Governor, Legislators Propose Bills To Reform CPUC Accountability

SACRAMENTO, CA -- Gov. Jerry Brown and three state legislators on Monday announced a package of reform bills to increase the public accountability and transparency of the California Public Utilities Commission.

"This isn't everything but it is a major step" to "put the public back in the Public Utilities Commission," said Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo.

In addition to Hill, the authors of the bills are Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, and Assemblymember Mike Gatto, D-Glendale.

Among other changes, the bill reforms would require commissioners and staff of the San Francisco-based CPUC as well as interested parties to post notices online of any private communications they have during
proceedings to set the rates charged to utility customers.

Under the previous rules, utility representatives were required to disclose such back-channel communications, known as ex parte communications, but commissioners and their staff were not subject to the rule.

The commission and PG&E Co. came under fire when investigations following a fatal pipeline explosion in San Bruno in 2010 revealed private communications between PG&E executives and two commissioners and one staff member on pending regulatory matters and "judge shopping" for an administrative law judge in a rate case.

Three PG&E executives were fired in the wake of the revelations.

An outside consultant retained by the commission concluded in 2015 that "ex parte communications at the CPUC have come to fundamentally undermine record-based decision-making and to transform the very nature of CPUC rate hearings."

Another change in the reform package would enable either the state attorney general or the CPUC to enforce penalties against commissioners or others who violate the revised communication rules.

In addition, the reforms would transfer responsibility for implementing and enforcing transportation industry rules, including those for ride-booking companies such as Uber and Lyft, to the California State Transportation Agency.

The five-member commission issued a statement saying that it supports the reform measures.

"The reform initiatives announced (Monday) represent the start of a new chapter for the CPUC that will allow the focus to return to the work of our dedicated staff in providing for a safe and productive California," the
commission said.

Mark Toney, executive director of The Utility Reform Network, a consumer group, said the new communication rules will "limit the opportunities for private interests to seek special favors behind closed
doors."

The deadline for bills to be passed by both the Senate and Assembly in the current legislative session is Aug. 31.

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--Bay City News/Image courtesy of State of California