BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                   Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
                           Senator Christine Kehoe, Chair


          SB 1000 (Yee) - Public Utilities Commission: records.
          
          Amended: April 18, 2012         Policy Vote: EU&C 7-4, JUD 4-1
          Urgency: No                     Mandate: No
          Hearing Date: May 14, 2012      Consultant: Marie Liu
          
          This bill does not meet the criteria for referral to the 
          Suspense File.
          
          
          Bill Summary: SB 1000 would require the California Public 
          Utilities Commission (PUC) to make investigation orders, 
          recommendations, and accident reports publicly available under 
          the California Public Records Act and would delete the 
          misdemeanor penalty for a PUC officer or employee who divulges 
          confidential public utility information.

          Fiscal Impact: Possible one-time costs of $75,000 from the 
          Public Utilities Commission Utilities Reimbursement Account 
          (special fund) in FY 2013-14 to conduct a proceeding to update 
          the PUC's Rules of Practice and Procedure. 

          Background: Unlike other state agencies, whose records are 
          generally open for public inspection under the California Public 
          Records Act, the PUC operates under a statute that affords the 
          public access to its records only when specifically permitted by 
          the PUC. This statute creates a presumption against public 
          inspection and has been largely unchanged despite past open 
          government reforms that affected other agencies.

          Public Utilities Code §583 states that any present or former 
          employee of the PUC who divulges any confidential public utility 
          information provided to the PUC is guilty of a misdemeanor.

          Proposed Law: This bill would delete PUC-specific public 
          disclosure requirements and instead would require that 
          investigation orders, recommendations, and accident reports be 
          available to the public under the California Public Records Act. 
          This bill would also no longer make it a misdemeanor for a PUC 
          employee to divulge confidential public utility information.

          Related Legislation: AB 1541 (Dickinson) would expand public 








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          access to accident investigation orders or recommendations.

          Staff Comments: According to the PUC, much of the work required 
          by this bill can be done through resolution, which would have 
          minimal costs to the PUC. Staff notes that consideration of 
          increased public disclosure of PUC reports through a resolution 
          is currently underway at the PUC. 

          There is some uncertainty on whether the bill would require the 
          PUC to update their Rules of Practice and Procedures, which can 
          only be done through a proceeding. If this update would be 
          required, the PUC estimates it would need to conduct a 
          relatively simple proceeding for an approximate one-time cost of 
          $75,000.