BILL NUMBER: SB 1017	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 20, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hill

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2016

   An act to amend Section 583  of   of, and to
add Section 583.1 to,  the Public Utilities Code, relating to
the Public Utilities Commission.



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1017, as amended, 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.  Existing law provides that any officer
or employee of the commission who divulges any such information is
guilty of   a misdemeanor. 
   This bill  would repeal the provision that makes divulging
this information a misdemeanor. The 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.  The bill would require the commission to develop
rules consistent with the California Public Records Act for the
expeditious disclosure   , without the necessity of an order
of the commission or a commissioner in the course of a hearing or
proceeding, of information related to (1) public health and safety
 emergencies, (2) public, employee, and contractor safety,
and (3) environmental degradation caused by loss of operat  
ional control by 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. 
   SEC. 3.    Section 583.1 is added to the  
Public Utilities Code   , to read:  
   583.1.  (a) The commission shall develop rules consistent with the
California Public Records Act (Article 1 (commencing with Section
6250) of Chapter 3.5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government Code)
for the expeditious disclosure of information related to all of the
following:
   (1) Public health and safety emergencies.
   (2) Public, employee, and contractor safety.
   (3) Environmental degradation caused by loss of operational
control by a public utility.
   (b) Nothing in this part requires the commission to disclose
documents when the public interest served by not disclosing the
records clearly outweighs the public interest served by disclosure of
the records.
   (c) Nothing in this part requires the commission to disclose
documents regarding utility employees, contract employees, or
individuals who generally have an objectively reasonable expectation
of privacy in which disclosure would constitute an unwarranted
invasion of personal privacy.