BILL NUMBER: SB 48 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JULY 7, 2015
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 24, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE MAY 6, 2015
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 14, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Senator Hill
DECEMBER 18, 2014
An act to amend Sections 305, 306, 307, 308, 311.5, 321.6, 1701,
and 1759 of, and to add Section 1711 to, the Public Utilities Code,
relating to the Public Utilities Commission.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 48, as amended, Hill. Public Utilities Commission.
(1) The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities
Commission, with jurisdiction over all public utilities. The
California Constitution grants the commission certain general powers
over all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature, and
authorizes the Legislature, unlimited by the other provisions of the
Constitution, to confer additional authority and jurisdiction upon
the commission that is cognate and germane to the regulation of
public utilities. Existing law requires the Governor to designate the
president of the commission from among its members and requires the
president to direct the executive director, the attorney, and other
staff of the commission, except for the Office of Ratepayer
Advocates. Existing law authorizes the executive director and the
attorney to undertake certain actions if directed or authorized by
the president, except as otherwise directed or authorized by vote of
the commission.
This bill would repeal the requirement that the president direct
the executive director, the attorney, and other commission staff. The
bill would delete the authority of the president to direct or
authorize the executive director and attorney to undertake certain
actions, thereby requiring that they be directed or authorized to
undertake those actions by the commission.
(2) The Public Utilities Act provides that the office of the
commission be in the City and County of San Francisco, that the
office always be open, legal holidays and nonjudicial days excepted,
that the commission hold its sessions at least once in each calendar
month in the City and County of San Francisco, and authorizes the
commission to also meet at those other times and places as may be
expedient and necessary for the proper performance of its duties.
This bill would require that the commission hold its sessions at
least once in each calendar month in the City and County of San
Francisco or the City of Sacramento and would require that the
commission hold no less than 6 sessions each year in the City of
Sacramento.
(3) The California Constitution authorizes the commission to
establish its own procedures, subject to statutory limitations or
directions and constitutional requirements of due process. Existing
law requires the commission to determine whether a proceeding
requires a hearing and, if so, to determine whether the matter
requires a quasi-legislative, an adjudication, or a ratesetting
hearing. For these purposes, quasi-legislative cases are cases that
establish policy rulemakings and investigations which may establish
rules affecting an entire industry, adjudication cases are
enforcement cases and complaints except those challenging the
reasonableness of any rates or charges, and ratesetting cases are
cases in which rates are established for a specific company,
including general rate cases, performance-based ratemaking, and other
ratesetting mechanisms. Existing law requires the commission to
publish and maintain certain documents on the Internet, including a
docket card that lists all documents filed and all decisions or
rulings issued in those proceedings, as provided.
This bill would make the Administrative Adjudication Code of
Ethics applicable to administrative law judges of the commission.
Except for in adjudication cases, the bill would require the
commission, before instituting a proceeding on its own motion, where
feasible and appropriate, to seek the views of those who are likely
to be affected by a decision in the proceeding, including those who
are likely to benefit from, and those who are potentially subject to,
a decision in that proceeding. This bill would require the
commission to include a docket card that lists the public versions of
all prepared written testimony and advice letter filings, protests,
and responses. The bill would require the commission to make
additional information available on the Internet, including
information on how members of the public and ratepayers can gain
access to the commission's ratemaking process.
(4) The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to develop,
publish, and annually update an annual workplan that does all of the
following: (A) describes in clear detail the scheduled ratemaking
proceedings and other decisions that may be considered by the
commission during the calendar year, (B) include information on how
members of the public and ratepayers can gain access to the
commission's ratemaking process and information regarding the
specific matters to be decided, (C) include information on the
operation of the office of the public adviser and identify the names
and telephone numbers of those contact persons responsible for
specific cases and matters to be decided, and (D) include a statement
that specifies activities that the commission proposes to reduce the
costs of, and rates for, energy, including electricity, and for
improving the competitive opportunities for state agriculture and
other rural energy consumers. The act requires the commission to
submit the workplan to the Governor and Legislature by February 1 of
each year.
This bill would require the commission to develop, publish, and
annually update a report that contains certain specified information,
as provided, and would expand the requirement that the workplan, as
part of that report, describe in clear detail the scheduled
proceedings that may be considered by the commission during the
calendar year to include all proceedings and not just ratemaking
proceedings. The bill would additionally require that the report
include performance criteria for the commission and executive
director and evaluate the performance of the executive director
during the previous year based on the criteria established in the
prior year's workplan.
Existing law requires the commission to produce a statement that
specifies the proposed activities of the commission in reducing the
costs of, and rates for, energy, including electricity, as provided.
This bill would delete this requirement.
The bill would require the president of the commission to present
the annual report to the appropriate policy committees of the Senate
and Assembly, and the commission to post the report in a conspicuous
area of its Internet Web site and disseminate the information in the
report, as provided.
(5) The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to create,
and annually submit to the Governor and Legislature by February 1, a
report on the number of cases where resolution exceeded the time
periods prescribed in scoping memos and the days that commissioners
presided in hearings.
This bill would delete the requirement that the report include the
number of cases where resolution exceeded the time periods
prescribed in scoping memos and instead would require the report to
describe the commission's timeliness in resolving cases and include
information on the disposition of applications for rehearings. The
bill would require that the report include the number of scoping
memos issued in each proceeding and to include the number of orders
issued extending the statutory deadlines for all adjudication,
ratesetting, and quasi-legislative cases. The bill would require this
information to be included in the report described in paragraph (4).
(6) The California Constitution provides that the Legislature has
plenary power to establish the manner and scope of review of
commission action in a court of record. Existing law provides that
only the Supreme Court and the court of appeal have jurisdiction to
review, reverse, correct, or annul any order or decision of the
commission or to suspend or delay the execution or operation thereof,
or to enjoin, restrain, or interfere with the commission in the
performance of its official duties.
This bill would authorize an action to enforce the requirements of
the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act or the California Public Records
Act to be brought against the commission in the superior court.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) On June 3, 2014, California's Fourth District Court of Appeal,
in Disenhouse v. Peevey (2014) 226 Cal.App.4th 1096, held that an
interested person desiring to enforce the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act (Article 9 (commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1
of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code) against the Public
Utilities Commission must do so by filing a petition for writ of
mandamus in the Supreme Court or the court of appeal and may not do
so by filing an action for injunctive relief in the superior court.
(2) The intent of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act is that
actions of state agencies be taken openly and that their deliberation
be conducted openly.
(3) The people's right to remain informed so that they may retain
control over the instruments of government that they have created is
not less of a right for some agencies than for other agencies, nor
shall the people's ability to enforce the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting
Act be more hampered for some agencies than for other agencies.
(4) The duties, responsibilities, and actions of the Public
Utilities Commission affect the well-being of current and future
generations and the public interest and principles of fundamental
fairness and due process of law require that the commission conduct
its affairs in an open, objective, and impartial manner, free of
undue influence and the abuse of power and authority.
(b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Public Utilities
Commission should be subject to the judicial review provisions of the
Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
SEC. 2. Section 305 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
305. The Governor shall designate a president of the commission
from among the members of the commission. The president shall preside
at all meetings and sessions of the commission.
SEC. 3. Section 306 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
306. (a) The office of the commission shall be in the City and
County of San Francisco. The office shall always be open, legal
holidays and nonjudicial days excepted. The commission shall hold its
sessions at least once in each calendar month in the City and County
of San Francisco or the City of Sacramento. The commission may also
meet at such other times and in such other places as may be expedient
and necessary for the proper performance of its duties, and for that
purpose may rent quarters or offices. The commission shall hold no
less than six sessions each year in the City of Sacramento.
(b) The meetings of the commission shall be open and public in
accordance with the provisions of Article 9 (commencing with Section
11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
In addition to the requirements of Section 11125 of the Government
Code, the commission shall include in its notice of meetings the
agenda of business to be transacted, and no item of business shall be
added to the agenda subsequent to the notice in the absence of an
unforeseen emergency situation. A rate increase shall not constitute
an unforeseen emergency situation. As used in this subdivision,
"meeting" shall include all investigations, proceedings, and showings
required by law to be open and public.
(c) The commission shall have a seal, bearing the inscription
"Public Utilities Commission State of California." The seal shall be
affixed to all writs and authentications of copies of records and to
such other instruments as the commission shall direct.
(d) The commission may procure all necessary books, maps, charts,
stationery, instruments, office furniture, apparatus, and appliances.
SEC. 4. Section 307 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
307. (a) The commission may appoint as attorney to the commission
an attorney at law of this state, who shall hold office during the
pleasure of the commission.
(b) The attorney shall represent and appear for the people of the
State of California and the commission in all actions and proceedings
involving any question under this part or under any order or act of
the commission. If directed to do so by the commission, the attorney
shall intervene, if possible, in any action or proceeding in which
any such question is involved.
(c) The attorney shall commence, prosecute, and expedite the final
determination of all actions and proceedings directed or authorized
by the commission, advise the commission and each commissioner, when
so requested, in regard to all matters in connection with the powers
and duties of the commission and the members thereof, and generally
perform all duties and services as attorney to the commission that
the commission may require of him or her.
SEC. 5. Section 308 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
308. (a) The commission shall appoint an executive director, who
shall hold office during its pleasure. The executive director shall
be responsible for the commission's executive and administrative
duties and shall organize, coordinate, supervise, and direct the
operations and affairs of the commission and expedite all matters
within the commission's jurisdiction.
(b) The executive director shall keep a full and true record of
all proceedings of the commission, issue all necessary process,
writs, warrants, and notices, and perform any other duties the
commission prescribes. The commission may authorize the executive
director to dismiss complaints or applications when all parties are
in agreement thereto, in accordance with rules that the commission
may prescribe.
(c) The commission may appoint assistant executive directors who
may serve warrants and other process in any county or city and county
of this state.
SEC. 6. Section 311.5 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
311.5. (a) (1) Prior to commencement of any meeting at which
commissioners vote on items on the public agenda, the commission
shall make available to the public copies of the agenda, and upon
request, any agenda item documents that are proposed to be considered
by the commission for action or decision at a commission meeting.
(2) In addition, the commission shall publish the agenda, agenda
item documents, and adopted decisions in a manner that makes copies
of them easily available to the public, including publishing those
documents on the Internet. Publication of the agenda and agenda item
documents shall occur on the Internet at the same time as the written
agenda and agenda item documents are made available to the public.
(b) The commission shall publish and maintain the following
documents on the Internet:
(1) Each of the commission's proposed and alternate proposed
decisions and resolutions, until the decision or resolution is
adopted and published.
(2) Each of the commission's adopted decisions and resolutions.
The publication shall occur within 10 days of the adoption of each
decision or resolution by the commission.
(3) The then-current version of the commission's general orders
and Rules of Practice and Procedure.
(4) Each of the commission's rulings. The commission shall
maintain those rulings on its Internet Web site until final
disposition, including disposition of any judicial appeals, of the
respective proceedings in which the rulings were issued.
(5) A docket card that lists, by title and date of filing or
issuance, all documents filed and all decisions or rulings issued in
those proceedings, including the public versions of all prepared
written testimony and advice letter filings, protests, and responses.
The commission shall maintain the docket card until final
disposition, including disposition of any judicial appeals, of the
corresponding proceedings.
(c) The commission shall make the following information available
on the Internet:
(1) Information on how members of the public and ratepayers can
gain access to the commission's ratemaking process and to information
regarding the specific matters to be decided.
(2) Information on the operation of the office of the public
advisor established in Section 321 and how the public advisor can
connect members of the public to persons responsible for specific
cases and matters to be decided.
SEC. 7. Section 321.6 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
321.6. (a) The commission shall develop, publish, and annually
update a report that contains all of the following information:
(1) A workplan that describes in clear detail the scheduled
proceedings and other decisions that may be considered by the
commission during the calendar year.
(2) Performance criteria for the commission and executive director
as well as an evaluation of the performance of the executive
director during the previous year based on the criteria established
in the prior year's workplan.
(3) An accounting of its transactions and proceedings for the
preceding year, together with other facts, suggestions, and
recommendations that it deems of value to the people of the state.
The accounting shall include the activities that the commission
has taken, and plans to take, to reduce the costs of, and the rates
for, water and energy, including electricity, to improve the
competitiveness of the state's industries, including agriculture, and
to the extent possible, shall include suggestions and
recommendations for the reduction of those costs and rates.
(4) An accounting of the commission's timeliness in resolving
cases, information on the disposition of applications for rehearings,
and the days that commissioners presided in hearings. The report
shall include the number of scoping memos issued in each proceeding
and the number of orders issued extending the statutory deadlines
pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 1701.2, for all adjudication
cases, and pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 1701.5, for all
ratesetting or quasi-legislative cases.
(5) A description of activities undertaken and processes
instituted to both solicit the input of customers from diverse
regions of the state in ratesetting and quasi-legislative proceedings
and to process that input in a way to make it usable in commission
decisionmaking. The report shall describe successes and challenges in
this process, the effect of resource constraints, and efforts to be
made during the calendar year to further the goal of increased public
participation.
(b) (1) The commission shall submit the annual report required
pursuant to subdivision (a) to the Governor and Legislature no later
than February 1 of each year.
(2) The commission shall post the report in a conspicuous area of
its Internet Web site and shall have a program to disseminate the
information in the report using computer mailing lists to provide
regular updates on the information to those members of the public and
organizations that request that information.
(c) The president of the commission shall annually appear before
the appropriate policy committees of the Senate and Assembly to
present the annual report of the commission required pursuant to this
section.
SEC. 8. Section 1701 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
1701. (a) All hearings, investigations, and proceedings shall be
governed by this part and by rules of practice and procedure adopted
by the commission, and in the conduct thereof the technical rules of
evidence need not be applied. No informality in any hearing,
investigation, or proceeding or in the manner of taking testimony
shall invalidate any order, decision or rule made, approved, or
confirmed by the commission.
(b) Notwithstanding Section 11425.10 of the Government Code,
Articles 1 through 15, inclusive, of Chapter 4.5 (commencing with
Section 11400) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government
Code do not apply to a hearing by the commission under this code. The
Administrative Adjudication Code of Ethics (Article 16 (commencing
with Section 11475) of Chapter 4.5 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2
of the Government Code) shall apply to administrative law judges of
the commission.
SEC. 9. Section 1711 is added to the Public Utilities Code, to
read:
1711. Where feasible and appropriate, except for adjudication
cases, before instituting a proceeding on its own motion, the
commission shall seek the views of those who are likely to be
affected, including those who are likely to benefit from, and those
who are potentially subject to, a decision in that proceeding. The
commission shall demonstrate its efforts to comply with this section
in the text of the order instituting the proceeding.
SEC. 10. Section 1759 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
1759. (a) No court of this state, except the Supreme Court and
the court of appeal, to the extent specified in this article, shall
have jurisdiction to review, reverse, correct, or annul an order or
decision of the commission or to suspend or delay the execution or
operation thereof, or to enjoin, restrain, or interfere with the
commission in the performance of its official duties, as provided by
law and the rules of court.
(b) The writ of mandamus shall lie from the Supreme Court and from
the court of appeal to the commission in all proper cases as
prescribed in Section 1085 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
(c) This section does not apply to the following actions, which
may be brought in superior court:
(1) An action brought against the commission to enforce the
requirements of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (Article 9
(commencing with Section 11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3
of Title 2 of the Government Code).
(2) An action arising from the California Public Records Act
(Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7 of Title 1
of the Government Code), including Code) or
to review a determination made under subdivision (c) of Section
6253 of the Government Code.