BILL NUMBER: SB 1017	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  AUGUST 1, 2016
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  JUNE 20, 2016

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hill

                        FEBRUARY 11, 2016

   An act to amend Section 583 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   replace  the
provision that makes divulging this information a  misdemeanor,
to instead provide, subject to certain exceptions, that any present
or former officer or employee of the commission who divulges this
information or information that is prohibited from being released by
any other state law or by federal law, for monetary gain, for
employment gain or advance, to place a public utility that furnished
the information at a competitive disadvantage, or to provide a
competitive advantage to another is guilty of 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 operational
control by a public utility.  The bill would prohibit any
document that is prohibited from being released by any other state
law or by federal law from being made open to the public or being
publicly released. 
   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.   (a)     (1)    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. 
   (2) No document shall be made open to the public or publicly
released that is prohibited from being released by any other state
law or by federal law.  
   (b) (1) Any present or former officer or employee of the
commission who, for monetary gain, for employment gain or advance, to
place a public utility that furnished the information at a
competitive disadvantage, or to provide a competitive advantage to
another, divulges any information that is prohibited from being
released pursuant to subdivision (a) is guilty of a misdemeanor.
 
   (2) It is not a crime to divulge information that is prohibited
from being publicly released pursuant to subdivision (a) to the
Bureau of State Audits as information relevant to a whistleblower
complaint or to share information with a state entity under a
memorandum of understanding that protects the confidentiality of the
information. 
  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.