BILL NUMBER: AB 1214INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Skinner FEBRUARY 18, 2011 An act relating to electricity. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 1214, as introduced, Skinner. Electrical transmission. Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, as defined. The Public Utilities Act prohibits any electrical corporation from beginning the construction of, among other things, a line, plant, or system, or of any extension thereof, without having first obtained from the CPUC a certificate that the present or future public convenience and necessity require or will require that construction (certificate of public convenience and necessity). This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would eliminate redundant needs determinations for electrical transmission investments and that would enable a single certificate of public convenience and necessity proceeding to address federally approved electrical transmission plans. Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to do both of the following: (a) Eliminate redundant needs determinations for electrical transmission investments. It is the intent of the Legislature that when the Independent Systems Operator (ISO) has determined that the building or upgrading of electrical transmission is necessary, and that determination has been approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), that absent a showing of good cause based upon newly developed information that was not available at the time of the determination by the ISO, the Public Utilities Commission shall find that the construction or extension is necessary for the present or future public convenience and necessity pursuant to Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 1001) of Part 1 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code. It is the further intent of the Legislature that the Public Utilities Commission shall find that the construction or extension is necessary for purposes of Section 399.2.5 of the Public Utilities Code if the commission finds that the construction or extension is for the purpose of achieving the renewables portfolio standard established pursuant to Article 16 (commencing with Section 399.11) of Chapter 2.3 of Part 1 of Division 1 of, or adopted by a local publicly owned electric utility pursuant to Section 387 of, the Public Utilities Code. (b) To enable a single certificate of public convenience and necessity proceeding to address federally approved electrical transmission plans. It is the intent of the Legislature that with respect to a transmission plan or generator interconnection agreement that is for the purpose of achieving the renewables portfolio standard, that has multiple stages, and that been approved by the FERC, a project sponsor shall have the option of filing a single application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity.