republic-os/legislation/us/states/ca/20152016/sb-840.md

---
type: "Bill"
title: "Public resources: energy."
description: "(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law authorizes certain public utilities, including gas corporations, to propose research and development programs and authorizes the PUC to allow inclusion of expenses for research and development in the public utility's rates. Existing law requires the PUC to consider specified guidelines in evaluating the research, development, and demonstration programs proposed by gas corporations."
jurisdiction: "us/states/ca"
legislature: "California Legislature"
session: "20152016"
identifier: "SB 840"
citation: "California SB 840 (20152016)"
classification: ["bill", "appropriation"]
subjects: ["Public resources: energy."]
status: "enacted"
primary_sponsors: ["Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review"]
version_count: 6
action_count: 21
vote_count: 3
first_action: "2016-01-07"
last_action: "2016-09-13"
source: "openstates"
source_identifier: "ocd-bill/c13da59b-b7da-4eef-af2b-7d5f56bfaf06"
source_url: "http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840"
source_hash: "f3db779ef6ff60c0defbaeb142c923b955e8644dab099c0fa96e1fc3b65bde6f"
vintage: "2026-07-01"
source_snapshot: "https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump"
retrieved_at: "2026-07-06"
confidence: "reported"
tags: ["legislation", "bill", "us-ca"]
---

# California SB 840 (20152016) — Public resources: energy.

(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) has regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law authorizes the PUC to fix the rates and charges for every public utility and requires that those rates and charges be just and reasonable. Existing law authorizes certain public utilities, including gas corporations, to propose research and development programs and authorizes the PUC to allow inclusion of expenses for research and development in the public utility's rates. Existing law requires the PUC to consider specified guidelines in evaluating the research, development, and demonstration programs proposed by gas corporations.

## Version chain

The bill's text revisions, in order — the diff chain from filing to enrollment.

1. **01/07/16 - Introduced** (filed) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840&version=20150SB84099INT)
2. **05/25/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840&version=20150SB84098AMD)
3. **06/14/16 - Amended Assembly** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840&version=20150SB84097AMD)
4. **09/13/16 - Chaptered** (committee substitute) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840&version=20150SB84095CHP)
5. **SB840** (committee substitute) — [source](http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840)
6. **08/24/16 - Enrolled** (enrolled) — [source](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billPdf.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB840&version=20150SB84096ENR)

## Votes

- Unfinished Business SB840 Committee On B. & F.R. (Leno) Concurrence — **26–13** (pass) · upper
- 3rd Reading SB840 Committee On B. & F.R. — **25–11** (pass) · upper
- SB 840 B. & F. R. Senate Third Reading By TING — **53–23** (pass) · lower

## Sponsors

- Committee on Budget and Fiscal Review — primary (person)

## Timeline

The legislative action history — every referral, reading, and vote.

- **2016-01-07** Introduced. Read first time. To Com. on RLS. for assignment. To print. `introduction, reading-1`
- **2016-01-08** From printer. May be acted upon on or after February 7.
- **2016-01-11** Referred to Com. on B. & F.R. `referral-committee`
- **2016-04-11** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2016-04-11** Ordered to second reading.
- **2016-04-12** Read second time. Ordered to third reading. `reading-2, reading-1`
- **2016-04-14** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 25. Noes 11. Page 3541.) Ordered to the Assembly. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-04-14** In Assembly. Read first time. Held at Desk. `reading-1`
- **2016-05-02** Referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee`
- **2016-05-25** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-14** From committee with author's amendments. Read second time and amended. Re-referred to Com. on BUDGET. `referral-committee, reading-2, amendment-passage, committee-passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-15** Assembly Rule 96 suspended. (Ayes 50. Noes 25. Page 5358.)
- **2016-06-15** Withdrawn from committee.
- **2016-06-15** Ordered to third reading.
- **2016-06-15** Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 50. Noes 25. Page 5358.)
- **2016-06-16** Read third time. Passed. (Ayes 53. Noes 23. Page 5390.) Ordered to the Senate. `reading-3, passage, reading-1`
- **2016-06-16** In Senate. Concurrence in Assembly amendments pending.
- **2016-08-22** Assembly amendments concurred in. (Ayes 26. Noes 13. Page 5239.) Ordered to engrossing and enrolling. `committee-passage-favorable, amendment-passage`
- **2016-08-26** Enrolled and presented to the Governor at 12:30 p.m.
- **2016-09-13** Approved by the Governor. `executive-signature`
- **2016-09-13** Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 341, Statutes of 2016.

## Source

OpenStates / OpenCivicData bulk snapshot [2026-07-01](https://data.openstates.org/daily/2026-07-01/public.pgdump); origin `ocd-bill/c13da59b-b7da-4eef-af2b-7d5f56bfaf06`. Confidence: reported (aggregated from official California legislature records).