BILL NUMBER: SB 1017	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hill

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2016

   An act to amend Section 583 of the Public Utilities Code, relating
to the Public Utilities Commission.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1017, as introduced, Hill. Public Utilities Commission: public
availability of utility supplied documents.
   The California Constitution establishes the Public Utilities
Commission with certain general authority over all public utilities,
including the authority to establish rules for all public utilities,
subject to control by the Legislature. The Public Utilities Act
prohibits the commission or an officer or employee of the commission
from disclosing any information furnished to the commission by a
public utility, a subsidiary, an affiliate, or a corporation holding
a controlling interest in a public utility, unless the information is
specifically required to be open to public inspection under the act,
except on order of the commission or a commissioner in the course of
a hearing or proceeding.
   This bill would authorize the commission to adopt rules providing
for the disclosure of information furnished to the commission by a
public utility, a subsidiary, an affiliate, or a corporation holding
a controlling interest in a public utility.
   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.  The Legislature finds and declares that, pursuant to
Section 3 of Article I of the California Constitution, the public
should have access to all public records of state entities and this
right should extend to public records of the Public Utilities
Commission.
  SEC. 2.  Section 583 of the Public Utilities Code is amended to
read:
   583.  No information furnished to the commission by a public
utility, or any business which is a subsidiary or affiliate of a
public utility, or a corporation which holds a controlling interest
in a public utility, except those matters specifically required to be
open to public inspection by this part, shall be open to public
inspection or made public except on order  or rule  of the
commission, or by the commission or a commissioner in the course of a
hearing or proceeding. Any present or former officer or employee of
the commission who divulges any such information is guilty of a
misdemeanor.