BILL ANALYSIS Ó SB 434 Page 1 SENATE THIRD READING SB 434 (Hill) As Amended August 11, 2014 Majority vote SENATE VOTE : 26-2 UTILITIES & COMMERCE 14-0 ----------------------------------------------------------------- |Ayes:|Bradford, Patterson, | | | | |Bonilla, Buchanan, | | | | |Chávez, Dahle, Fong, Beth | | | | |Gaines, Garcia, | | | | |Roger Hernández, Jones, | | | | |Mullin, Quirk, Rendon | | | | | | | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY : Expands the prohibition of a sitting California Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Commissioner from acting as an owner, director, or officer of a non-state entity of existing non-state entities created before January 1, 2014, to those created by future actions of the PUC. Specifies a two-thirds vote of both houses of the Legislature is needed to remove a Commissioner of the California Public Utilities Commission, in the event that a Commissioner violates specified prohibitions. FISCAL EFFECT : Unknown. This bill is keyed non-fiscal by the Legislative Counsel. COMMENTS : According to the author, "the purpose of the bill is to enhance state oversight over moneys approved by the California Public Utilities Commission. Current law prohibits a commissioner from sitting on a non-state entity that he or she had a hand in creating as a commissioner, but only if the non-state entity was created before January 1, 2014 (active June 1, 2014)." This bill would instead ensure that the policy is forward-looking and would apply to all current and future commissioners upon the operative date of the legislation, which would be January 1, 2015, if enacted and signed by the Governor. Analysis Prepared by : DaVina Flemings / U. & C. / (916) 319-2083 SB 434 Page 2 FN: 0004319