BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                                   1
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             SENATE ENERGY, UTILITIES AND COMMUNICATIONS COMMITTEE
                            DEBRA BOWEN, CHAIRWOMAN
          

          SB 1624 -  Bowen                                  Hearing  
          Date:  April 13, 2004                S
          As Amended:         March 22, 2004      Non-FISCAL       B

                                                                       
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                                   DESCRIPTION
           
           Current law  establishes a division within the California  
          Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to represent the  
          interests of public utility customers and subscribers.   
          That division is known as the Office of Ratepayer Advocates  
          (ORA).

           This bill  clarifies that ORA has all the rights of a party  
          to intervene in CPUC proceedings and in judicial review of  
          CPUC decisions.

                                    BACKGROUND
           
          The CPUC decision-making process is a formalized,  
          evidence-driven process where interested parties submit  
          testimony and are subjected to cross-examination by  
          opposing parties.  CPUC decisions are supposed to be made  
          based on the weight of the evidence, subject to consistency  
          with the laws of the state.  Because the evidence is so  
          crucial to CPUC decision-making, the Legislature created  
          the ORA as a counterweight to the perspective of the  
          utilities, tasking it with the responsibility of providing  
          independent evidence and analysis.   ORA participates in  
          virtually all CPUC cases with the duty of representing the  
          interests of public utility customers to obtain the lowest  
          possible rate consistent with reliable and safe service  











               levels.  The ORA director is appointed by the Governor and  
               confirmed by the Senate.

               Parties who disagree with CPUC decisions may appeal those  
               decisions, first to the CPUC itself, then to the Court of  
               Appeals or the California Supreme Court.  The Court has the  
               discretion to accept the case or refuse to hear it.  There  
               is some question as to whether the ORA, as a representative  
               of public utility customers, can challenge a CPUC decision  
               in court. 

                                          COMMENTS
                
                1.Who Should Get To Go To Court  .  The ORA is the  
                 statutorily mandated representative of the ratepayer,  
                 representing ratepayers in virtually every CPUC case.   
                 Given that mandate and the fact that every other party to  
                 a CPUC case can challenge a CPUC decision in court, it  
                 makes little sense to deprive the sanctioned ratepayer  
                 representative of that same right.


































            Individual ratepayers have neither the interest nor where  
            with all to contest CPUC decisions in court.  Groups that  
            rely on intervenor compensation to pay for their efforts,  
            such as TURN, can take the CPUC to court, but they only  
            get paid if the CPUC agrees to pay them, so taking on the  
            CPUC is a very substantial financial risk for these  
            groups.  This contrasts sharply with the ability of  
            utilities to seek court review, who can have their court  
            costs covered through utility rates.

           2.Give Me Liberty Or . . .   Unlike other parties in CPUC  
            proceedings, the ORA isn't independent of the CPUC.  The  
            ORA's budget is a line item within the CPUC's budget and  
            the CPUC President can direct the CPUC staff in the  
            performance of their duties.  This lack of independence  
            may make it difficult for the ORA to utilize the  
            authority to challenge the decisions by essentially  
            taking its boss to court.  However, that difficulty may  
            create a useful tension to ensure the ORA challenges the  
            CPUC only when it believes the CPUC is clearly wrong.   
            Besides, the benefit of providing the ORA with clear  
            authority to challenge the CPUC lies as much with the  
            threat of judicial review as with actually obtaining  
            judicial review.

                                   POSITIONS
           
           Sponsor:
           
          Author

           Support:
           
          California Alliance For Consumer Protection

           Oppose:
           
          None on file

          






















               Randy Chinn 
               SB 1624 Analysis
               Hearing Date:  April 13, 2004