Amended  IN  Assembly  June 30, 2023
Amended  IN  Assembly  June 20, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  May 18, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  May 01, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  March 30, 2023
Amended  IN  Senate  March 16, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill
No. 420

Introduced by Senator Becker

February 09, 2023

An act to amend Section 1001 of, to add Section 1005.3 to, and to add and repeal Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8400) of Division 4.1 of, of the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 420, as amended, Becker. Electricity: electrical transmission facility projects.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law prohibits an electrical corporation from beginning the construction of 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 its construction, as specified. 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 include the reconstruction of an existing electrical transmission facility in the above exemption and would specify that those projects also do not require a permit to construct or any other discretionary permit from the commission. exemption. The bill would additionally provide that the construction of a new electrical transmission facility, including lines and substations, by an electrical corporation serving 10,000 or more retail customers does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require its construction, a permit to construct, or any other discretionary permit from the commission, if the electrical transmission facility meets certain requirements.

Existing law establishes the Independent System Operator as a nonprofit, public benefit corporation to ensure efficient use and reliable operation of the transmission grid and to manage the transmission grid and related energy markets, as specified. Existing law requires the commission, on or before January 15, 2023, to request the Independent System Operator to identify the highest priority transmission facilities that are needed to allow for increased transmission capacity into local capacity areas to deliver renewable energy resources or zero-carbon resources that are expected to be developed by 2035 into those areas, and to consider whether to approve those projects as part of its 2022–23 transmission planning process.

The Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021 authorizes the Governor, until January 1, 2024, to certify environmental leadership development projects that meet specified requirements for certain streamlining benefits related to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Existing law requires the lead agency to approve a certified environmental leadership development project before January 1, 2025, for the project to be eligible for those CEQA streamlining benefits.

This bill would require the Governor to identify a primary agency to monitor clean energy and electrical transmission facility planning and deployment, and require that agency to identify those electrical transmission facility projects necessary to maintain system reliability and to meet specified targets. The bill would require electrical transmission facility projects identified by the Independent System Operator in its annual transmission planning process and certain electrical transmission facility projects that would satisfy a transmission expansion need approved by the governing body of a local publicly owned electric utility to be eligible for certification and streamlining as environmental leadership development projects for purposes of the Jobs and Economic Improvement Through Environmental Leadership Act of 2021, except as provided. The bill would extend the deadline for the Governor to certify these projects to January 1, 2028, and the deadline for the lead agency to approve the project to January 1, 2029.

Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because certain provisions of this bill would be a part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing its requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
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.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: YES  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 It is the intent of the Legislature in enacting this bill to streamline the regulatory approval process for electrical transmission lines that are critical to maintaining electrical reliability and meeting California’s grid decarbonization targets.

SEC. 2.

 Section 1001 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:

1001.
 (a) A railroad corporation whose railroad is operated primarily by electricity, street railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telegraph corporation, telephone corporation, water corporation, or sewer system corporation shall not begin the construction of a street railroad, of 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 its construction.
(b) (1) The extension, expansion, upgrade, reconstruction, 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, a permit to construct, or any other discretionary permit from the commission. construction.
(2) The construction of a new electrical transmission facility, including lines and substations, by an electrical corporation serving 10,000 or more retail customers, does not require a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity requires or will require its construction, a permit to construct, or any other discretionary permit from the commission, if the electrical transmission facility meets all of the following requirements:
(A) It will be rated at not more than 138 kilovolts.
(B) It will meet one of the following requirements:
(i) It will be located on previously disturbed land. land, as described in subdivision (b) of Section 25794.6 of the Public Resources Code.
(ii) It will be located in an urbanized area, as delineated by the United States Census Bureau.
(iii) It will be part of a project that has undergone review pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (Division 13 (commencing with Section 21000) of the Public Resources Code).
(C) It will not be located on any of the following:
(i) A wetland, as defined by the State Water Resources Control Board.
(ii) Any unremediated hazardous waste site designated under the federal Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, as amended (42 U.S.C. Sec. 9601 et seq.), or pursuant to Section 25356 of the Health and Safety Code.
(iii) A critical habitat as designated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service pursuant to the federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 (16 U.S.C. Sec. 1531 et seq.), or habitat essential to the continued existence of an endangered or threatened species as determined by the Department of Fish and Wildlife pursuant to the California Endangered Species Act (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 2050) of Division 3 of the Fish and Game Code).
(c) This article does not require those corporations to secure that certificate for an extension within any city or city and county within which it has lawfully commenced operations, for an extension into territory either within or without a city or city and county contiguous to its street railroad, line, plant, or system, and not served by a public utility of like character, or for an extension within or to territory already served by it, necessary in the ordinary course of its business. If any public utility, in constructing or extending its line, plant, or system, interferes or is about to interfere with the operation of the line, plant, or system of any other public utility or of the water system of a public agency, already constructed, the commission, on complaint of the public utility or public agency claiming to be injuriously affected, may, after hearing, make an order and prescribe terms and conditions for the location of the lines, plants, or systems affected as to it may seem just and reasonable.

SEC. 3.Section 1005.3 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
1005.3.

(a)The Governor shall identify a primary agency to monitor clean energy and electrical transmission facility planning and deployment.

(b)The primary agency identified pursuant to subdivision (a) shall identify those electrical transmission facility projects necessary to maintain system reliability and to meet the targets set pursuant to Chapter 312 of the Statutes of 2018 and Chapter 361 of the Statutes of 2022. For purposes of this subdivision, the primary agency shall strategically consider clean energy planning alongside land conservation to minimize environmental impact.

SEC. 4.Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8400) is added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
8.Environmental Review of Electrical Transmission Projects
8400.

(a)Notwithstanding Sections 21181, 21189.1, and 21189.3 of the Public Resources Code, and except as provided in subdivision (b), the following electrical transmission facility projects shall be eligible for certification and streamlining as environmental leadership development projects for purposes of Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 21178) of Division 13 of the Public Resources Code, as that chapter read on January 1, 2024:

(1)An electrical transmission facility project identified by the Independent System Operator in its annual transmission planning process.

(2)An electrical transmission facility project identified by a local publicly owned electric utility that would satisfy a transmission expansion need approved by the governing body of the local publicly owned electric utility, which meets either of the following criteria:

(A)The project will facilitate delivery of electricity from renewable energy resources or zero-carbon resources.

(B)The project will facilitate delivery of electricity from energy storage projects.

(b)Notwithstanding subdivision (a), an electrical transmission facility project described in subdivision (a) is not an environmental leadership development project pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 21178) of Division 13 of the Public Resources Code if it is located in any of the following areas:

(1)Lands within the state park system, except for a state vehicular recreation area.

(2)A national park, national monument, national recreation area, or national preserve.

(3)The coastal zone, as defined in Division 20 (commencing with Section 30000) of the Public Resources Code.

(4)Wetlands, as defined in the United States Fish and Wildlife Service Manual, Part 660 FW 2 (June 21, 1993).

(c)Notwithstanding Section 21181 of the Public Resources Code, the deadline for the Governor to certify an electrical transmission facility project that is an environmental leadership development project pursuant to this section is January 1, 2028. Notwithstanding Section 21189.1 of the Public Resources Code, the deadline for the lead agency to approve an electrical transmission facility project certified by the Governor is January 1, 2029.

8401.

This chapter shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2030, and as of that date is repealed.

SEC. 5.SEC. 3.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because the only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution.