BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 1488|
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UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Bill No: SB 1488
Author: Bowen (D)
Amended: 6/9/04
Vote: 21
SENATE ENERGY, U.&C. COMMITTEE : 5-1, 3/23/04
AYES: Bowen, Alarcon, Dunn, Sher, Vasconcellos
NOES: Battin
NO VOTE RECORDED: Morrow, McClintock, Murray
SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE : 4-2, 4/20/04
AYES: Escutia, Cedillo, Kuehl, Sher
NOES: Morrow, Ackerman
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ducheny
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : Senate Rule 28.8
SENATE FLOOR : 22-10, 8/27/04
AYES: Alarcon, Alpert, Bowen, Burton, Chesbro, Dunn,
Escutia, Figueroa, Hollingsworth, Karnette, Kuehl,
Machado, McClintock, Murray, Ortiz, Perata, Romero,
Scott, Sher, Speier, Torlakson, Vasconcellos
NOES: Ackerman, Ashburn, Battin, Brulte, Denham, Margett,
McPherson, Morrow, Oller, Poochigian
NO VOTE RECORDED: Aanestad, Cedillo, Ducheny, Florez,
Johnson, Soto, Vincent, Vacancy
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 75-3, 8/27/04 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Public Utilities Commission: public information
SOURCE : Author
CONTINUED
SB 1488
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DIGEST : This bill requires the State Public Utilities
Commission (PUC) to initiate a proceeding to review its
public disclosure practices.
Assembly Amendments delete the prior version, however, the
subject and intent remain the same. As it left the Senate,
the bill subjected all information to public inspection,
unless already exempt by state law or unless the PUC
determines that the public interest would be better served
by withholding disclosure.
ANALYSIS : Unlike other state agencies, whose records are
generally open for public inspection, the PUC operates
under a statute that affords the public access to its
records only when specifically permitted by the PUC.
The section creating the presumption against public
inspection has its origin in a law enacted in 1915.
Despite the "open government" reforms in California such as
the Public Records Act (PRA), enacted in 1968, the
statutory standard for public access to utility filings
with the PUC has not fundamentally changed since 1915.
The PRA gives every person the right to inspect and obtain
copies of all state and local government documents not
exempt from disclosure. Exemptions include corporate
financial records and corporate proprietary information,
including trade secrets. The PRA also specifically
provides that information held by the PUC which is deemed
confidential under Section 583 of the Public Utilities Code
is not required to be disclosed.
In January 2004, the Legislature adopted SCA 1 (Burton),
which proposes to make access to records and public
meetings of government officials and agencies a
constitutional right of each citizen. To be enacted, SCA 1
also must be approved by voters and is pending on the
November 2004 statewide ballot. If enacted, SCA 1 would
not repeal or nullify Section 583 or any other existing law
that creates an exception to the right of access to public
records.
SB 1488
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Existing law requires public utilities to furnish to the
PUC information necessary for the PUC to carry out its
regulatory duties.
Existing law requires that records of every state agency be
made available for public inspection upon request, with
certain exceptions and subject to procedures.
Existing law establishes a presumption against public
disclosure by providing that no information furnished by a
public utility, or its subsidiary, affiliate or holding
company, shall be made public unless a provision of the
Public Utilities Act or the PUC requires it to be made
public.
This bill requires the PUC to initiate a proceeding to
review its public disclosure practices. Specifically, this
bill requires PUC to initiate a proceeding to review its
practices under its electricity procurement proceeding and
it public disclosure rules to ensure meaningful public
participation and open decision making.
Comments . The purpose of this bill is to require the PUC
to initiate a proceeding to review its information
disclosure practices to ensure meaningful public
participation and open decision making. This comes as a
result of an increase amount of information being redacted
by the PUC before disclosure to the public. Currently the
PUC has initiated a process to review the public disclosure
process for information in the long-term electricity
procurement proceeding where numerous parties involved
representing both ratepayers and competitors want greater
disclosure for different reasons. Since decisions made by
the PUC can affect market decisions a more thorough review
of the public disclosure practices of the agency would go a
long way towards ensuring that the public and interested
parties see process as fair and open.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 5/25/04) (Unable to re-verify at time
of this writing)
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American Federation of State, County and Municipal
Employees, AFL-CIO
Clean Power Campaign
Environment California
Independent Energy Producers
Sierra Club
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Aghazarian, Bates, Benoit, Berg, Bermudez, Bogh,
Calderon, Campbell, Canciamilla, Chan, Chavez, Chu,
Cogdill, Cohn, Corbett, Correa, Cox, Daucher, Diaz,
Dutra, Dutton, Dymally, Firebaugh, Frommer, Garcia,
Goldberg, Hancock, Jerome Horton, Shirley Horton,
Jackson, Keene, Kehoe, Koretz, La Malfa, La Suer, Laird,
Leno, Leslie, Levine, Lieber, Liu, Longville, Lowenthal,
Maddox, Maldonado, Matthews, Maze, McCarthy, Montanez,
Mountjoy, Mullin, Nakanishi, Nakano, Nation, Negrete
McLeod, Oropeza, Pacheco, Parra, Pavley, Reyes, Richman,
Ridley-Thomas, Salinas, Samuelian, Simitian, Spitzer,
Steinberg, Strickland, Vargas, Wesson, Wiggins, Wolk,
Wyland, Yee, Nunez
NOES: Haynes, Plescia, Runner
NO VOTE RECORDED: Harman, Houston
NC:mel 8/31/04 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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