Actuados / Semi-Actuados

As with state regulatory activity, inevitably after each major storm or outage event, there is increased executive and legislative activity by governors and other state policymakers. Action in this area tends to focus on reliability standards, emergency preparedness and response plans, infrastructure hardening, and cost recovery issues. As of this report, Connecticut and Massachusetts have passed legislation that allows certain penalties to be assessed to utilities should certain reliability standards and storm response measures not be met.

This section provides a brief overview of recently proposed or enacted state legislation involving utility storm resiliency and response. A more detailed description is included in a matrix in Appendix B, EEI Cross- Section of State Legislative Proposals on Storm Hardening and Resiliency. The matrix will be expanded and updated as additional information is obtained or as developments occur. The matrix is not comprehensive but rather provides a snapshot of recent legislative activity which usually serves as the basis for new regulatory proposals.

4.1 State Highlights: CA, CT, IL, MA, MD, MS, NJ, NY, VT, WI

California

Following the extreme windstorm that occurred in December 2011 in Southern California, the state legislature passed two bills in September 2012 addressing deficiencies in utility outage response. The new legislation requires the California Public Service Commission to establish standards for disaster and emergency preparedness plans for utilities and requires public utilities to preserve all records and evidence collected after any unplanned outages.

Connecticut

The combined effects of Hurricane Irene in August 2011 followed by the October 2011 snowstorm caused significant damage to utility infrastructure in the Northeast with the majority of electrical outages caused by weakened and fallen trees. In June 2012, the Governor signed Senate Bill 23, Public Act No. 12-148, requiring the Connecticut Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to investigate utility practices and establish reliability and emergency response standards for electric utilities as well as identify the most cost-effective means for system reliability. The newly enacted legislation allows for the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority to grant cost recovery in a future proceeding for utility investment in improved resiliency. District of Columbia

After a series of severe weather events in 2012 that caused widespread outages and left extensive wind damage across the region, Washington D.C. Mayor Gray established the Mayor’s Power Line

Undergrounding Task Force to study the feasibility of undergrounding major portions of Washington’s distribution network. In March 2014, Mayor Gray signed into law the recommendations of the Task Force which authorizes the issuance of revenue Bonds to finance the undergrounding of the 60 most vulnerable overhead distribution power lines and their ancillary facilities.

Illinois

After several major storms and widespread outages in the Chicago area in 2011, several bills were proposed in the Fall of 2011 regarding utility emergency preparedness, communication protocols and vegetation management. In December 2011, the Governor signed into law certain requirements for utility upgrade investments pursuant to an infrastructure investment program and provided for utilities to recover the reasonable costs incurred to maintain or improve the resiliency of its infrastructure necessary to meet established standards.

Massachusetts

Several bills were introduced during the 2013 session proposing hardening measures including vegetation management, infrastructure upgrades and undergrounding. In August 2012, the Governor signed a law establishing the Department of Public Utilities Storm Trust Fund to be used by the department of public utilities to fund investigations into the preparation for and responses to storm and other emergency events by electric companies doing business in the commonwealth. The funds will come from annual assessments made by the department proportional to each electric utility’s annual revenues. Any penalties levied against the utilities for any violations of storm response and emergency preparedness will be credited back to utility customers. The law also required electric utilities to file an annual emergency response plan.

Maryland

In August 2012, proposed emergency legislation prohibiting the Public Service Commission from authorizing an adjustment to an electric company’s rates to recover profits lost during a disruption in electrical service was introduced to the state Senate; however, there has been no movement on this proposal since its introduction.

Mississippi

Following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the state enacted the Hurricane Katrina Electric Utility Customer Relief and Electric Utility System Restoration Act which provides that the state may issue system restoration bonds with proceeds to be used to securitize the system restoration costs and storm damage reserve levels of those electric utilities affected by Hurricane Katrina, thereby providing electric utility customers relief from traditional methods of recovering system restoration costs.

New Jersey

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy, the legislature has introduced numerous bills in 2013 and 2014 mostly calling for the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) to establish performance standards in emergency situations and require utilities to file emergency preparedness plans with the BPU. Other bills have been introduced that require inspections and hardening of the existing infrastructure looking towards the necessity for certain facility construction standards. Prior to Superstorm Sandy, bill A.B. 2760 was introduced giving authority to the BPU to authorize the recovery of all reasonable and prudent costs incurred by an electric utility in repairing, improving, and replacing its equipment and property reasonably associated with the improvement of utility service reliability. This measure was reintroduced in the 2014 session.

New York

Also widely affected by Superstorm Sandy, the New York state legislature introduced several bills aimed at requiring new standards for utility emergency preparedness and response. The proposed “Natural Disaster

Preparedness and Mitigation Act” (S.B. 3761) establishes a disaster preparedness commission consisting of commissioners from each of the New York public sectors, including the chair of the public service

commission, to oversee and coordinate state emergency preparedness and response activities. The proposal also calls for the disaster preparedness commission to “utilize, in rate setting proceedings, to recover the reasonable costs incurred to maintain and improve the resiliency of the utility’s infrastructure necessary to comply with [established standards].”

Vermont

Citing the devastating effects of Hurricane Irene, Governor Peter Shumlin signed Executive Order 04-13 in April 2013 establishing the Governor’s Emergency Preparedness Advisory Council which will review the state emergency preparedness system. Governor Shumlin ordered that the Council must take into

consideration the interdependencies between federal, state and local government as well as public service sectors serving the community and provide recommendations on ways to bolster such relationships in emergency preparedness policies and communications.

Wisconsin

In December 2013, Governor Scott Walker signed into law an act creating a State and Province Emergency Management Assistance Compact providing for several states and Canadian provinces to participate in mutual assistance operations such as the sharing of emergency operations plans, resources and