Section 8610.5 - Payment of state and local costs not reimbursed by federal funds(a) For purposes of this section: (1) "Office" means the Office of Emergency Services.(2) "Previous fiscal year" means the fiscal year immediately before the current fiscal year.(3) "Utility" means an "electrical corporation" as defined in Section 218 of the Public Utilities Code.(b)(1) State and local costs to carry out activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code that are not reimbursed by federal funds shall be borne by a utility operating a nuclear powerplant with a generating capacity of 50 megawatts or more.(2) The Public Utilities Commission shall develop and transmit to the office an equitable method of assessing a utility operating a powerplant for its reasonable share of state agency costs specified in paragraph (1).(3) Each local government involved shall submit a statement of its costs specified in paragraph (1), as required, to the office.(4) Upon notification by the office, from time to time, of the amount of its share of the actual or anticipated state and local agency costs, a utility shall pay this amount to the Controller for deposit in the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, which is continued in existence, for allocation by the Controller, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to carry out activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The Controller shall pay from this account the state and local costs relative to carrying out this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, upon certification of the costs by the office.(5) Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the Controller may disburse up to 80 percent of a fiscal year allocation from the Nuclear Planning Assessment Special Account, in advance, for anticipated local expenses, as certified by the office pursuant to paragraph (4). The office shall review program expenditures related to the balance of funds in the account and the Controller shall pay the portion, or the entire balance, of the account, based upon those approved expenditures.(c)(1) The total annual disbursement of state costs from a utility operating a nuclear powerplant within the state for activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, shall not exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum funding levels established in this section, subject to subdivisions (e) and (f).(2) Of the annual amount of two million forty-seven thousand dollars ($2,047,000) for the 2009-10 fiscal year, the sum of one million ninety-four thousand dollars ($1,094,000) shall be for support of the office for activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code, and the sum of nine hundred fifty-three thousand dollars ($953,000) shall be for support of the State Department of Public Health for activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code.(d)(1) The total annual disbursement for each fiscal year, commencing July 1, 2009, of local costs from a utility shall not exceed the lesser of the actual costs or the maximum funding levels established in this section, in support of activities pursuant to this section and Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 114650) of Part 9 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. The maximum annual amount available for disbursement for local costs, subject to subdivisions (e) and (f), shall, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2009, be one million seven hundred thirty-two thousand dollars ($1,732,000) for the Diablo Canyon site.(2) The amounts paid by a utility under this section shall be allowed for ratemaking purposes by the Public Utilities Commission.(e) The amounts available for disbursement for state and local costs as specified in this section shall be adjusted and compounded each fiscal year by the greater of the percentage change in the prevailing wage for County of San Luis Obispo employees, not to exceed 5 percent, or the percentage increase in the California Consumer Price Index from the previous fiscal year.(f) Through the inoperative date specified in subdivision (h), the amounts available for disbursement for state and local costs as specified in this section shall be cumulative biennially. Any unexpended funds from a year shall be carried over for one year. The funds carried over from the previous year may be expended when the current year's funding cap is exceeded.(g) This section shall become operative on July 1, 2019.(h) This section shall become inoperative 18 months after the permanent cessation of operations of both Diablo Canyon Units 1 and 2, which shall occur no later than December 31, 2030, and is repealed on the January 1 following the end of that 18-month period.(i) When this section becomes inoperative, any amounts remaining in the special account shall be refunded to a utility contributing to it, to be credited to the utility's ratepayers.Amended by Stats 2022 ch 239 (SB 846),s 1, eff. 9/2/2022.Added by Stats 2015 ch 399 (AB 361),s 1, eff. 1/1/2016.