California Public Utilities Code CHAPTER 2 - The Public Utilities Commission: Organization

• Section 301.
  The membership of the Public Utilities Commission, and the qualifications and tenure of the members of the commission are as provided in Section 1 of...
• Section 302.
  Each commissioner shall, before entering upon the duties of his office, take and subscribe the constitutional oath of office.(Enacted by Stats. 1951, Ch. 764.)
• Section 303.
  (a) A public utilities commissioner may not hold an official relation to, nor have a financial interest in, a person or corporation subject to regulation by...
• Section 304.
  The annual salary of each commissioner is provided for by Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 11550) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2...
• Section 305.
  The Governor shall designate a president of the commission from among the members of the commission. The president shall direct the executive director, the attorney,...
• Section 306.
  (a) The office of the commission shall be in the City and County of San Francisco. The office shall always be open, legal holidays and nonjudicial...
• Section 307.
  (a) The commission may appoint as attorney to the commission an attorney at law of this state, who shall hold office during the pleasure of the...
• Section 307.2.
  There is within the legal division of the commission an ethics officer who shall be designated by the general counsel. The ethics officer shall be...
• Section 307.5.
  (a) The commission shall appoint a chief administrative law judge, who shall hold office at the pleasure of the commission.(b) The chief administrative law judge shall be...
• Section 307.6.
  (a) The commission shall appoint a chief internal auditor, who shall hold office at the pleasure of the commission.(b) The chief internal auditor shall be responsible for...
• Section 308.
  (a) The commission shall appoint an executive director, who shall hold office during its pleasure. The executive director shall be responsible for the commission’s executive and...
• Section 308.5.
  Persons employed as investigators and investigator supervisors by the commission, who are designated by the commission’s executive director and approved by the commission, have the...
• Section 309.
  (a) The executive director may employ such officers, administrative law judges, experts, engineers, statisticians, accountants, inspectors, clerks, and employees as the executive director deems necessary to...
• Section 309.1.
  The Governor may appoint one adviser for each member of the commission upon the request of the commission member. Each adviser shall receive a salary...
• Section 309.5.
  (a) There is within the commission an independent Office of Ratepayer Advocates to represent and advocate on behalf of the interests of public utility customers and...
• Section 309.6.
  (a) The commission shall adopt procedures on the disqualification of commissioners and administrative law judges due to bias or prejudice similar to those of other state...
• Section 309.7.
  (a) The division of the commission responsible for railroad safety shall be responsible for inspection, surveillance, and investigation of the rights-of-way, facilities, equipment, and operations of...
• Section 309.8.
  (a) There is hereby established within the commission the Office of the Safety Advocate to advocate for the continuous, cost-effective improvement of the safety management and...
• Section 310.
  No vacancy in the commission impairs the right of the remaining commissioners to exercise all the powers of the commission. A majority of the commissioners...
• Section 311.
  (a) The commission, each commissioner, the executive director, and the assistant executive directors may administer oaths, certify to all official acts, and issue subpoenas for the...
• Section 311.1.
  Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission shall not consider or require, in determining qualified bidders for, or in awarding contracts, that any facilities...
• Section 311.2.
  The commission shall adopt procedures authorizing the submittal of electronic signatures and documents by all parties on contracts involving the commission.(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch....
• Section 311.4.
  (a) On or after July 1, 2001, the commission shall establish procedures to permit the submission of informal complaints through electronic means in accordance with this...
• Section 311.5.
  (a) (1) Prior to commencement of any meeting at which commissioners vote on items on the public agenda, the commission shall make available to the public copies...
• Section 312.
  The commission and each commissioner may issue writs of summons, subpenas, warrants of attachment, warrants of commitment, and all necessary process in proceedings for contempt,...
• Section 313.
  The commission may require, by order served on any public utility, the production within this State at such time and place as it designates, of...
• Section 314.
  (a) The commission, each commissioner, and each officer and person employed by the commission may, at any time, inspect the accounts, books, papers, and documents of...
• Section 314.5.
  The commission shall inspect and audit the books and records for regulatory and tax purposes (1) at least once every three years in the case...
• Section 314.6.
  (a) The commission may conduct financial and performance audits of any entity or program created by any order, decision, motion, settlement, or other action of the...
• Section 315.
  The commission shall investigate the cause of all accidents occurring within this State upon the property of any public utility or directly or indirectly arising...
• Section 316.
  (a) Each electrical corporation shall cooperate fully with the commission in an investigation into any major accident or any reportable incident, as these terms are defined...
• Section 317.
  The commission may request the local agency formation commission to advise it as to any special districts as defined in Section 54775 of the Government...
• Section 319.
  (a) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:(1) “Direct seller,” “prepaid consumer,” “prepaid mobile telephony services,” “prepaid MTS provider,” “prepaid MTS surcharge,”...
• Section 320.
  The Legislature hereby declares that it is the policy of this state to achieve, whenever feasible and not inconsistent with sound environmental planning, the undergrounding...
• Section 321.
  (a) The commission shall appoint a public advisor and establish an office of the public advisor, including a separate office in the Los Angeles office of...
• Section 321.1.
  (a) It is the intent of the Legislature that the commission assess the consequences of its decisions, including economic effects, and assess and mitigate the impacts...
• Section 321.6.
  The president of the commission shall annually appear before the appropriate policy committees of the Senate and Assembly to present the annual report of the...
• Section 322.
  (a) The commission shall periodically, at least once each year, compile its rules of procedure together with every order and decision of the commission relating to...
• Section 322.5.
  The commission shall determine, as part of the proceeding in Rulemaking 98-07-038 (Rulemaking for purposes of Revising General Order 96-A Regarding Informal Filings at the...
• Section 323.
  (a) Commencing January 1, 1989, the commission shall cause the complete text of each of its orders and decisions to be published within a reasonable time,...
• Section 323.5.
  (a) For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:(1) “Demand-side energy management programs” mean all energy efficiency, demand-side response, clean distributed generation,...
• Section 324.
  The executive director of the commission may release to the Director of Industrial Relations any information concerning any person, corporation, or other entity under the...
• Section 324.5.
  (a) The Public Utilities Commission shall publish any data it collects for its clearinghouse minority and women business data base that it deems to be nonconfidential,...
• Section 324.7.
  No less frequently than once a year, the commission shall make the following information about each contract that the commission enters into available free of...
• Section 324.8.
  The commission shall make available on its Internet Web site audits conducted by the Department of General Services of the commission’s contracting practices.(Added by Stats....
• Section 325.
  (a) The Legislature hereby finds and declares that the commission should have the authority to act swiftly to expedite planning for the long-term recovery in parts...
• Section 327.
  (a) The electrical corporations and gas corporations that participate in the California Alternate Rates for Energy (CARE) program, as established pursuant to Section 739.1, shall administer...

Last modified: October 22, 2018