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AB-292 California Emergency Services Act: Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account.(2007-2008)

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AB292:v94#DOCUMENT

Assembly Bill No. 292
CHAPTER 492

An act to amend Section 8610.5 of the Government Code, and to add Section 758 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to emergency services.

[ Approved by Governor  October 11, 2007. Filed with Secretary of State  October 11, 2007. ]

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 292, Blakeslee. California Emergency Services Act: Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account.
(1) The California Emergency Services Act provides for the assessment of certain state agency costs on utilities operating certain nuclear powerplants, and the deposit of those moneys into, and the appropriation and allocation of moneys from, the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account. These provisions become inoperative on July 1, 2009, and are repealed on January 1, 2010.
This bill would extend the inoperative date of these provisions to July 1, 2019, and the repeal date to January 1, 2020. The bill would revise funding levels payable from the account beginning with the 2009–10 fiscal year and would revise the manner for yearly adjusting and compounding of funding available for the Diablo Canyon site.
(2) 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. The act requires the commission to develop and transmit to the Office of Emergency Services an equitable method of assessing utilities operating nuclear powerplants for their reasonable pro rata share of state agency costs specified in the act and provides that the amounts paid by the utilities be allowed for ratemaking purposes by the commission. The act provides that upon it becoming inoperative, any amounts remaining in the special account be refunded pro rata to the contributing utility.
This bill would require that upon the act becoming inoperative, any amounts remaining in the special account be refunded pro rata to the contributing utility, to be credited to the utility’s ratepayers and would require that the commission ensure that any moneys refunded to an electrical corporation are credited to ratepayers.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: YES   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 8610.5 of the Government Code is amended to read:

8610.5.
 (a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) “Department” means the State Department of Public Health.
(2) “Office” means the Office of Emergency Services.
(3) “Utility” means an “electrical corporation” as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code, and “utilities” means more than one electrical corporation.
(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 utilities operating nuclear powerplants 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 the utilities operating the powerplants for their reasonable pro rata 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 each utility’s notification by the office, from time to time, of the amount of its share of the actual or anticipated state and local agency costs, the 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 thereof 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 the utilities operating the nuclear powerplants 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), to be shared equally among the utilities.
(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 department 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 the utilities 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 and one million six hundred thousand dollars ($1,600,000) for the San Onofre site.
(2) The amounts paid by the utilities under this section shall be allowed for ratemaking purposes by the Public Utilities Commission.
(e) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), 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 percentage increase in the California Consumer Price Index of the previous calendar year.
(2) For the Diablo Canyon site, 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 calendar year.
(f) Through the inoperative date specified in subdivision (g), 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 inoperative on July 1, 2019, and, as of January 1, 2020, is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, which becomes effective on or before July 1, 2019, deletes or extends the dates on which it becomes inoperative and is repealed.
(h) Upon inoperation of this section, any amounts remaining in the special account shall be refunded pro rata to the utilities contributing thereto, to be credited to the utility’s ratepayers.

SEC. 2.

 Section 758 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

758.
 (a) The commission shall allow an electrical corporation to recover in rates amounts assessed to the utility pursuant to Section 8610.5 of the Government Code.
(b) The commission shall ensure that any moneys refunded to an electrical corporation from the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account pursuant to subdivision (h) of Section 8610.5 of the Government Code are credited to ratepayers.