Attorney General No.
SA97RF0064
Secretary of State No.
805
Description
ELECTRIC UTILITIES. ASSESSMENTS. BONDS. INITIATIVE STATUTE. Prohibits assessment of utility tax, bond payments or surcharges for payment of costs of nuclear power plants/related assets. Limits authority of electric companies to recover costs for non-nuclear generation plants. Prohibits issuance of rate reduction bonds and assessments on customers for payment of bond principal, interest and related costs. Provides judicial review of Public Utilities Commission decisions relating to electric restructuring and financing costs by writ of mandate. May provide up to 20% electricity rate reduction for residential and small commercial customers of investor owned utilities by January 1, 1999. Restricts customer information dissemination. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on state and local governments: The net impact of the measure on state government revenues would be annual revenue reductions potentially in the range of $100 million per year from 1998-99 through 2001-02, in turn resulting in decline in the minimum funding guarantee under Proposition 98 for K-14 education by about $50 million after 2001-02. The state would be required to offset a portion of local school district losses in property taxes, resulting from downward assessments of nuclear facilities. Potential state liability for debt service on $7 billion in bonds previously issued may result from judicial interpretation of applicability of measure to those bonds. Additional workload may increase state administrative, judicial and legal costs of probably less than $5 million annually. The net impact on local governments would be revenue reductions, potentially in the tens of millions of dollars annually from 1998-99 through 2001-02. State and local governments would realize savings associated with lower utility rates, in the tens of millions of dollars annually.
Proponents
Harvey Rosenfield Coalition Against Utility Taxes (Cut), P.O. Box 7160, Santa Monica, California 90406; Nettie Hoge The Utility Reform Network (Turn), 711 Van Ness Avenue, Suite 350, San Francisco, California 94102; Elisabeth Robinson Gunther C/O Public Media Center, 466 Green Street, San Franisco, California 94133
Date
2-11-1998
Document Type
Initiative
Qualified
Qualified
Recommended Citation
Electric Utilities. Assessments. Bonds. California Initiative 805 (1998).
https://repository.uclawsf.edu/ca_ballot_inits/970