BILL NUMBER: AB 2902	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Committee on Utilities and Commerce

                        MARCH 3, 2016

   An act to amend Section 306 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to the Public Utilities Commission.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2902, as introduced, Committee on Utilities and Commerce.
Public Utilities Commission: staff offices.
   Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory
authority over public utilities. Existing law requires the office of
the commission to be in the City and County of San Francisco.
   This bill would require the offices of the commission's staff to
be in Los Angeles, Sacramento, or San Francisco, if the location
meets the economic and efficiency requirements of the state, as
determined by the Department of Finance.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 306 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   306.  (a)  (1)    The office of the commission
shall be in the City and County of San Francisco. The office shall
always be open, legal holidays and nonjudicial days excepted. The
commission shall hold its sessions at least once in each calendar
month in the City and County of San Francisco. The commission may
also meet at such other times and in such other places as may be
expedient and necessary for the proper performance of its duties, and
for that purpose may rent quarters or offices. 
   (2) Paragraph (1) shall not apply to the staff of the commission.
The offices of the staff of the commission shall be in Los Angeles,
Sacramento, or San Francisco, if the location meets the economic and
efficiency requirements of the state, as determined by the Department
of Finance. 
   (b) The meetings of the commission shall be open and public in
accordance with the provisions of Article 9 (commencing with Section
11120) of Chapter 1 of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the
Government Code.
   In addition to the requirements of Section 11125 of the Government
Code, the commission shall include in its notice of meetings the
agenda of business to be transacted, and no item of business shall be
added to the agenda subsequent to the notice in the absence of an
unforeseen emergency situation. A rate increase shall not constitute
an unforeseen emergency situation. As used in this subdivision,
"meeting" shall include all investigations, proceedings, and showings
required by law to be open and public.
   (c) The commission shall have a seal, bearing the inscription
"Public Utilities Commission State of California." The seal shall be
affixed to all writs and authentications of copies of records and to
such other instruments as the commission shall direct.
   (d) The commission may procure all necessary books, maps, charts,
stationery, instruments, office furniture, apparatus, and appliances.