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


AB 1658 -  Assembly U&C                           Hearing  
Date:  July 13, 1999                 A
As Amended:  July 7, 1999               FISCAL           B
                                                             
  
                                                             
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                         DESCRIPTION
  
  This bill  is predominantly a technical cleanup bill on  
various provisions relating to the California Public  
Utilities Commission (CPUC) and with two exceptions, no  
policy changes are proposed by this bill.

                          BACKGROUND
  
  Take Two  .  In 1998, the CPUC engaged the various industries  
subject to its jurisdiction, as well as various stakeholder  
groups, in an effort to update the codes.  The CPUC held a  
number of meetings with the groups and developed AB 1605,  
which was approved by this Committee on consent but was  
ultimately vetoed because of a chaptering out problem.   
This bill is an exact reincarnation of AB 1605 (Committee  
on Utilities & Commerce) with a few added provisions which,  
with two exceptions, are technical.

Like AB 1605, this bill makes most of its changes in the  
transportation area, where federal preemption of much of  
the state's authority over railroads and some forms of  
trucking is recognized.  Other updates are to recognize the  
change in name of various organizations, both inside and  
outside of the CPUC.  The bill also deletes some obsolete  
code provisions and routine reporting requirements.  The  











provisions of the bill were agreed to by the  
transportation, energy, water, and telecommunications  
industries, as well as consumer and environmental groups.

  Technical But More Than Technical  .  This bill includes two  
non-technical changes that weren't present in AB 1605.  The  
first is a provision dealing with CPUC decisions regarding  
water utilities and exempts routine decisions and decisions  
regarding uncontested matters from the requirement of a  
30-day public review and comment period.  These review  
provisions were initially created for all utilities by SB  
779 (Calderon), Chapter 886, Statutes of 1998, but water  
utilities argue they were supposed to be exempted from the  
new requirement because they are still regulated  
monopolies.  The exemption was reportedly agreed to by all  
of the parties that worked on SB 779, but it was  
inadvertently omitted due to a drafting error.  

The second non-technical change to the bill requires  
applicants for a household goods carriers (i.e. movers)  
permit to submit fingerprints of all of its owners,  
partners, officers and directors, thus mirroring the  
existing fingerprint requirement that applies to electric  
service providers.  These fingerprints are to be submitted  
to the Department of Justice to determine if the applicant  
has a criminal history.  Existing license-holders are not  
required to submit fingerprints. 

                           COMMENTS
  
  1.An Exemption That Got Lost In The Mail  .  This portion of  
  the bill is supported by the California Water Association  
  (CWA), which argues the 30-day public notice requirement  
  for advice letter filings and uncontested decisions that  
  was created by SB 779 (Calderon), Chapter 886, Statutes  
  of 1998, was never intended to be applied to regulated  
  water utilities.  CWA believes these types of decisions  
  are not controversial and therefore there is no benefit  
  in a public notice and comment period that merely  
  duplicates the public process applied to the rate making  
  case that generates the subsequent advice letters and  
  uncontested filings.  While this may well be true for  
  uncontested decisions, the provision also applies to  
  advice letter filings which may be contested.   The author  










  and the Committee may wish to consider  amending the bill  
  to apply this exemption only to  uncontested  advice letter  
  filings.

  2.Print 'Em, Dan-O  . Current law permits the CPUC to refuse  
  to issue a permit to become a household goods carrier if  
  an officer or director has committed any act constituting  
  dishonesty or fraud, or committed a felony or crime  
  involving moral turpitude.  The provision of the bill  
  requiring the submission of fingerprints by household  
  goods carrier applicants gives the CPUC the ability to  
  run a criminal background check through the state  
  Department of Justice (DOJ) and FBI.  Absent this  
  authority, the DOJ and FBI will not run the checks.
                               
                       ASSEMBLY VOTES
  
Assembly U & C                     (11-0)
Assembly Appropriations            (21-0)
Assembly Floor                     (76-0)

                          POSITIONS
  
  Support:
  California Water Association (CWA)
PUC

  Oppose:
  None reported to Committee.


Randy Chinn 
AB 1658 Analysis
Hearing Date:  July 13, 1999