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Program Enhancements and Other Budget Adjustments
Public Utilities Commission
The California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulates electricity, natural gas, water, telecommunications, and transportation industries, such as railroads and household goods carriers. The PUC implements three major programs:
- Regulation of Utilities - Californians spend more than $38 billion annually for services from industries regulated by the PUC. This includes 11 electricity utilities (80 percent of electric load in California), 1,821 telecommunications carriers, 156 water and sewer utilities, and 6 natural gas utilities. The objective of this program is to ensure that customers have safe, reliable utility service at reasonable rates.
- Universal Service Telephone Programs - The PUC oversees $885 million in telecommunications programs that provide services to state consumers. These programs provide affordable basic telephone service to low-income residents, minimize rate disparities between rural and metropolitan areas, provide discounts to schools, libraries, and non-profit community-based organizations, provide services for the deaf and disabled, and ensure the availability of payphones for public safety.
- Regulation of Transportation - The PUC Transportation Program oversees the safety of all railroads, six major rail transit agencies, five smaller transit systems, and more than 16,000 public and private railroad crossings. It oversees passenger transportation companies and household goods carriers, regulates rates and services, issues certificates and other licenses, and enforces safety standards and insurance requirements.
The Governor's Budget includes $1.3 billion special funds for the PUC, which reflects a decrease of $4.8 million below the revised 2006-07 Budget.
GLOBAL WARMING SOLUTIONS - AB 32
The Budget proposes $1,272,000 and 2.9 positions for the PUC's greenhouse gas emissions reduction efforts. These resources will enable the PUC to conduct climate change proceedings to implement emission reduction strategies, evaluate various electric and natural gas sector greenhouse gas emission cap scenarios, and develop protocols to measure and verify actual emissions reductions. (For additional information, see the Global Warming Solutions discussion in the Environmental Protection Chapter.)
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE CALIFORNIA SOLAR INITIATIVE
The California Solar Initiative will provide 3,000 megawatts of solar energy when the program is fully implemented and reduce annual carbon dioxide emissions by 3 million tons. Solar energy provides significant benefits to the state's congested electric transmission and distribution system. Since solar projects generate energy on site, electricity does not need to be distributed through the electrical grid.
The Budget proposes $2,460,000 and 2.9 positions to implement this initiative. This proposal will provide necessary staff for PUC proceedings, enable the PUC to develop a pricing structure that provides an incentive to generate solar energy during peak-demand hours, and fund an independent program evaluation.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE VIDEO COMPETITION ACT
The Budget proposes $950,000 and 10.3 positions to implement the Video Competition Act. These resources will enable the PUC to ensure that video service is non-discriminatory, review applications and issue state franchises, and report annually to the Legislature. This proposal includes one position for the Division of Ratepayer Advocates to promote service and quality standards on behalf of ratepayers.
CHAPTER HIGHLIGHTS for
General Government Back to Top
PRINTABLE BUDGET DOCUMENTS Back to Top
Budget Summary - General Government (pdf * - 59K)
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Provides this entire General Government Chapter in pdf format.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Back to Top
Proposed Budget Detail - General Government
Displays Proposed Budget Detail information for General Government.
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