CPUC Reform Inches Forward in Assembly
A bureau of the California State Library should consider the appropriate regulatory structure for telecom oversight by a revamped California Public Utilities Commission, said proposed legislation that surfaced Wednesday. Assemblymember Mike Gatto (D) filed an amendment stripping original language of…
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a bill on damages from the California energy crisis in 2000, and inserting in its place another piece of the CPUC reform package worked out between Democratic legislators and Gov. Jerry Brown (D). The amended AB-2903 would require the California Research Bureau by Jan. 1, 2018, “to conduct a study of telecommunications service governance to determine what regulatory structure would provide the appropriate regulatory oversight of telecommunications services and to assess the overarching goals of the various programs carried out by the commission, including a discussion of whether the commission, as a whole, is strategically aligned towards a clearly articulated public goal. The bill would require the study to review specified matters and to take into account the history of telecommunications service regulation in the state and changes in technology to make recommendations for guiding principles that clearly define California’s goals for the regulation of the telecommunications industry.” Other provisions include a requirement that CPUC appoint an ethics ombudsman and a prohibition on public utility executives becoming CPUC commissioners within two years of utility employment. At a hearing Wednesday, the Assembly Appropriations Committee voted 12-5 to pass SB-1017, another part of the CPUC reform package. The bill aims to increase public access to utility-supplied documents at CPUC. At the hearing, AT&T, CTIA and other industry officials raised concerns about the measure in its current form, saying the bill could result in disclosure of confidential and sensitive information. The bill’s sponsor, state Senator Jerry Hill (D), committed to addressing confidentiality concerns in amendments now in the works. “We’ll be there,” he said. The committee placed two other parts -- SB-215 and SB-512 -- in the committee’s “suspense file,” a category reserved for bills deemed to be costly, for a vote expected later in the month. The three bills already cleared the Senate and the Assembly Utilities and Commerce Committee (see 1606300027). The committee also placed on suspense the Senate-passed SB-745, which makes various changes to grant programs provided by the California Advanced Services Fund, including a requirement that CPUC prioritize unserved housing developments.