Existing law vests the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under existing law, it is the policy of the state that each electrical corporation operate its electric distribution grid in its service territory, including owning, controlling, operating, managing, maintaining, planning, engineering, designing, and constructing its own electrical distribution grid, and do so in a safe, reliable, efficient, and cost-effective manner. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to continue to make reasonable investments in its electric distribution grid, and requires that each electrical corporation continue to have a reasonable opportunity to fully recover those costs from its customers in a manner determined by the commission.
CEQA requires each state agency to establish, by resolution or order, time limits for completing the environmental review of a project where the state agency is the lead agency for the project, as specified.
This bill would require a state agency, acting as the lead agency, to complete its environmental review for an electrical infrastructure project and to approve or deny the project within 2 years of the submission and acceptance of a complete application for the issuance of a lease, permit, license, certificate, or other entitlement for use for electrical infrastructure to the state agency. If the state agency fails to meet this time period, the bill would require the state agency to submit to the Legislature a report setting forth the reasons for why the review could not be completed within the time period and identifying potential impacts to the electrical system that could result from the delay.
Committee Location: APPROVED in the Assembly; In the Senate Rules Committee awaiting assignment.
Full bill text and related information.
