(a) Except as provided in subdivision (b), within six months after the commission adopts a decision in an application filed pursuant to Section 1701.8, a governmental assessment shall be imposed in the full amount of, and the electrical corporation shall reimburse the fund for the full amount of, costs and expenses the commission determined were the amount of the obligation to reimburse the fund pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 3291 or subdivision (h) of Section 3292 in a proceeding authorized pursuant to Section 1701.8.
(b) With respect to a governmental assessment pursuant to subdivision (a), the fund is granted a statutory lien on the revenues of an electrical corporation participating in the fund to secure the electrical corporation’s reimbursement obligations to the fund, which statutory lien shall be subordinated and junior in lien priority and right of payment to any lien, mortgage, or security interest securing any debt, note, indenture, lease, contract, or other obligation of the electrical corporation or a financing entity defined in Section 850 in existence on July 12, 2019, or thereafter authorized by the commission, including pursuant to subdivision (g) of Section 80542 of the Water Code; provided that no such lien shall be deemed to have been granted with respect to the revenues of an electrical corporation to the extent that the terms of any debt, note, indenture, lease, contract, or other obligation of the electrical corporation existing on July 12, 2019, prohibits the granting of the lien, or if a breach or default would occur thereunder as a result of the granting of the lien whether or not the breach or default is subject to the passage of time, notice requirements, or otherwise, it being understood that the lien will be deemed to have been automatically granted at the time that the prohibition no longer applies or no breach or default would occur. Subject to the immediately preceding sentence, the subordinated and junior statutory lien shall be automatically perfected without further action of the fund and shall apply regardless of whether the amounts are commingled with other cash or other property of the electrical corporation. The statutory lien granted pursuant to this section shall not attach to any real property of an electrical corporation.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 396, Sec. 46. (AB 1513) Effective January 1, 2020.)