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Bill

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Measure

AB 1410

Authors

Garcia

Subject

Utilities: service outages and updates: alerts.

Relating To

relating to utilities.

Title

An act to add Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 8550) to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to utilities.

Last Action Dt

2025-10-06

State

Chaptered

Status

Chaptered

Active?

Vote Required

Majority

Appropriation

Fiscal Committee

Yes

Local Program

Yes

Substantive Changes

None

Urgency

Tax Levy

Leginfo Link

Bill

Actions

2025-10-06		Chaptered by Secretary of State - Chapter 396, Statutes of 2025.
2025-10-06		Approved by the Governor.
2025-09-22		Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 3 p.m.
2025-09-10		Senate amendments concurred in. To Engrossing and Enrolling. (Ayes 79. Noes 0. Page 3204.).
2025-09-09		In Assembly. Concurrence in Senate amendments pending.
2025-09-09		Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Assembly. (Ayes 40. Noes 0. Page 2737.).
2025-09-08		Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
2025-09-05		Read third time and amended. Ordered to second reading.
2025-08-26		Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
2025-08-25		From committee: Be ordered to second reading pursuant to Senate Rule 28.8.
2025-08-13		In committee: Hearing postponed by committee.
2025-07-03		Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-07-02		From committee: Amend, and do pass as amended and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 17. Noes 0.) (July 1).
2025-06-17		From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to committee. Read second time, amended, and re-referred to Com. on E., U & C.
2025-06-04		Referred to Com. on E., U & C.
2025-05-28		In Senate. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment.
2025-05-27		Read third time. Passed. Ordered to the Senate. (Ayes 76. Noes 0. Page 1738.)
2025-05-22		Read second time. Ordered to third reading.
2025-05-21		From committee: Do pass. (Ayes 15. Noes 0.) (May 21).
2025-05-14		In committee: Set, first hearing. Referred to APPR. suspense file.
2025-04-24		From committee: Do pass and re-refer to Com. on APPR. (Ayes 18. Noes 0.) (April 23). Re-referred to Com. on APPR.
2025-04-08		Re-referred to Com. on U. & E.
2025-04-07		From committee chair, with author's amendments: Amend, and re-refer to Com. on U. & E. Read second time and amended.
2025-03-13		Referred to Com. on U. & E.
2025-02-24		Read first time.
2025-02-22		From printer. May be heard in committee March 24.
2025-02-21		Introduced. To print.

Keywords

Tags

Versions

Chaptered		2025-10-06
Enrolled		2025-09-12
Amended Senate		2025-09-05
Amended Senate		2025-07-03
Amended Senate		2025-06-17
Amended Assembly		2025-04-07
Introduced		2025-02-21

Last Version Text

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		<ns0:AuthorText authorType="LEAD_AUTHOR">Introduced by Assembly Member Garcia</ns0:AuthorText>
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		<ns0:Title> An act to add Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 8550) to Division 4.1 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to utilities. </ns0:Title>
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			<ns0:Subject>Utilities: service outages and updates: alerts.</ns0:Subject>
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			<html:p>Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, and water corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. If the commission finds after a hearing that the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply employed by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, the Public Utilities Act requires the commission to determine and, by order or rule, fix the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or employed.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would
			 require, except as provided, each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, or local publicly owned electric utility, on or before March 1, 2026, to automatically enroll its customers in alerts for service outages and updates. The bill would require customers to be provided with the opportunity to opt-out of any alerts they do not wish to receive, except as provided. The bill would require each of those utilities to annually provide information on customers’ bills on how to update their preferred contact methods and to allow customers to update their contact information on the utility’s internet website or, if feasible, by telephone.</html:p>
			<html:p>Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or
			 requirement of the commission is a crime.</html:p>
			<html:p>Because a violation of a commission action implementing this bill’s requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. Additionally, by imposing new duties on local publicly owned electric utilities, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program.</html:p>
			<html:p>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.</html:p>
			<html:p>This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for specified reasons.</html:p>
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				Chapter 15 (commencing with Section 8550) is added to Division 4.1 of the 
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				, to read:
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									(a)
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									Except as provided in subdivision (b), each utility shall, on or before March 1, 2026, automatically enroll its customers in alerts for service outages and updates.
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									(b)
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									(1)
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									A local publicly owned electric utility that does not have the necessary system to implement the requirements of subdivision (a) shall, on or before March 1, 2026, develop appropriate and feasible procedures to maximize the automatic enrollment of its customers in
						  alerts for electrical service outages and updates.
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									(2)
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									(A)
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									A local publicly owned electric utility that does not have the necessary system to implement the requirements of subdivision (a) shall, on or before March 1, 2028, develop a plan to update its system to automatically enroll its customers in alerts for electrical service outages and updates.
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									(B)
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									If the governing board of the local publicly owned electric utility determines the plan developed pursuant to subparagraph (A) is cost effective, the local publicly owned electric utility shall implement the plan during the next significant, planned upgrade of its system or by March 1, 2030, whichever is sooner.
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									(c)
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									Customers shall be provided with the opportunity to opt-out of alerts for service outages and updates that the customer does not wish to receive, except for required or essential notifications.
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									(d)
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									Each utility shall annually provide information on a customer’s
						  bill on how to update the customer’s preferred contact method and shall allow a customer to update the customer’s contact information on the utility’s internet website
						  or, if feasible, by telephone.
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									(e)
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									For purposes of this section, “utility” means an electrical corporation, as defined in Section 218, a local publicly owned electric utility, as defined in Section 224.3, a gas corporation, as defined in Section 222, or a water corporation, as defined in Section 241.
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					No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to Section 6 of Article XIII
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					B of the California Constitution because a local agency or school district has the authority to levy service charges, fees, or assessments sufficient to pay for the program or level of service mandated by this act or because costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district will be incurred because this act creates a new crime or infraction, eliminates a crime or infraction, or changes the penalty for a crime or infraction, within the meaning of Section 17556 of the Government Code, or changes the definition of a crime within the meaning of Section 6 of Article XIII
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					B of the California Constitution.
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Last Version Text Digest

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations, gas corporations, and water corporations, while local publicly owned electric utilities are under the direction of their governing boards. If the commission finds after a hearing that the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, or service of any public utility, or the methods of manufacture, distribution, transmission, storage, or supply employed by the public utility, are unjust, unreasonable, unsafe, improper, inadequate, or insufficient, the Public Utilities Act requires the commission to determine and, by order or rule, fix the rules, practices, equipment, appliances, facilities, service, or methods to be observed, furnished, constructed, enforced, or employed. This bill would require, except as provided, each electrical corporation, gas corporation, water corporation, or local publicly owned electric utility, on or before March 1, 2026, to automatically enroll its customers in alerts for service outages and updates. The bill would require customers to be provided with the opportunity to opt-out of any alerts they do not wish to receive, except as provided. The bill would require each of those utilities to annually provide information on customers’ bills on how to update their preferred contact methods and to allow customers to update their contact information on the utility’s internet website or, if feasible, by telephone. Under existing law, a violation of any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime.