BILL NUMBER: AB 361 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE SEPTEMBER 3, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 28, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 29, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Achadjian
( Coauthor: Senator
Monning Coauthors: Senators
Jackson and Monning )
FEBRUARY 17, 2015
An act to add and repeal Section 8610.5 of the Government Code,
and to add Section 712 to the Public Utilities Code,
relating to emergency services. electricity,
and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 361, as amended, Achadjian. California Emergency
Services Act: nuclear Nuclear powerplants.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, authorizes
local government entities to create disaster councils by ordinance
and in turn develop disaster plans specific to their jurisdictions.
Existing law, the Radiation Protection Act of 1999, requires local
governments to develop and maintain radiological emergency
preparedness and response plans to safeguard the public in the
emergency planning zone around a nuclear powerplant, and generally
makes the Office of Emergency Services responsible for the
coordination and integration of all emergency planning programs and
response plans created pursuant to the Radiation Protection Act of
1999. The California Emergency Services Act, until July 1, 2019,
prescribes a method for funding state and local costs for carrying
out these activities that are not reimbursed by federal funds, with
the costs borne by utilities operating nuclear powerplants with a
generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more.
This bill, operative July 1, 2019, would extend, until August 26,
2025, the method for funding state and local costs for emergency
service activities associated with a nuclear powerplant, as described
above, with respect to a utility operating a nuclear powerplant with
a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more, thereby extending an
amount, as specified, available for disbursement for local costs for
the Diablo Canyon site.
Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities, including electrical 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 requires the commission, for
purposes of establishing rates for any electrical corporation, to
disallow expenses reflecting the direct or indirect costs resulting
from any unreasonable error or omission relating to the planning,
construction, or operation of any portion of the corporation's plant
which cost, or is estimated to have cost, more than $50,000,000,
including any expenses resulting from delays caused by any
unreasonable error or omission. For these purposes, "planning"
includes activities related to the initial and subsequent assessments
of the need for a plant construction project and includes
investigation and interpretation of environmental factors such as
seismic conditions.
This bill would require the commission to convene, or continue,
until August 26, 2025, an independent peer review panel to conduct an
independent review of enhanced seismic studies and surveys of the
Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 powerplant, including the surrounding
areas of the facility and areas of nuclear waste storage.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 8610.5 is added to the Government Code, to
read:
8610.5. (a) For purposes of this section:
(1) "Office" means the Office of Emergency Services.
(2) "Previous fiscal year" means the fiscal year immediately prior
to the current fiscal year.
(3) "Utility" means an "electrical corporation" as defined in
Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code.
(b) (1) State and local costs to carry out activities pursuant to
this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9
of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code that are not
reimbursed by federal funds shall be borne by a utility operating a
nuclear powerplant with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or
more.
(2) The Public Utilities Commission shall develop and transmit to
the office an equitable method of assessing a utility operating a
powerplant for its reasonable share of state agency costs specified
in paragraph (1).
(3) Each local government involved shall submit a statement of its
costs specified in paragraph (1), as required, to the office.
(4) Upon notification by the office, from time to time, of the
amount of its share of the actual or anticipated state and local
agency costs, a utility shall pay this amount to the Controller for
deposit in the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, which is
continued in existence, for allocation by the Controller, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out activities pursuant to
this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part
9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The Controller shall
pay from this account the state and local costs relative to carrying
out this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of
Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, upon
certification of the costs by the office.
(5) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Controller may
disburse up to 80 percent of a fiscal year allocation from the
Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, in advance, for
anticipated local expenses, as certified by the office pursuant to
paragraph (4). The office shall review program expenditures related
to the balance of funds in the account and the Controller shall pay
the portion, or the entire balance, of the account, based upon those
approved expenditures.
(c) (1) The total annual disbursement of state costs from a
utility operating a nuclear powerplant within the state for
activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with
Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety
Code, shall not exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum
funding levels established in this section, subject to subdivisions
(e) and (f).
(2) Of the annual amount of two million forty-seven thousand
dollars ($2,047,000) for the 2009-10 fiscal year, the sum of one
million ninety-four thousand dollars ($1,094,000) shall be for
support of the office for activities pursuant to this section and
Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104
of the Health and Safety Code, and the sum of nine hundred
fifty-three thousand dollars ($953,000) shall be for support of the
State Department of Public Health for activities pursuant to this
section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of
Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) (1) The total annual disbursement for each fiscal year,
commencing July 1, 2009, of local costs from a utility shall not
exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum funding levels
established in this section, in support of activities pursuant to
this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9
of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The maximum annual
amount available for disbursement for local costs, subject to
subdivisions (e) and (f), shall, for the fiscal year beginning July
1, 2009, be one million seven hundred thirty-two thousand dollars
($1,732,000) for the Diablo Canyon site.
(2) The amounts paid by a utility under this section shall be
allowed for ratemaking purposes by the Public Utilities Commission.
(e) The amounts available for disbursement for state and local
costs as specified in this section shall be adjusted and compounded
each fiscal year by the larger of the percentage change in the
prevailing wage for San Luis Obispo County employees, not to exceed 5
percent, or the percentage increase in the California Consumer Price
Index from the previous fiscal year.
(f) Through the inoperative date specified in subdivision (h), the
amounts available for disbursement for state and local costs as
specified in this section shall be cumulative biennially. Any
unexpended funds from a year shall be carried over for one year. The
funds carried over from the previous year may be expended when the
current year's funding cap is exceeded.
(g) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2019.
(h) This section shall become inoperative on August 26, 2025, and,
as of January 1, 2026, is repealed.
(i) When this section becomes inoperative, any amounts remaining
in the special account shall be refunded to a utility contributing to
it, to be credited to the utility's ratepayers.
SEC. 2. Section 712 is added to the
Public Utilities Code , to read:
712. (a) The commission shall convene, or continue, until August
26, 2025, an independent peer review panel to conduct an independent
review of enhanced seismic studies and surveys of the Diablo Canyon
Units 1 and 2 powerplant, including the surrounding areas of the
facility and areas of nuclear waste storage.
(b) The independent peer review panel shall contract with the
Energy Commission, the California Geological Survey of the Department
of Conservation, the California Coastal Commission, the Alfred E.
Alquist Seismic Safety Commission, the Office of Emergency Services,
and the County of San Luis Obispo to participate on the panel and
provide expertise.
(c) The independent peer review panel shall review the seismic
studies and hold public meetings.
(d) The commission shall make reports by the independent peer
review panel publicly available on the Internet Web site maintained
by the commission.
SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
The Public Utilities Commission in Decision 10-08-003 (August 12,
2010) convened an independent peer review panel to review the seismic
studies conducted on behalf of Pacific Gas and Electric Company
relative to the Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2 powerplant. The
independent peer review panel, in addition to providing valuable
expertise to the commission in evaluating the seismic studies, also
operates to assure the public that the seismic studies are being
performed in an appropriate manner. Because (1) the commission's
current contracts for the independent peer review panel are set to
expire on November 30, 2015, the Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2
powerplant is authorized to operate until August 26, 2025, by the
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and there continues to be
enhanced seismic studies and surveys conducted that warrant review by
the independent peer review panel to ensure the safety of the
public, and (2) continuing the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special
Account beyond the July 1, 2019, expiration date is vital to provide
the public assurance that the maintenance of the state's nuclear
emergency programs is in place, and will provide certainty for
emergency planning and response preparedness should an emergency
occur, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.