Amended in Assembly April 16, 2013

Amended in Assembly April 1, 2013

California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 366

Introduced by Assembly Member Holden

February 14, 2013

An act to amend Section 8282 of the Public Utilities Code, relating to women, minority, and disabled veteran business enterprises.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 366, as amended, Holden. Women, minority, and disabled veteran business enterprises.

Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical, gas, water, and telephone corporations. Existing law authorizes the commission to establish rules for all public utilities, subject to control by the Legislature.

Existing law directs the commission to require every electrical, gas, water, wireless telecommunications service provider, and telephone corporation with annual gross revenues exceeding $25,000,000, and their regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, to implement a program developed by the commission to encourage, recruit, and utilize minority-, women-, and disabled veteran-owned business enterprises, as defined, in the procurement of contracts from those corporations or from their regulated subsidiaries and affiliates, and to require the reporting of certain information. Existing law requires the commission, by rule or order, to adopt criteria for verifying and determining eligibility of women, minority, and disabled veteran business enterprises for procurement contracts. The commission, by its rulemaking authority, has adopted General Order 156, applicable to certain electrical, gas, and telephone corporations, to effectuate these requirements. For the purposes of these provisions, existing law defines a minority business enterprise, women business enterprise, and disabled veteran business enterprise.

This bill would revise and recast these definitions.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

Section 8282 of the Public Utilities Code is
amended to read:

8282.  

For begin delete the end delete purposes of this article, the following definitions
apply:

(a) “Women business enterprise” means a business enterprise
whose management and daily business operations are controlled
by one or more women and is either at least 51 percent owned by
a woman or women; or, in the case of any publicly owned business,
has begin insert an executive management team that consists of at least 51
percent women, and has end insert a board of directors whose membership
includes at least 51 percent women, and did so for at least five
years prior to the certification of the publicly owned business as
a women business enterprise.

(b) “Minority business enterprise” means a business enterprise
whose management and daily business operations are controlled
by one or more members of a minority group and is either at least
51 percent owned by a minority group or groups; or, in the case
of any publicly owned business, has begin insert an executive management
team that consists of at least 51 percent minority, and has end insert a board
of directors whose membership includes at least 51 percent of one
or more minority groups and did so for at least five years prior to
the certification of the publicly owned business as a minority
business enterprise. The contracting utility shall presume that
minority includes Asian Pacific Americans, begin delete Black end delete begin insert African end insert
Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Native Americans.

(c) “Disabled veteran business enterprise” has the same meaning
as defined in paragraph (7) of subdivision (b) of Section 999 of
the Military and Veterans Code, except that in the case of any
publicly owned business the board of directors membership shall
include at least 51 percent disabled veterans, and the executive
management and daily business operations shall be controlled by
one or more disabled veterans. The membership of the board of
directors must consist of at least 51 percent disabled veterans for
at least five years prior to the certification of a publicly owned
business as a disabled veteran business enterprise.

(d) “Control” means exercising the power to make policy
decisions.

(e)  “Operate” means being actively involved in the day-to-day
management and not merely officers or directors.

begin insert

(f) “Executive management team” means controlling officers,
as defined in the articles of incorporation or bylaws of the publicly
owned businesses.

end insert