Gov. Brown vetoes bills to reform utilities commission

Governor Jerry Brown today (October 9th) vetoed a package of bills that were meant to reform the California Public Utilities Commission.

Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, sponsor of three bills that were vetoed, said, "I am disappointed by the governor's veto of my CPUC reform package. We need to rebuild the public's trust in their government. Each and every day [that] dysfunction continues at the [commission], that trust erodes. Reforms must be made to the [commission], and I look forward to working with Gov. Brown to ensure they are implemented." Rendon will be the next speaker of the Assembly.

Fat chance of reforming the commission with Brown as governor, says San Diego attorney Mike Aguirre, who has spearheaded the uncovering of corruption under the leadership of former commission president Michael Peevey.

"The investigation of the corruption in the Jerry Brown administration should begin today," says Aguirre. He fears that a criminal investigation of Peevey and Southern California Edison by the attorney general's office will also be thwarted at some point.

As rationale for the vetoes, according to SFGate, Brown says he that he supports more transparency at the utility regulating agency, but he doesn't want to create additional litigation that delays the board from making decisions.

Legislation introduced by Rendon would stifle back-channel communications between utilities and commission officials. Such secret huddles, often by email, were used by Pacific Gas & Electric to try to get the commission to have a lenient administrative law judge handle the case against the utility for its negligence leading to the disastrous gas explosion in San Bruno five years ago. CPUC commissioners did try to get the utility a lenient judge.

Sen. Ben Hueso of San Diego co-authored a bill that would ban ex-parte communications. That bill arose after it became well known that Southern California Edison had had secret meetings with Peevey to arrange to have ratepayers pick up the tab for more than $300 billion in expenses related to the closure of the San Onofre nuclear plant. Aguirre and others argued that shareholders should pay that bill, because the shutdown was caused by management.

Aguirre says the most important measure Brown vetoed would have permitted lawsuits against the CPUC to be heard in Superior Court. Now they go straight to the appellate court, which can refuse to hear them.

Gov. Brown's sister, Kathleen L. Brown, has been on the board of San Diego–based Sempra Energy since 2013.