CMTA | Legislative Weekly 2002

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Legislative Weekly
November 14, 2002
2002 Environmental Conference Program Now Available
Past issues of the Legislative Weekly have made reference to this first of a kind joint event, co-hosted by CMTA and the San Diego Industrial Environmental Association, scheduled for December 12 and 13 at the Sheraton San Diego Hotel & Marina, East Tower.

California has a well-deserved reputation of being a national trendsetter on environmental policy development. The outcome of the national elections and the decision by the California electorate to preserve the status quo will reinforce this trend. Our conference program is designed to bring participants up to speed on recent environmental policy developments in California and to provide an outlook for 2003, both in the regulatory and legislative arenas.

Day One features a broad spectrum of priority air quality, waste management, water quality and water supply issues and cross-media topics such as Proposition 65, industrial site security and Cal-EPA’s Environmental Protection Indicators project. Day Two features a legislative program and hazardous materials training seminars. Speakers include USEPA Region IX Administrator Wayne Nastri, State Attorney General Bill Lockyer (invited), Assemblymember Joe Canciamilla, Integrated Waste Management Board Member Michael Paparian, State Water Resources Control Board Vice Chair Peter Silva and Executive Officer Celeste Cantu and Department of Toxic Substances Control Director Ed Lowry. Conference pre-registration (through December 11) is $275, and on-site hotel rates are a bargain at $129.

Send in your registration form today to join federal, state and local policymakers for a comprehensive discussion of California's rapidly evolving environmental policy. CMTA looks forward to seeing you in San Diego on December 12 and 13. If you have any questions, or would like additional information, please contact Marisa Hull at (916) 498-3321.

The preliminary technical program and conference registration form are now available on CMTA’s website:

CPUC Lifts Surcharge Restriction
The California Public Utilities Commission issued a decision last week lifting restrictions on the use of electric surcharge revenues. Instead of being limited to power procurement costs, the revenues from the 1.0 cent per kilowatt hour (kWh) and 3.0 cent kWh surcharges imposed last year by the CPUC can now be used to pay off past utility undercollections.

This means that the utilities will have access to the huge surcharges imposed last spring. This is despite the fact that they are already collecting millions of dollars per month over and above their costs through other rates because of the current low price of wholesale power and utility-retained generation.

It is "an unfortunate but necessary step to restore utilities' health" and "stabilize California's energy markets" -- CPUC President Loretta Lynch

CPUC President Loretta Lynch said it is "an unfortunate but necessary step to restore utilities' health" and "stabilize California's energy markets" but public pronouncements notwithstanding the ruling is plainly aimed at enhancing the Commission's Pacific Gas and Electric bankruptcy plan proposal.

PG&E already has roughly $5 billion in excess cash on hand, a good portion of which has been produced by the rate increases imposed last year.

In the months-long proceeding, CMTA and other ratepayer groups argued that the Commission cannot lawfully use the surcharge revenues for any purpose other than to pay for procurement costs, and took issue with the Commission's assertion that it can use the surcharge revenues "for any purpose necessary to restore financial health" to PG&E and Southern California Edison.

Rather than find creative new ways to allow the utilities to retain ratepayers' money, CMTA argued that the Commission should reduce rates - and the sooner the better. The existing surcharges have imposed a heavy burden on industrial customers, many of whom have seen their rates increase by 100 percent or more. This unwarranted rate burden makes California an even less hospitable place to do business, and reduces our competitiveness with facilities in other states and overseas. The decision by the CPUC to bolster the financial health of the utilities on the backs of ratepayers hurts manufacturers and the state's economy as a whole.

Reforming California's Budget Process

Canciamilla

Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla (D-Pittsburg) believes California's system of government is “broken and in need of serious repair.” He says we are chronically late in balancing the state budget, and as legislators, “we spend too much time carrying dozens of bills, sitting on multiple committees, voting on thousands of measures, adding to the huge amount of current legislation - yet we spend little time understanding and reviewing the effectiveness of laws already put into action to see if they are worth the resources we are spending on them.” He is proposing fundamental reforms to the system. The highlights are:

The state would adopt a two-year budget and change the fiscal calendar to October 1 instead of July 1 to correspond with the federal fiscal calendar;
The state would be required to maintain a 3 percent budget reserve within each two-year budget period to deal with emergencies;
The first 10 months of each two-year session would be a budget and legislative oversight session only. No member-authored bills, except those related to budget and committee bills, would be permitted; and
During the oversight session legislators could develop bills for introduction in the second year of session, called the policy session, which would be 14 months.

Many of his recommendations have been gleaned from the reform proposals put forth by others, including the California Constitution Revision Commission, the California Business Roundtable, League of Women Voters and the California Citizens Budget Commission. Ideas from these and other groups that go to the heart of California political processes include reducing the 2/3 vote requirement for passing the state budget and allowing legislative changes to initiatives after some number of years.

Assemblyman Canciamilla is now actively seeking support from local governments, taxpayer groups, business associations and others. He plans to introduce a bill in January, 2003. For more information, contact StephanieYoder in his Sacramento office at 916-319-2011.

Manufacturing Fact
California lost 8,100 more manufacturing jobs in the month of October bringing the total to 175,600 since January of 2001.

Talking Point
Many other jobs in the California economy depend on manufacturing employment. It will be months before the full impact of this month's loss of manufacturing jobs will be felt in the broader economy.

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