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AB-1155 Wildfire mitigation plans: vegetation management: vegetation inspection standards.(2023-2024)

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Date Published: 03/16/2023 09:00 PM
AB1155:v98#DOCUMENT

Amended  IN  Assembly  March 16, 2023

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2023–2024 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 1155

Introduced by Assembly Member Flora

February 16, 2023

An act to amend Section 739.11 of add Section 8387.5 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to public utilities.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 1155, as amended, Flora. Electrical corporations and gas corporations: rates and charges. Wildfire mitigation plans: vegetation management: vegetation inspection standards.
Existing law requires electrical corporations, local publicly owned electric utilities, and electrical cooperatives to prepare and update wildfire mitigation plans, as specified. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan to include, among other things, plans for vegetation management. Existing law requires the wildfire mitigation plans and updates prepared by electrical corporations to be submitted to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval, while those prepared by local publicly owned electric utilities and electrical cooperatives are submitted to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board.
This bill would require the standards for vegetation inspection in the plans for vegetation management to meet specific requirements related to visually assessing and inspecting trees. The bill would specify that an electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or electric cooperative, or a person engaging in vegetation management on behalf of those entities, meeting those requirements for vegetation inspection establishes a rebuttable presumption that the relevant standard of care is met. By imposing additional duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, 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.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas 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 to direct each gas corporation and electrical corporation that, for some portion of residential customers, employs every-other-month meter reading and estimates bills for months when the customer’s meter is not read to include in its tariffs the methodology it employs to estimate bills for those months.

This bill would make a nonsubstantive change to the latter provision.

Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NOYES   Local Program: NOYES  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 8387.5 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

8387.5.
 (a) (1) Plans for vegetation management required pursuant to paragraph (9) of subdivision (c) of Section 8386 or subparagraph (H) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 8387 shall require the standards for vegetation inspection to meet the requirements of subdivision (b).
(b) (1) (A) The vegetation inspection shall be a visual assessment from a specified perspective, such as foot, vehicle, or aerial patrol, of an individual tree or a population of trees near specified targets to identify specified conditions or obvious defects. The visual assessment shall be performed to identify obvious defects or conditions that are likely to result in a tree or tree part failure within a defined period of time.
(B) The visual assessment described in subparagraph (A) shall consider all of the following factors:
(i) The likelihood that a tree or tree part will fail.
(ii) The likelihood that an impact will result from the failure of the tree or tree part.
(iii) The consequences of the failure and impact.
(2) An additional inspection shall be performed when the visual assessment described in paragraph (1) results in identification of a hazard tree, or an additional inspection is otherwise specified by the electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or electrical cooperative. An additional inspection may include either or both of the following activities:
(A) A 360-degree ground-based visual inspection of the tree crown, trunk, trunk flare, aboveground roots, tree-related site conditions, and significant targets. The inspection may include the use of common hand tools.
(B) An inspection and assessment performed to provide detailed information about specific tree parts, defects, site conditions, targets, consequences, or other relevant factors.
(c) An electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, or electrical cooperative, or a person engaging in vegetation management practice on behalf of those entities, meeting the requirements of subdivision (b) establishes a rebuttable presumption that the relevant standard of care is met.

SEC. 2.

 No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code.
SECTION 1.Section 739.11 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
739.11.

(a)For bills issued to customers of gas corporations and electrical corporations in which usage is estimated, it is the intent of the Legislature that, to the extent practicable, the methodology for estimation be simple, transparent, and cost effective to the customer, and produce reasonably accurate results.

(b)For each gas corporation and electrical corporation that, for some portion of residential customers, employs every-other-month meter reading and estimates bills for months when the customer’s meter is not read, the commission shall direct the gas corporation or electrical corporation to include in its tariffs the methodology it employs to estimate bills for those months when the meter is not read.