BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    �



                                                                  SB 1364
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 8, 2012

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                     SB 1364 (Huff) - As Amended:  May 25, 2012 

          Policy Committee:                              
          UtilitiesVote:13-0 (Consent)

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program: 
          Yes    Reimbursable:              No

           SUMMARY  

          This bill subjects water corporations with more than 2,000 
          service connections to the same notification, reporting and 
          auditing requirements currently imposed on electrical, gas, and 
          telephone corporations. Specifically, this bill:   

          1)Requires water corporations with more than 2,000 service 
            connections to:

             a)   Include specified information in notices to ratepayers 
               regarding rate increases.

             b)   Annually report to the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) 
               on all significant transactions between the corporation and 
               every subsidiary or affiliate of the corporation.

          1)Authorizes the PUC-in lieu of conducting a statutorily 
            required periodic audit of significant transactions between an 
            electrical, gas or telephone corporation and the corporation's 
            subsidiaries or affiliate-to instead direct the corporation to 
            use the services of an independent auditor selected and 
            supervised by the corporation.

          2)Applies the proposed auditing requirements to any water 
            corporation with more than 2,000 service connections.

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Negligible fiscal impact to the PUC.

           COMMENTS  








                                                                  SB 1364
                                                                  Page  2


           Purpose  . According to the author, under the Public Utilities 
          Code, water corporations are subject to less oversight, 
          transparency and accountability than gas, electric and telephone 
          corporations.  SB 1364 seeks to ensure that ratepayers served by 
          private water companies are not asked to pay more for the same 
          service than a ratepayer serviced by a public agency without a 
          clear understanding of the associated costs.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Chuck Nicol / APPR. / (916) 319-2081