BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1651
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Date of Hearing: April 13, 2016
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Lorena Gonzalez, Chair
AB
1651 (Obernolte) - As Amended March 17, 2016
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|Policy |Utilities and Commerce |Vote:|15 - 0 |
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Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program: NoReimbursable: No
SUMMARY:
This bill requires the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to post
information related to contracts and audits on its Internet web
site. Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the PUC, no less frequently than once a month, to
post the following documents and information on its Internet
Web site:
AB 1651
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a) A copy of each contract that the PUC enters into;
b) The names, addresses, and points of contact of parties
to the contract;
c) The goods and services requested, as applicable; and
d) The contract value.
2)Beginning July 1, 2017, requires the PUC to also post on its
internet Web site all contracts entered into at its direction,
regardless of whether the PUC is a party to the contract.
3)Requires the PUC to post any audits of the PUC's contracting
practices conducted by the Department of General Services
(DGS) on its Internet web site.,
FISCAL EFFECT:
Increased administrative and equipment costs in the $150,000
range (special fund). According to the PUC, as many as 400
contracts are received per month, most of them paper. These
paper contracts need to be scanned, uploaded, assembled, and
tracked. A full time Associate Governmental Program Analyst will
be needed to perform these tasks. Additionally,
this project will require dedicated IT resources to manage the
functions, storage, and systems for publishing all contracts and
related documents on the web.
AB 1651
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COMMENTS:
1)Purpose. According to the author, one of the PUC's core
functions is to foster a fair contracting process that ensures
public utilities are providing ratepayers with reliable
service at reasonable rates. This bill provides the public
with the information needed to keep the PUC accountable.
This bill is sponsored by the PUC. According to the sponsor,
an audit to examine PUC contracting practices was approved by
the Joint Legislative Audit Committee on January 13, 2016.
While the California State Auditor's report is still pending,
this bill will help ensure maximum transparency moving
forward.
2)PUC Contracts. DGS has the statutory authority for the
competitive and non-competitive procurement of information
technology goods and services for the state. In most cases,
state agencies rely on the State Contracting Manual when
soliciting and/or entering into a contract to provide
services. Under current law, DGS has the authority to
delegate authority to any state agency to acquire certain
types of acquisitions. DGS has delegated authority to the
PUC to award contracts for information and non-information
technology goods without competitive bidding if the amount of
the contract does not exceed $25,000.
In 2000, the State Auditor determined that the PUC has not
adequately developed or managed many of its contracts. The
State Auditor further found lack of invoice review, resulting
in potentially hundreds of thousands of improper charges. In
response to the issues raised in the report, the PUC announced
it will now require contract mangers to use competitive bid
processes and will follow the State Contracting Manual.
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This bill provides transparency regarding whether or not the
PUC is consistently using the state contracting process as
well as the results of any related audits.
Analysis Prepared by:Jennifer Galehouse / APPR. / (916)
319-2081