Public utilities: property, franchises, and permits: exemption.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law prohibits public utilities, other than certain common carriers, from selling, leasing, assigning, mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of, or encumbering, its assets that are necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, unless the public utility has secured an order from the commission to do so for a qualified transaction above $5,000,000 or an approval from the commission through the filing of an advice letter for a qualified transaction at or below $5,000,000. This bill would exempt from that prohibition easements, or changes to easements, that have a ratepayer financial impact valued at $100,000 or less if a public utility that is a party to the qualified transaction has gross annual California revenues of $500,000,000 or more. The bill would require, beginning January 1, 2030, and every 5 years thereafter, those threshold values to increase to reflect any increase in inflation, as specified. The bill would require each public utility to annually file a Tier 1 advice letter with a report of all transactions performed pursuant to this exemption, enumerated by date, value, location, and party. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the provisions of this bill would be a part of the act, and a violation of a commission action implementing the above-described provisions would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. 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.