Wildfire mitigation plans: electrical infrastructure: hardening.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has jurisdiction over public utilities, including electrical corporations. Under its existing authority, the commission requires certain electrical corporations to implement the California Overhead Conversion Program to provide financial assistance to local governments to facilitate projects that are in the public interest and replace overhead infrastructure with infrastructure in underground trenches. Existing law requires each electrical corporation to annually prepare and submit a wildfire mitigation plan to the Office of Energy Infrastructure Safety for review and approval. Existing law also requires the office to oversee and complete a review of each electrical corporation's compliance with its plan. Existing law requires the commission to authorize the electrical corporation to establish a memorandum account to track costs incurred to implement the wildfire mitigation plan and requires the commission to consider whether the cost of implementing the wildfire mitigation plan is just and reasonable, as provided. This bill would additionally require each electrical corporation to prepare and submit to the office a multiyear wildfire mitigation plan, covering at least 7 years and not more than 10 years, that includes, among other things, a methodology for identifying and prioritizing circuits for mitigation based on wildfire risk reduction, public safety, and reliability benefits, and a comparison of undergrounding versus aboveground hardening of electrical equipment. The bill would authorize the commission to use the approved multiyear wildfire mitigation plan during its review of the electrical corporation's risk assessment mitigation phase filings or in consideration of the electrical corporation's annual wildfire mitigation plan filings in a general rate case proceeding, as specified. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because a violation of an order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission implementing the above provisions would be a crime, this 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.