BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  SB 772
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   August 20, 2003

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                              Darrell Steinberg, Chair

                    SB 772 (Bowen) - As Amended:  April 29, 2003 

          Policy Committee:                               
          UtilitiesVote:11-0
                        Governmental Organization             20-0

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:               

           SUMMARY  

          This bill

          1)Requires the California Energy Commission (CEC) to grant a  
            request for disaggregated or unmasked records of confidential  
            information if such disclosure will not result in an unfair  
            competitive disadvantage to the person that submitted the  
            information, unless the public interest served by denying the  
            request outweighs the public interest served by disclosure, or  
            unless another provision of law exempts disclosure.

          2)Specifies that confidential information withheld by the CEC  
            under this section shall not be subject to disclosure under  
            the California Public Records Act.

           FISCAL EFFECT 

          Minor absorbable costs to the CEC.

           COMMENTS  

           1)Background  .  The CEC has various energy planning and  
            forecasting duties, including the preparation of reports on  
            electricity and natural gas demand, energy efficiency,  
            renewable technologies, public interest energy research,  
            climate change, environmental performance of power plants, and  
            the use, availability and price of transportation fuels.   
            Public Resources Code Section 25322 provides the manner by  
            which the CEC must handle requests for records of information  
            submitted to it by various business interests that deal with  








                                                                  SB 772
                                                                  Page  2

            energy resources. 

           2)Purpose  .  SB 1389 (Bowen)-Chapter 568/Statutes of 2002, as  
            passed by the Senate, included a provision for the handling of  
            requests for records of information submitted to CEC for the  
            purpose of preparing the Integrated Energy Policy Report.  The  
            provision was later deleted from the bill in the Assembly  
            Utilities and Commerce Committee.  SB 772 reinserts this  
            language into Public Resources Code.  The author believes that  
            it is necessary to include this language in order to strike  
            the proper balance between the private interest in maintaining  
            the confidentiality of sensitive commercial information and  
            the public interest in understanding the functioning of energy  
            markets and institutions which serve as the basis for  
            important public decisions.

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