Bill Text: CA SB247 | 2019-2020 | Regular Session | Amended

California Senate Bill 247 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

Bill Title: Wildland fire prevention: vegetation management.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2019-10-02 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 406, Statutes of 2019. [SB247 Detail]

Download: California-2019-SB247-Amended.html

Amended IN Assembly June 12, 2019

Amended IN Senate April 29, 2019

Amended IN Senate March 14, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill

No. 247

Introduced by Senator Dodd

February 11, 2019

An act to add Section 4742 to the Public Resources Code, and to add Section 8386.7 to the Public Utilities Code, relating to wildland fire prevention.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST

SB 247, as amended, Dodd. Wildland fire prevention: vegetation management.

Pursuant to existing law, the Department of Forestry and Fire Protection is responsible for fire protection in state responsibility areas, as well as the administration of the state's private and public forests, and 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 each electrical corporation, local publicly owned electric utility, and electrical cooperative to construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of catastrophic wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and to submit its plan to the commission for review and approval, as specified. Existing law requires that an electrical corporation’s wildfire mitigation plan include plans for vegetation management. Existing law requires the commission, at the time it approves each plan, to authorize the utility to establish a memorandum account to track costs incurred to implement the plan. Following approval, the commission is required to oversee compliance with the plans.

Existing law requires the commission and the department to enter into a memorandum of understanding to cooperatively develop consistent approaches and share data related to fire prevention, safety, vegetation management, and energy distribution systems and to share results from various fire prevention activities, including relevant inspections and fire ignition data.

Beginning January 1, 2021, this bill would require an electrical corporation to notify the department after it has completed all or a substantial portion of the vegetation management requirements in its wildfire mitigation plan. Upon receiving notice from the electrical corporation, the bill would require the department to promptly audit the work performed by, or on behalf of, the electrical corporation and to specify any failure of the electrical corporation to fully comply with the vegetation management requirements in its wildfire mitigation plan. The bill would provide that an electrical corporation would have a reasonable time to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the audit. The bill would require the department, after the time to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the audit expires, and no less than annually, to report to the electrical corporation and the commission specifically describing any failure of the electrical corporation to substantially comply with the vegetation management requirements in its wildfire mitigation plan and to make the report publicly available. The bill would require each electrical corporation to reimburse the department for its cost to carry out these functions with respect to that electrical corporation’s electrical lines and other exposed energized overhead conductors and equipment.

~~The willful or negligent failure to perform any of these electrical corporation obligations would be a misdemeanor.~~

This bill would require the commission to establish a two-way balancing account for each electrical corporation for all costs incurred by the electrical corporation for vegetation management, prohibit the electrical corporation from diverting any revenue from the account to any activity other than vegetation management, and prohibit the electrical corporation from earning any profit on any revenue from the account. The bill would require the commission to ensure that an electrical corporation fully recovers all costs incurred to comply with the requirements that would be adopted pursuant to the bill and all other reasonable vegetation management activity.

Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.

Because a violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing its requirements would be a crime, ~~and because a willful or negligent failure to comply with the trim list requirements described above would be a crime, the~~ this bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating new crimes.

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.

This act shall be known, and may be cited, as the Wildfire Vegetation Safety and Accountability Act.

SEC. 2.

Section 4742 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read:

4742.

(a) (1) An electrical corporation shall notify the department after it has completed all or a substantial portion of the vegetation management requirements in its wildfire mitigation plan approved by the Public Utilities Commission pursuant to Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code. Upon receiving notice from the electrical corporation, the department shall promptly audit the work performed by, or on behalf of, the electrical corporation. The audit shall specify any failure of the electrical corporation to fully comply with the vegetation management requirements in the wildfire mitigation plan and the department shall provide that specification to the electrical corporation. The electrical corporation shall have a reasonable time to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the audit.

(2) After the time to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the audit expires, and no less than annually, the department shall issue a report to the electrical corporation and Public Utilities Commission specifically describing any failure of the electrical corporation to substantially comply with the vegetation management requirements in its wildfire mitigation plan. The report shall be made publicly available.

(3) This subdivision does not impose any liability on the department regarding the performance of the audit.

(b) (1) All electrical line clearance tree trimmers performing work to comply with the vegetation management requirements in an electrical corporation’s wildfire mitigation plan shall be qualified line clearance tree trimmers or trainees under the direct supervision and instruction of qualified line clearance tree trimmers as provided in the Department of Industrial Relations’ High-Voltage Electrical Safety Orders (Group 2 (commencing with Section 2700) of Subchapter 5 of Chapter 4 of Division 1 of Title 8 of the California Code of Regulations).

(2) All qualified line clearance tree trimmers shall be paid no less than the prevailing wage rate for a first period apprentice electrical utility lineman as determined by the Director of Industrial Relations.

(c) An electrical corporation shall notify the Public Utilities Commission by advice letter not less than 30 days prior to the time when it projects that it will have spent, or incurred obligations to spend, its entire annual revenue requirement for vegetation management, as established by the commission.

(d) Each electrical corporation shall reimburse the department for its cost to carry out this section with respect to that electrical corporation’s electrical lines and other exposed energized overhead conductors and equipment.

(e) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2021.

SEC. 3.

Section 8386.7 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:

8386.7.

(a) The commission shall establish a two-way balancing account for each electrical corporation for all costs incurred by the electrical corporation for vegetation management.

(b) The commission shall prohibit the electrical corporation from diverting any revenue from the account to any activity other than vegetation management.

(d) The commission shall ensure that an electrical corporation fully recovers all costs incurred to comply with Section 4742 of the Public Resources Code and all other reasonable vegetation management activity.

SEC. 4.

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.