AB 1912: Electricity and natural gas: legislation imposing mandated programs and requirements: third-party review.

Existing law regulates public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations. The California Council on Science and Technology is organized as a nonprofit corporation in response to an Assembly Concurrent Resolution in 1988. The Public Advocates Office of the Public Utilities Commission is established as an independent office within the Public Utilities Commission to represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of public utility customers and subscribers within the jurisdiction of the commission.

This bill would request the council office to establish establish, by January 1, 2026, a program to, upon request of the Legislature, assess analyze legislation that would establish a mandated requirement or program or otherwise affect electrical or gas ratepayers, as specified. The bill would request the council office to develop and implement conflict-of-interest provisions that would prohibit a person from participating in an assessment analysis for which the person knows or has reasons to know that the person has a financial interest. The bill would request the council to annually inform the Public Utilities Commission of the projected amount necessary to fund the work of the council pursuant to the bill, not to exceed $2,000,000 annually. The bill would require the commission, on June 15 of each year, to assess an annual fee on all large electrical and gas corporations, as defined, their proportionate share of the amount reported by the council, as provided. The bill would require the large electrical corporations to pay their proportionate shares no later than August 1 of each year. The bill would require the moneys collected to be deposited into the Electric Programs Benefit Fund, which would be established by the bill. to fund the projected costs incurred by the office in implementing the bill, not to exceed $2,000,000 annually, divided evenly among each large electrical and gas corporation, as specified, for deposit into the Energy Programs Benefit Fund, which would be established by the bill. The bill would continuously appropriate the moneys in the fund to the council office to support the work of the council office in providing assessments analyses under the bill. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2030.

This bill would include a change in state statute that would result in a taxpayer paying a higher tax within the meaning of Section 3 of Article XIIIA of the California Constitution, and thus would require for passage the approval of ²/₃ of the membership of each house of the Legislature.