic copy of the official version of the order or decision to the party if the party has provided an electronic mail address to the commission.
(C) If a party to an action or proceeding consents in advance to receive notice of any order or decision related to the action or proceeding by electronic mail address, notification of the party may be accomplished by transmitting a link to an Internet Web site internet website
where the official version of the order or decision is readily available to the party if the party has provided an electronic mail address to the commission.
(3) For the purposes of this article, “date of issuance” means the mailing or electronic transmission date that is stamped on the official version of the order or decision.
(c) A cause of action arising out of an order or decision of the commission construing, applying, or implementing the provisions of Chapter 4 of the Statutes of the 2001–02 First Extraordinary Session that (1) relates to the determination or implementation of the department’s revenue requirements, or the establishment or implementation of bond or power charges necessary to
recover those revenue requirements, or (2) in the sole determination of the Department of Water Resources, the expedited review of order or decision of the commission is necessary or desirable, for the maintenance of any credit ratings on any bonds or notes of the department issued pursuant to Division 27 (commencing with Section 80000) of the Water Code or for the department to meet its obligations with respect to any bonds or notes pursuant to that division, shall not accrue in any court to any corporation or person unless the corporation or person has filed an application with the commission for a rehearing within 10 days after the date of issuance of the order or decision. The Department of Water Resources shall notify the commission of any determination pursuant to paragraph (2) of this subdivision before the issuance by the commission of any order or decision construing, applying, or implementing the provisions of
Chapter 4 of the Statutes of the 2001–02 First Extraordinary Session. The commission shall issue its decision and order on rehearing within 210 days after the filing of the application.
(d) A cause of action arising out of an order or decision of the commission construing, applying, or implementing the provisions of Article 5.7 (commencing with Section 849) or Article 5.8 (commencing with Section 850) of Chapter 4 shall not accrue in any court to any entity or person unless the entity or person has filed an application to the commission for a rehearing within 10 days after the date of issuance of the order or decision. The commission shall issue its decision and order on rehearing within 210 days after the filing of that application.
(e) A cause of action arising out of an executive director disposition of a protest to a General Order 131 notice of proposed construction deemed exempt from the requirement to submit an application for a permit or certificate for an electrical transmission facility shall not accrue in any court to any entity or person unless the entity or person has filed an application to the commission for a rehearing within 10 days after the date of issuance of the disposition. The commission shall issue its decision and order on rehearing within 90 days after the filing of that application.
