Supplemental Packet
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Board of Directors Supplemental Packet Friday December 11, 2019 9:00 A.M. Rural County Representatives of California 1215 K Street, Suite 1650 Sacramento, California 95814 Supplemental Packet Table of Contents December 11, 2019 1. Public Safety Power Shut-Offs Update Page 1 Staci Heaton, Senior Regulatory Affairs Advocate John Kennedy, Legislative Advocate Leigh Kammerich, Regulatory Affairs Specialist 2. Forest Management and Wildfire Update Page 23 Staci Heaton 3. Water Issues Update Page 47 Mary-Ann Warmerdam, Senior Legislative Advocate Arthur Wylene, General Counsel 4. State Legislative Update Page 51 Governmental Affairs Staff 5. Federal Legislative Update Page 63 Governmental Affairs Staff To: RCRC Board of Directors From: Staci Heaton, Senior Regulatory Affairs Advocate John Kennedy, Legislative Affairs Advocate Leigh Kammerich, Regulatory Affairs Specialist Date: December 9, 2019 Re: Public Safety Power Shut-Offs Update Summary This memo provides a summary of the progress of the state’s activities to mitigate impacts from investor-owned utilities’ (IOUs) Public Safety Power Shut-Off (PSPS) events, both by the Legislature and the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Background Since being granted party status in March 2019, RCRC has been involved with the CPUC proceedings to determine how IOUs conduct de-energization of their power lines during extreme weather conditions and elevated threats of wildfire. These de-energization, or PSPS, protocols will be incorporated within future utility Wildfire Mitigation Plans. On November 13th, RCRC was also granted party status for the Order Instituting Rulemaking Regarding Emergency Disaster Relief Program, which opened on March 22, 2018 to establish comprehensive post-disaster consumer protection measures for all electric, gas, telephone, water and sewer utilities customers in areas subject to a gubernatorially declared state of emergency. CPUC Update and October Public Safety Power Shutoffs After the dismal failure of the PSPS event the week of October 7th that spanned 35 counties in Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) service territory and six counties in Southern California Edison’s service area and left more than two million people without power, CPUC President Marybel Batjer sent a scathing letter to PG&E and called an emergency meeting on October 18th. At that meeting, high-ranking PG&E officials were questioned on what went wrong, and what needed to occur to prevent wholesale breakdowns in the future. The failures of PG&E to work with local governments on previously-approved protocols were prominently on display. RCRC’s October 17th letter to President Batjer was received by all the Commissioners, referred to, and quoted during the emergency meeting. On November 13th, the CPUC voted unanimously to open an investigation—which RCRC is also a party to—into the major IOUs’ handling of October PSPS events. The CPUC RURAL COUNTY REPRESENTATIVES OF CALIFORNIA 1215 K STREET, SUITE 1650 SACRAMENTO, CA 95814 PHONE: 916-447-4806 FAX: 916-448-3154 WEB: WWW.RCRCNET.ORG 1 also announced a hearing directing company executives from major telecommunications companies to appear before the CPUC to explain their performance during the October PSPS events and whether they complied with the requirements adopted in earlier stages of the Emergency Disaster Relief Program Proceeding. The CPUC could sanction PG&E and Southern California Edison and issue $100,000 per day enforcement actions for each regulation violation, like the failure to properly communicate with customers and coordinate with local governments. On November 1st, the CPUC suspended the procedural schedule of the De-Energization Proceeding’s Phase 2, Track 2 comments. A new scoping memo will be released to refocus the direction of the De-Energization Proceeding given the massive scale and frequency of recent PSPS events. RCRC and other parties’ prior comments will remain as part of the record. After being contacted by multiple CPUC representatives, RCRC participated in the Pre- Hearing Conference for the Emergency Disaster Relief Program Proceeding at the CPUC on November 20th. RCRC communicated the need for telecommunications system resiliency during PSPS events and natural disasters, and enumerated numerous system deficiencies and the impacts to residents, local governments, and emergency responders. At the meeting, industry executives argued that backup power is not necessary at most communications facilities, and that simply receiving a text message would be adequate notification for a PSPS event or evacuation order. In response, RCRC pointed to the widespread communications systems outages that left entire counties without cellular, landline, and internet service, and the debilitating impacts to local fire departments, public safety officials, and medically sensitive residents. Furthermore, RCRC noted that there were numerous instances where residents received text messages informing them of events – but then could not click through to access the outage maps or “additional information” features included in the text message because there was no internet access. In September, the CPUC adopted a new equity and resiliency budget under the Self- Generation Incentive Program (SGIP). That program provides $100 million in incentives for the installation of energy storage projects for low-income customers and critical facilities in high fire threat areas. RCRC staff continues to engage with the CPUC to ensure that our counties will have access to these funds. Legislative Update RCRC was actively engaged during the 2019 Legislative Session on de-energization bills, and strongly supported a few recently-enacted measures that will help improve community resilience to PSPS events, including: Senate Bill 167 (Dodd) requires utility de-energization protocols to mitigate impacts to medical baseline customers. Utility medical baseline customers only represent a small share of those with access and functional needs (AFN) who are dependent upon electricity for medical equipment. Furthermore, some of those AFN residents may not be considered “customers” because they reside in a multi-family dwelling or mobile home park with a master meter and where facility owner is considered the “customer.” RCRC will continue to ensure that these mitigation requirements apply to all sensitive residents who are dependent on electricity. 2 Senate Bill 560 (McGuire) improves the resilience of mobile telephone communication systems and requires those providers to inform local public safety and emergency response offices of system capabilities during a PSPS event. Assembly Bill 1144 (Friedman) dedicates 10 percent of Self-Generation Incentive Program revenues for 2020 to projects that support the resiliency of critical infrastructure in high fire threat districts. On October 24th, Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins (D-San Diego) announced the creation of a PSPS working group, consisting of Senators Susan Rubio (D-Baldwin Park), Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg), Bill Dodd (D-Napa), Hannah-Beth Jackson (D-Santa Barbara), Ben Hueso (D-San Diego), Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), Henry Stern (D- Canoga Park), Nancy Skinner (D-Berkeley), Jerry Hill (D-San Mateo), and Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). On October 25th, Governor Newsom announced that $26 million of a $75 million one-time General Fund appropriation passed in the 2019 Budget Act would be available for county governments, with a $150,000 base grant guaranteed to each county, and a base grant of $350,000 to counties with populations greater than 50,000 that experienced a PSPS. On November 18th, the Senate Committee on Energy, Utilities, and Communications conducted an eight-hour oversight hearing that investigated the serious deficiencies with the current PSPS process and reviewed options to reduce the impact of future PSPS events. Several RCRC member counties were represented on the various panels and in public comment testimony. RCRC sent a letter to the Committee on November 5th outlining over two dozen discrete actions to immediately and significantly reduce the impacts associated with PSPS events. In addition to extensive discussions with legislators in advance of the hearing, RCRC testified to offer our rural perspectives and experiences. The Legislature will consider several PSPS-related bills when they reconvene in January 2020, including: Senate Bill 431 (Wiener), which would establish minimum battery backup requirements for cell towers located in high fire threat districts. The bill awaits its first hearing in the Assembly Communications and Conveyance Committee. Senate Bill 378 (Wiener), which, among other things, would require utility shareholders to reimburse customers, local governments, and others for costs accrued during a PSPS event, require the CPUC to report on the economic, environmental and public safety impacts of PSPS events, and impose penalties on utilities for every hour a PSPS event is in place. The bill is awaiting referral in Senate Rules Committee. Public Safety Power Shutoffs, Policy Principles To better inform adoption of the RCRC policy principles at the January 2020 Board Meeting, RCRC staff has included draft PSPS principals to guide our involvement and negotiation of de-energization practices in the next legislative year. While RCRC staff firmly believe that PSPS should only be used as a last resort, we do not underestimate the risk of wildfire danger, and appreciate the role that expertly- informed, well-tailored PSPS events could play in avoiding catastrophic