Electrical corporations: wildfire mitigation plans: deenergization events.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Existing law requires an electrical corporation to 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. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the PUC for review and approval, as specified. Following approval, the PUC is required to oversee an electrical corporation's compliance with the plans. This bill would require that an electrical corporation's wildfire mitigation plan identify circuits that have frequently been deenergized 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 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. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because violation of an order or decision of the commission implementing the bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program by creating a new crime. 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 a specified reason.