Politics & Government
Sacramento CA: WHAT Will SB 115 Require?
Sacramento CA: Senator Jerry Hill Introduces SB 115
Senator Jerry Hill Introduces Bill to Require the CPUC to Conform to Open Meeting Laws that Govern Other State Boards
SB 115 was Prompted by Closed-Door Meeting the Commission Held in San Diego to Solicit Policy Suggestions from Energy Industry Officials
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SACRAMENTO -- State Senator Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo/Santa Clara Counties, today introduced legislation supported by the California Newspaper Publishers Association and The Utility Reform Network (TURN) that would compel the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to abide by the same open meeting requirements that govern other state boards and commissions.
In June, California’s 4th District Court of Appeal held that anyone seeking to force the CPUC to comply with Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act cannot do so by seeking an injunction in Superior Court, but must go to the Supreme Court or Court of Appeal.
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CPUC President Michael Peevey and the commission have so far successfully argued that the law covering open meetings does not apply to it – a contention that requires even greater scrutiny of the agency since the release of emails that disclose a coziness between the CPUC and PG&E that included close collaboration on an invitation-only event for commissioners and utility executives.
The state’s Superior Courts can enforce the open meeting laws on every other California board and commission.
While the Legislature has not actively addressed the need for the CPUC to play by the same rules as other state commissions and boards, the recent appellate court opinion shows that the Legislature must act to protect the public’s right to remain informed of how the CPUC conducts the people’s business.
Hill’s Senate Bill 115 simply clarifies that Superior Courts may hear complaints against the CPUC of abuse of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act.
“CPUC leadership has long forgotten that ‘P’ stands for ‘public,’” Hill said. “SB 115 will remind the commissioners that cutting out the public has consequences and that the commission should not be a vehicle for utilities to extract rate increases by holding invitation-only meetings with commissioners and treating them to expensive trips.”
Hill’s legislation was prompted by a March 2013 closed-door meeting with energy industry officials that the CPUC held at the Scripps Seaside Forum in San Diego. The event was billed as an all-day “invitation-only” event in which participants could “offer policy suggestions or concerns directly to all five commissioners.”
According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, the commission turned down a request by a U-T reporter to attend, citing space constraints. The commission did not respond to a written request for the reservation list of those attending.”
A request for an injunction to block the meeting was filed in San Diego County Superior Court on behalf of San Diego resident Masada Disenhouse, who also was denied entrance to the event.
The CPUC argued that Public Utilities Code Section 1759 prohibited the Superior Court from interfering with the CPUC’s “official duties,” and that stakeholder meetings were official duties. The Superior Court sided with the CPUC, and on June 3, 2014 the 4th District Court of Appeal upheld that decision.
The CPUC has made a similar claim regarding the Public Records Act (PRA), stating that any PRA complaint against the agency cannot be made in Superior Court but must be brought to Appellate or Supreme Court.
The statute describing the review of CPUC decisions had been written into the original Public Utilities Act of 1912 -- more than a half-century before the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act (1967) or the Public Records Act (1968) -- and was not written with sunshine laws in mind.
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Contact: Aurelio Rojas, 916-747-3199 cell, or Leslie Guevarra, 415-298-3404 cell
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Photo Credit: Robert Riechel - San Bruno Patch Archive
Source Credit: California State Senator Jerry Hill
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