Amended IN Senate March 26, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20252026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 256Introduced by Senator PrezFebruary 03, 2025 An act to amend Sections 8386, 8387, and 8388.5 of, to add Section 776.6 to, and to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) to Division 4.1 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTSB 256, as amended, Prez. Electricity: electrical infrastructure. infrastructure: wildfire mitigation: undergrounding: emergency operations.Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission to implement and enforce standards for the maintenance and operation of facilities for the generation and storage of electricity owned by an electrical corporation or located in the state to ensure their reliable operation. corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to construct, maintain, and operate their 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 electrical corporations to annually prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval. Existing law also requires a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board, as specified. Existing law requires that a wildfire mitigation plan include, among other things, a description of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires. This bill would, for the description in the wildfire mitigation plan of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to include consideration of low-risk areas. The bill would require a wildfire mitigation plan to include an identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments, as specified, and a description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses, as provided. The bill would require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to conduct annual wildfire preparedness workshops in collaboration with and open to any local fire departments in their service areas to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plans, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses, and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of their wildfire mitigation plans, as provided.Existing law requires the commission to establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program that large electrical corporations, as defined, may participate in by submitting to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that includes specified things, including, among others, a 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure. Existing law requires the office to publish the plan for public comment, and, within 9 months, review and approve or deny the plan. Existing law requires, upon the office approving a plan, the large electrical corporation to submit to the commission a copy and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs, as provided. Existing law requires the office to issue a safety certification to an electrical corporation that provides documentation of specified things, including that the electrical corporation has an approved wildfire mitigation plan.This bill would require the commission to require all electrical corporations to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would require the commission to coordinate with the office to make participation in the program a requirement for obtaining the above-described safety certification. The bill would require the commission to adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either securitization for specific projects, as specified, or public-private partnerships or public ownership models. The bill would require the commission to ensure that this decision leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law makes OES responsible for addressing natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, including activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law requires OES to establish a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan to include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires that the procedures direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure, as provided. The commission has adopted specified guidelines that orders specified utilities to, among other things, ensure the public is able to access precise locality information of potential and active de-energization events, and that utility emergency operations center staff must receive annual emergency management training, as specified.This bill would require all electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have service areas that overlap with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with OES, and other emergency service agencies, to establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies. The bill would require these electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The bill would require the representative to complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training. The bill would require the commission to update the guidelines adopted in the above-described decision to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff that is accomplished in partnership with OES through the use of the Emergency Alert System and update to the alert and warning guidelines, as specified. The bill would require the means of notification to do specified things, including be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts and include specified things including a procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, as specified.Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.Because a violation of a commission action implementing certain of this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.Additionally, by imposing new 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 specified reasons.This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NOYES Bill TextThe people of the State of California do enact as follows:SECTION 1. Section 776.6 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.SEC. 2. Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(2) The objectives of the plan.(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:(A) Critical first responders.(B) Health and communication infrastructure.(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.(9) Plans for vegetation management.(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.SEC. 3. Section 8387 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.(H) Plans for vegetation management.(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).SEC. 4. Section 8388.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:(1) Publish the plan for public comment.(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.SEC. 5. Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) is added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read: CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 or because 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.SECTION 1.It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the Public Utilities Commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.
Amended IN Senate March 26, 2025 CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20252026 REGULAR SESSION Senate Bill No. 256Introduced by Senator PrezFebruary 03, 2025 An act to amend Sections 8386, 8387, and 8388.5 of, to add Section 776.6 to, and to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) to Division 4.1 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGESTSB 256, as amended, Prez. Electricity: electrical infrastructure. infrastructure: wildfire mitigation: undergrounding: emergency operations.Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission to implement and enforce standards for the maintenance and operation of facilities for the generation and storage of electricity owned by an electrical corporation or located in the state to ensure their reliable operation. corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to construct, maintain, and operate their 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 electrical corporations to annually prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval. Existing law also requires a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board, as specified. Existing law requires that a wildfire mitigation plan include, among other things, a description of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires. This bill would, for the description in the wildfire mitigation plan of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to include consideration of low-risk areas. The bill would require a wildfire mitigation plan to include an identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments, as specified, and a description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses, as provided. The bill would require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to conduct annual wildfire preparedness workshops in collaboration with and open to any local fire departments in their service areas to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plans, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses, and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of their wildfire mitigation plans, as provided.Existing law requires the commission to establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program that large electrical corporations, as defined, may participate in by submitting to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that includes specified things, including, among others, a 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure. Existing law requires the office to publish the plan for public comment, and, within 9 months, review and approve or deny the plan. Existing law requires, upon the office approving a plan, the large electrical corporation to submit to the commission a copy and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs, as provided. Existing law requires the office to issue a safety certification to an electrical corporation that provides documentation of specified things, including that the electrical corporation has an approved wildfire mitigation plan.This bill would require the commission to require all electrical corporations to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would require the commission to coordinate with the office to make participation in the program a requirement for obtaining the above-described safety certification. The bill would require the commission to adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either securitization for specific projects, as specified, or public-private partnerships or public ownership models. The bill would require the commission to ensure that this decision leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law makes OES responsible for addressing natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, including activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law requires OES to establish a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan to include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires that the procedures direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure, as provided. The commission has adopted specified guidelines that orders specified utilities to, among other things, ensure the public is able to access precise locality information of potential and active de-energization events, and that utility emergency operations center staff must receive annual emergency management training, as specified.This bill would require all electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have service areas that overlap with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with OES, and other emergency service agencies, to establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies. The bill would require these electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The bill would require the representative to complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training. The bill would require the commission to update the guidelines adopted in the above-described decision to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff that is accomplished in partnership with OES through the use of the Emergency Alert System and update to the alert and warning guidelines, as specified. The bill would require the means of notification to do specified things, including be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts and include specified things including a procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, as specified.Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.Because a violation of a commission action implementing certain of this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.Additionally, by imposing new 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 specified reasons.This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.Digest Key Vote: MAJORITY Appropriation: NO Fiscal Committee: NOYES Local Program: NOYES
Amended IN Senate March 26, 2025
Amended IN Senate March 26, 2025
CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE 20252026 REGULAR SESSION
Senate Bill
No. 256
Introduced by Senator PrezFebruary 03, 2025
Introduced by Senator Prez
February 03, 2025
An act to amend Sections 8386, 8387, and 8388.5 of, to add Section 776.6 to, and to add Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) to Division 4.1 of, the Public Utilities Code, relating to electricity.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
## LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 256, as amended, Prez. Electricity: electrical infrastructure. infrastructure: wildfire mitigation: undergrounding: emergency operations.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission to implement and enforce standards for the maintenance and operation of facilities for the generation and storage of electricity owned by an electrical corporation or located in the state to ensure their reliable operation. corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to construct, maintain, and operate their 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 electrical corporations to annually prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval. Existing law also requires a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board, as specified. Existing law requires that a wildfire mitigation plan include, among other things, a description of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires. This bill would, for the description in the wildfire mitigation plan of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to include consideration of low-risk areas. The bill would require a wildfire mitigation plan to include an identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments, as specified, and a description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses, as provided. The bill would require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to conduct annual wildfire preparedness workshops in collaboration with and open to any local fire departments in their service areas to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plans, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses, and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of their wildfire mitigation plans, as provided.Existing law requires the commission to establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program that large electrical corporations, as defined, may participate in by submitting to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that includes specified things, including, among others, a 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure. Existing law requires the office to publish the plan for public comment, and, within 9 months, review and approve or deny the plan. Existing law requires, upon the office approving a plan, the large electrical corporation to submit to the commission a copy and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs, as provided. Existing law requires the office to issue a safety certification to an electrical corporation that provides documentation of specified things, including that the electrical corporation has an approved wildfire mitigation plan.This bill would require the commission to require all electrical corporations to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would require the commission to coordinate with the office to make participation in the program a requirement for obtaining the above-described safety certification. The bill would require the commission to adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either securitization for specific projects, as specified, or public-private partnerships or public ownership models. The bill would require the commission to ensure that this decision leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law makes OES responsible for addressing natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, including activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law requires OES to establish a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan to include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires that the procedures direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure, as provided. The commission has adopted specified guidelines that orders specified utilities to, among other things, ensure the public is able to access precise locality information of potential and active de-energization events, and that utility emergency operations center staff must receive annual emergency management training, as specified.This bill would require all electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have service areas that overlap with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with OES, and other emergency service agencies, to establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies. The bill would require these electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The bill would require the representative to complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training. The bill would require the commission to update the guidelines adopted in the above-described decision to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff that is accomplished in partnership with OES through the use of the Emergency Alert System and update to the alert and warning guidelines, as specified. The bill would require the means of notification to do specified things, including be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts and include specified things including a procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, as specified.Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.Because a violation of a commission action implementing certain of this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.Additionally, by imposing new 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 specified reasons.This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.
Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires the commission to implement and enforce standards for the maintenance and operation of facilities for the generation and storage of electricity owned by an electrical corporation or located in the state to ensure their reliable operation. corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. Existing law requires electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to construct, maintain, and operate their 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 electrical corporations to annually prepare and submit wildfire mitigation plans to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval. Existing law also requires a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to annually prepare a wildfire mitigation plan and submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board, as specified. Existing law requires that a wildfire mitigation plan include, among other things, a description of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires.
This bill would, for the description in the wildfire mitigation plan of the preventive strategies and programs to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to include consideration of low-risk areas. The bill would require a wildfire mitigation plan to include an identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments, as specified, and a description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses, as provided. The bill would require electrical corporations, electrical cooperatives, and local publicly owned electric utilities to conduct annual wildfire preparedness workshops in collaboration with and open to any local fire departments in their service areas to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plans, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses, and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of their wildfire mitigation plans, as provided.
Existing law requires the commission to establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program that large electrical corporations, as defined, may participate in by submitting to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that includes specified things, including, among others, a 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure. Existing law requires the office to publish the plan for public comment, and, within 9 months, review and approve or deny the plan. Existing law requires, upon the office approving a plan, the large electrical corporation to submit to the commission a copy and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs, as provided. Existing law requires the office to issue a safety certification to an electrical corporation that provides documentation of specified things, including that the electrical corporation has an approved wildfire mitigation plan.
This bill would require the commission to require all electrical corporations to participate in the program, as specified. The bill would require the commission to coordinate with the office to make participation in the program a requirement for obtaining the above-described safety certification. The bill would require the commission to adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either securitization for specific projects, as specified, or public-private partnerships or public ownership models. The bill would require the commission to ensure that this decision leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.
Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, establishes, within the office of the Governor, the Office of Emergency Services (OES) under the supervision of the Director of Emergency Services. Existing law makes OES responsible for addressing natural, technological, or man-made disasters and emergencies, including activities necessary to prevent, respond to, recover from, and mitigate the effects of emergencies and disasters to people and property. Existing law requires OES to establish a standardized emergency management system for use by all emergency response agencies. Existing law requires a wildfire mitigation plan to include appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines and requires that the procedures direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure, as provided. The commission has adopted specified guidelines that orders specified utilities to, among other things, ensure the public is able to access precise locality information of potential and active de-energization events, and that utility emergency operations center staff must receive annual emergency management training, as specified.
This bill would require all electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have service areas that overlap with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with OES, and other emergency service agencies, to establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies. The bill would require these electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities to assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The bill would require the representative to complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training. The bill would require the commission to update the guidelines adopted in the above-described decision to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff that is accomplished in partnership with OES through the use of the Emergency Alert System and update to the alert and warning guidelines, as specified. The bill would require the means of notification to do specified things, including be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts and include specified things including a procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, as specified.
Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.
Because a violation of a commission action implementing certain of this bills requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
Additionally, by imposing new 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 specified reasons.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.
## Digest Key
## Bill Text
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:SECTION 1. Section 776.6 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.SEC. 2. Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(2) The objectives of the plan.(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:(A) Critical first responders.(B) Health and communication infrastructure.(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.(9) Plans for vegetation management.(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.SEC. 3. Section 8387 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.(H) Plans for vegetation management.(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).SEC. 4. Section 8388.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:(1) Publish the plan for public comment.(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.SEC. 5. Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) is added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read: CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 or because 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.SECTION 1.It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the Public Utilities Commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
## The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
SECTION 1. Section 776.6 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.
SECTION 1. Section 776.6 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to read:
### SECTION 1.
776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.
776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.
776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.
776.6. (a) The commission shall update the guidelines adopted in Decision 21-06-034 (June 24, 2021), Decision Adopting Phase 3 Revised and Additional Guidelines and Rules for Public Safety Power Shutoffs (Proactive De-Energizations) of Electric Facilities to Mitigate Wildfire Risk Caused by Utility Infrastructure, or as subsequently adopted, to require each electrical corporation and local publicly owned electric utility to establish a means for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff.
(b) The means established for notifying customers and noncustomers located in an area subject to a public safety power shutoff pursuant to subdivision (a) shall do both of the following:
(1) Be designed to be an alert that allows customers or noncustomers to opt out of receiving future alerts.
(2) Be accomplished in partnership with the Office of Emergency Services through the use of the Emergency Alert System and through an update to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines that includes, but is not limited to, all of the following:
(A) A procedure that notifies customers and noncustomers of the expected or estimated time of service restoration, or, if there is no estimated time of service restoration, that there is no current estimate of time of service restoration.
(B) A procedure for providing a daily update of the information contained in subparagraph (A) to customers and noncustomers during the duration of a public safety power shutoff.
(C) A description in the notification of the geographic areas affected by the public safety power shutoff.
(c) The commission shall incorporate the updates that the Office of Emergency Services makes to the State of California Alert and Warning Guidelines pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) into the update to the guidelines required pursuant to subdivision (a) as necessary to align the guidelines for the operation of the notification required by this section.
SEC. 2. Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(2) The objectives of the plan.(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:(A) Critical first responders.(B) Health and communication infrastructure.(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.(9) Plans for vegetation management.(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.
SEC. 2. Section 8386 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
### SEC. 2.
8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(2) The objectives of the plan.(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:(A) Critical first responders.(B) Health and communication infrastructure.(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.(9) Plans for vegetation management.(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.
8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(2) The objectives of the plan.(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:(A) Critical first responders.(B) Health and communication infrastructure.(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.(9) Plans for vegetation management.(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.
8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(2) The objectives of the plan.(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:(A) Critical first responders.(B) Health and communication infrastructure.(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.(9) Plans for vegetation management.(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.
8386. (a) Each electrical corporation shall 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.
(b) Each electrical corporation shall annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Wildfire Safety Division for review and approval. In calendar year 2020, and thereafter, the plan shall cover at least a three-year period. The division shall establish a schedule for the submission of subsequent comprehensive wildfire mitigation plans, which may allow for the staggering of compliance periods for each electrical corporation. In its discretion, the division may allow the annual submissions to be updates to the last approved comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan; provided, that each electrical corporation shall submit a comprehensive wildfire mitigation plan at least once every three years.
(c) The wildfire mitigation plan shall include all of the following:
(1) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.
(2) The objectives of the plan.
(3) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the electrical corporation to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.
(4) A description of the metrics the electrical corporation plans to use to evaluate the plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.
(5) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous plan performances has informed the plan.
(6) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety. As part of these protocols, each electrical corporation shall include protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the impacts on all of the following:
(A) Critical first responders.
(B) Health and communication infrastructure.
(C) Customers who receive medical baseline allowances pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 739. The electrical corporation may deploy backup electrical resources or provide financial assistance for backup electrical resources to a customer receiving a medical baseline allowance for a customer who meets all of the following requirements:
(i) The customer relies on life-support equipment that operates on electricity to sustain life.
(ii) The customer demonstrates financial need, including through enrollment in the California Alternate Rates for Energy program continued pursuant to Section 739.1.
(iii) The customer is not eligible for backup electrical resources provided through medical services, medical insurance, or community resources.
(D) Subparagraph (C) shall not be construed as preventing an electrical corporation from deploying backup electrical resources or providing financial assistance for backup electrical resources under any other authority.
(7) A description of the electrical corporations appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines, including procedures for those customers receiving medical baseline allowances as described in paragraph (6). The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event. The procedures shall comply with any orders of the commission regarding notifications of deenergization events.
(8) Identification of circuits that have frequently been deenergized pursuant to a deenergization event to mitigate the risk of wildfire and the measures taken, or planned to be taken, by the electrical corporation to reduce the need for, and impact of, future deenergization of those circuits, including, but not limited to, the estimated annual decline in circuit deenergization and deenergization impact on customers, and replacing, hardening, or undergrounding any portion of the circuit or of upstream transmission or distribution lines.
(9) Plans for vegetation management.
(10) Plans for inspections of the electrical corporations electrical infrastructure.
(11) A description of the electrical corporations protocols for the deenergization of the electrical corporations transmission infrastructure, for instances when the deenergization may impact customers who, or entities that, are dependent upon the infrastructure. The protocols shall comply with any order of the commission regarding deenergization events.
(12) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the electrical corporations service territory, including all relevant wildfire risk and risk mitigation information that is part of the commissions Safety Model Assessment Proceeding (A.15-05-002, et al.) and the Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filings. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:
(A) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operations, and maintenance of the electrical corporations equipment and facilities.
(B) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the electrical corporations service territory.
(13) A description of how the plan accounts for the wildfire risk identified in the electrical corporations Risk Assessment Mitigation Phase filing.
(14) A description of the actions the electrical corporation will take to ensure its system will achieve the highest level of safety, reliability, and resiliency, and to ensure that its system is prepared for a major event, including hardening and modernizing its infrastructure with improved engineering, system design, standards, equipment, and facilities, such as undergrounding, insulating of distribution wires, and replacing poles.
(15) A description of where and how the electrical corporation considered undergrounding electrical distribution lines within those areas of its service territory identified to have the highest wildfire risk in a commission fire threat map.
(16) A showing that the electrical corporation has an adequately sized and trained workforce to promptly restore service after a major event, taking into account employees of other utilities pursuant to mutual aid agreements and employees of entities that have entered into contracts with the electrical corporation.
(17) Identification of any geographic area in the electrical corporations service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is currently identified in a commission fire threat map, and where the commission should consider expanding the high fire threat district based on new information or changes in the environment.
(18) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk that is consistent with the methodology used by other electrical corporations unless the commission determines otherwise.
(19) A description of how the plan is consistent with the electrical corporations disaster and emergency preparedness plan prepared pursuant to Section 768.6, including both of the following:
(A) Plans to prepare for, and to restore service after, a wildfire, including workforce mobilization and prepositioning equipment and employees.
(B) Plans for community outreach and public awareness before, during, and after a wildfire, including language notification in English, Spanish, and the top three primary languages used in the state other than English or Spanish, as determined by the commission based on the United States Census data.
(20) A statement of how the electrical corporation will restore service after a wildfire.
(21) Protocols for compliance with requirements adopted by the commission regarding activities to support customers during and after a wildfire, outage reporting, support for low-income customers, billing adjustments, deposit waivers, extended payment plans, suspension of disconnection and nonpayment fees, repair processing and timing, access to electrical corporation representatives, and emergency communications.
(22) A description of the processes and procedures the electrical corporation will use to do all of the following:
(A) Monitor and audit the implementation of the plan.
(B) Identify any deficiencies in the plan or the plans implementation and correct those deficiencies.
(C) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, carried out under the plan and other applicable statutes and commission rules.
(23) Any other information that the Wildfire Safety Division may require.
(24) (A) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the electrical corporation.
(B) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.
(d) The Wildfire Safety Division shall post all wildfire mitigation plans and annual updates on the commissions internet website before July 1, 2021, and on the offices internet website beginning July 1, 2021, for no less than two months before the divisions or offices decision regarding approval of the plan. The division or office shall accept comments on each plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and verify that the plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.
(e) (1) The electrical corporation shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant paragraph (24) of subdivision (c), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to subdivision (b).
(2) The electrical corporation shall incorporate relevant information obtained from the workshop required pursuant to paragraph (1) into the emergency and disaster preparedness plan required pursuant to Section 768.6.
SEC. 3. Section 8387 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.(H) Plans for vegetation management.(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
SEC. 3. Section 8387 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
### SEC. 3.
8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.(H) Plans for vegetation management.(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.(H) Plans for vegetation management.(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.(H) Plans for vegetation management.(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
8387. (a) Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall construct, maintain, and operate its electrical lines and equipment in a manner that will minimize the risk of wildfire posed by those electrical lines and equipment.
(b) (1) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, before January 1, 2020, prepare a wildfire mitigation plan. After January 1, 2020, a local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall prepare a wildfire mitigation plan annually and shall submit the plan to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board on or before July 1 of that calendar year. Each local publicly owned electric utility and electrical cooperative shall update its plan annually and submit the update to the California Wildfire Safety Advisory Board by July 1 of each year. At least once every three years, the submission shall be a comprehensive revision of the plan.
(2) The wildfire mitigation plan shall consider as necessary, at minimum, all of the following:
(A) An accounting of the responsibilities of persons responsible for executing the plan.
(B) The objectives of the wildfire mitigation plan.
(C) A description of the preventive strategies and programs to be adopted by the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative to minimize the risk of its electrical lines and equipment causing catastrophic wildfires, including consideration of low-risk areas and dynamic climate change risks.
(D) A description of the metrics the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative plans to use to evaluate the wildfire mitigation plans performance and the assumptions that underlie the use of those metrics.
(E) A discussion of how the application of previously identified metrics to previous wildfire mitigation plan performances has informed the wildfire mitigation plan.
(F) Protocols for disabling reclosers and deenergizing portions of the electrical distribution system that consider the associated impacts on public safety, as well as protocols related to mitigating the public safety impacts of those protocols, including impacts on critical first responders and on health and communication infrastructure.
(G) Appropriate and feasible procedures for notifying a customer who may be impacted by the deenergizing of electrical lines. The procedures shall direct notification to all public safety offices, critical first responders, health care facilities, and operators of telecommunications infrastructure with premises within the footprint of potential deenergization for a given event.
(H) Plans for vegetation management.
(I) Plans for inspections of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives electrical infrastructure.
(J) A list that identifies, describes, and prioritizes all wildfire risks, and drivers for those risks, throughout the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory. The list shall include, but not be limited to, both of the following:
(i) Risks and risk drivers associated with design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives equipment and facilities.
(ii) Particular risks and risk drivers associated with topographic and climatological risk factors throughout the different parts of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory.
(K) Identification of any geographic area in the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives service territory that is a higher wildfire threat than is identified in a commission fire threat map, and identification of where the commission should expand a high fire-threat district based on new information or changes to the environment.
(L) A methodology for identifying and presenting enterprisewide safety risk and wildfire-related risk.
(M) A statement of how the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative will restore service after a wildfire.
(N) A description of the processes and procedures the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall use to do all of the following:
(i) Monitor and audit the implementation of the wildfire mitigation plan.
(ii) Identify any deficiencies in the wildfire mitigation plan or its implementation, and correct those deficiencies.
(iii) Monitor and audit the effectiveness of electrical line and equipment inspections, including inspections performed by contractors, that are carried out under the plan, other applicable statutes, or commission rules.
(O) (i) Identification of any lapses in communication coordination during recent past emergency response events with local governments within the service area of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative.
(ii) A description of any opportunities to collaborate with local governments, including county fire officials, and other steps that can be taken to establish more efficient communication coordination during future emergency responses.
(3) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall, on or before January 1, 2020, and not less than annually thereafter, present its wildfire mitigation plan in an appropriately noticed public meeting. The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall accept comments on its wildfire mitigation plan from the public, other local and state agencies, and interested parties, and shall verify that the wildfire mitigation plan complies with all applicable rules, regulations, and standards, as appropriate.
(c) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall contract with a qualified independent evaluator with experience in assessing the safe operation of electrical infrastructure to review and assess the comprehensiveness of its wildfire mitigation plan. The independent evaluator shall issue a report that shall be made available on the internet website of the local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative, and shall present the report at a public meeting of the local publicly owned electric utilitys or electrical cooperatives governing board.
(d) The local publicly owned electric utility or electrical cooperative shall conduct an annual wildfire preparedness workshop in collaboration with and open to any local fire department in its service area to provide updates on the latest adopted wildfire mitigation plan required by this section, discuss any lapses in, and opportunities to increase efficiency of, communication coordination during emergency responses pursuant to subparagraph (O) of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b), and gather input for inclusion in the development of the next annual submission of the wildfire mitigation plan required pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (b).
SEC. 4. Section 8388.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:(1) Publish the plan for public comment.(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.
SEC. 4. Section 8388.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to read:
### SEC. 4.
8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:(1) Publish the plan for public comment.(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.
8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:(1) Publish the plan for public comment.(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.
8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:(1) Publish the plan for public comment.(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.
8388.5. (a) The commission shall establish an expedited utility distribution infrastructure undergrounding program consistent with this section.
(b) Only a large electrical corporation may participate in the program.
(c) In order to participate in the program, a large electrical corporation shall submit to the office a distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan that shall address or include, at minimum, all of the following components:
(1) A 10-year plan for undergrounding distribution infrastructure.
(2) Identification of the undergrounding projects that will be constructed as part of the program, including a means of prioritizing undergrounding projects based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, cost efficiency, and reliability benefits. Only undergrounding projects located in tier 2 or 3 high fire-threat districts or rebuild areas may be considered and constructed as part of the program.
(3) Timelines for the completion of identified and prioritized undergrounding projects, and unit cost targets and mileage completion targets for each year covered by the plan.
(4) A comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical infrastructure and wildfire mitigation for achieving comparable risk reduction, or any other alternative mitigation strategy, such as covered conductor and rapid earth fault current limiter devices, for those prioritized undergrounding projects, evaluating the scope, cost, extent, and risk reduction of each activity, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan. The comparison shall emphasize risk reduction and include an analysis of the cost of each activity for reducing wildfire risk, separately and collectively, over the duration of the plan.
(5) A plan for utility and contractor workforce development.
(6) An evaluation of project costs, projected economic benefits over the life of the assets, and any cost containment assumptions, including the economies of scale necessary to reduce wildfire risk and mitigation costs and establish a sustainable supply chain.
(d) Upon a large electrical corporation submitting a plan to the office, the office shall do both of the following:
(1) Publish the plan for public comment.
(2) Within nine months, review and approve or deny the plan. The office may only approve the plan if the large electrical corporation has shown that the plan will substantially increase electrical reliability by reducing the use of public safety power shutoffs, enhanced powerline safety settings, deenergization events, and any other outage programs, and substantially reduce the risk of wildfire. Before approving the plan, the office may require the large electrical corporation to modify the plan.
(e) (1) Upon the office approving a plan pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (d), the large electrical corporation shall, within 60 days, submit to the commission a copy of the plan and an application requesting review and conditional approval of the plans costs and including all of the following:
(A) Any substantial improvements in safety risk and reduction in costs compared to other hardening and risk mitigation measures over the duration of the plan.
(B) The cost targets, at a minimum, that result in feasible and attainable cost reductions as compared to the large electrical corporations historical undergrounding costs.
(C) How the cost targets are expected to decline over time due to cost efficiencies and economies of scale.
(D) A strategy for achieving cost reductions over time.
(2) The assigned commissioner may waive the requirements of subdivisions (b), (d), (f), and (i) of Section 1701.3 for an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1).
(3) In reviewing an application submitted to the commission pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall consider not revisiting cost or mileage completion targets approved, or pending approval, in the electrical corporations general rate case or a commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening.
(4) Upon the commission receiving an application pursuant to paragraph (1), the commission shall facilitate a public workshop for presentation of the plan and take public comment for at least 30 days.
(5) On or before nine months, the commission shall review and approve or deny the application. Before approving the application, the commission may require the large electrical corporation to modify or modify and resubmit the application.
(6) The commission shall consider continuing an existing commission-approved balancing account ratemaking mechanism for system hardening for the duration of a plan, as determined by the commission, and shall authorize recovery of recorded costs that are determined to be just and reasonable.
(f) If the plan is approved by the office and commission, the large electrical corporation shall do all of the following:
(1) Every six months, file a progress report with the office and the commission. The large electrical corporation and the office shall publish these progress reports on their internet websites.
(2) Include ongoing work plans and progress in annual wildfire mitigation plan filings.
(3) Hire an independent monitor, selected by the office, to review and assess the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan and submit a report with the office each December 1 over the course of the plan.
(g) (1) In reviewing and assessing the large electrical corporations compliance with its plan pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (f), the independent monitor shall assess whether the large electrical corporations progress on undergrounding work has been consistent with the objectives identified in its plan. The independent monitors report shall specify any failure, delays, or shortcomings of the large electrical corporation and provide recommendations for improvements to accomplish the objectives set forth in the plan.
(2) The large electrical corporation shall have 180 days to correct and eliminate any deficiency specified in the independent monitors report.
(3) On or before December 1 of each year the plan is in effect, the independent monitor shall submit the report to the office.
(h) The office shall publish reports received pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g) on its internet website.
(i) (1) The office shall consider the independent monitors report and whether the large electrical corporation has cured any deficiencies, and may recommend penalties to the commission.
(2) The commission may assess penalties on a large electrical corporation that fails to substantially comply with a commission decision approving its plan.
(j) Each large electrical corporation participating in the program shall apply for available federal, state, and other nonratepayer moneys throughout the duration of its approved undergrounding plan, and any moneys received as a result of those applications shall be used to reduce the programs costs on the large electrical corporations ratepayers.
(k) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (b), the commission shall require all electrical corporations to participate in the program created by this section and consistent with both of the following:
(A) The commission shall require that the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan do both of the following:
(i) Include a thorough risk assessment, prioritize high fire risk areas, and provide detailed project timelines.
(ii) Include cost estimates, funding strategies, and establish a framework for community engagement and transparency throughout the process.
(B) For areas where undergrounding is not feasible, the commission shall require the distribution infrastructure undergrounding plan to include a detailed explanation of why undergrounding is not feasible and propose alternative solutions to mitigate risks associated with utility equipment, including, but not limited to, replacing overhead infrastructure with covered conductors or other equipment modernization actions that reduce the potential for fire hazards.
(2) The commission shall coordinate with the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety to make participation in the program created by this section a requirement for obtaining the safety certificate issued pursuant to subdivision (e) of Section 8389.
(3) The commission shall adopt a decision on the financing of infrastructure projects conducted pursuant to the program created by this section that implements a revised return on equity structure for electrical corporations that caps the maximum allowable return on capital investment at a set percentage for undergrounding and that may include either of the following:
(A) Securitization for specific projects that replaces high-return on equity financing with a lower cost option.
(B) Public-private partnerships or public ownership models.
(4) The commission shall ensure that the decision adopted pursuant to paragraph (3) leads to reduced long-term expenses for customers.
SEC. 5. Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) is added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read: CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.
SEC. 5. Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 8395) is added to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, to read:
### SEC. 5.
CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.
CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.
CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations
CHAPTER 8. Regional Emergency Operations
8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.
8395. (a) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities that have a service area that overlaps with the boundaries of a state regional emergency operations center, in cooperation with the Office of Emergency Services, and other emergency service agencies, shall establish procedures for the coordination of efforts between electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities and their representatives and those of emergency response agencies.
(b) All electrical corporations and local publicly owned electric utilities subject to subdivision (a) shall assign a representative to work within each state regional operations center that has boundaries that overlap with the electrical corporations or local publicly owned electric utilitys service area. The representative shall complete the appropriate Standardized Emergency Management System training.
SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 or because 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 or because 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.
SEC. 6. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIIIB 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 or because 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 XIIIB of the California Constitution.
### SEC. 6.
It is the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation to enhance the resiliency and reliability of Californias electrical infrastructure in areas prone to wildfires, earthquakes, and other natural disasters by requiring electrical utilities to prioritize the undergrounding of power lines, the implementation of microgrid technologies, and the strengthening of public safety power shutoff standards and accountability, while ensuring the utilization of labor standards that promote a skilled workforce, and providing the Public Utilities Commission with the ability to immediately access all relevant electrical fault data related to natural disasters.