Telecommunications in general, and broadband in particular, aren’t getting much attention at the California capitol this year. Friday was the deadline for introducing new bills for this year and, aside from privacy issues, nothing regarding telecoms that’s particularly substantive landed in the hopper.
Pacific Gas and Electric company and the California Public Utilities Commission, on the other hand, are in the gunsights of senator Jerry Hill (D- San Mateo). He floated a bill on Friday that would take much of the job of regulating PG&E away from the CPUC, and give it to the California legislature (h/t to Fred Pilot at the Eldo Telecom blog for the pointer). Senate bill 549 simply says…
The commission shall not approve any capital structure change or increase in rates for the Pacific Gas and Electric Company unless the Legislature, by statute, authorizes the capital structure change or increase in rates.
It’s a placeholder bill, introduced to meet the deadline, with details to be worked out later. That’s my read anyway. Micromanaging the rates and capital structure of privately owned utilities, as the CPUC does, is a detailed and time consuming job. Giving it to legislative committees guarantees chaos.
His objective, judging from his press release, is to give the legislature, or at least Hill, a seat at the table as a federal judge disposes with PG&E’s request for bankruptcy protection. The gambit might work. A credible threat to subject PG&E to direct and overt political control could create enough financial uncertainty to kill any reasonable bankruptcy settlement.
Hill introduced two other utility related bills on Friday. SB 548 would increase requirements for private electric companies to inspect high voltage transmission lines – such as those suspected as the cause of the deadly Camp Fire – and SB 550 would require that a merger involving a gas or electric company “improves the safety of the utility service provided”.