Public Utilities Commission: records.

(1) Under existing law, the Public Utilities Commission has regulatory authority over public utilities and can establish its own procedures, subject to statutory limitations or directions and constitutional requirements of due process. The Public Utilities Act requires the commission to investigate the cause of all accidents occurring upon the property of any public utility or directly or indirectly arising from or connected with its maintenance or operation, resulting in loss of life or injury to person or property and requiring, in the judgment of the commission, investigation by it, and authorizes the commission to make any order or recommendation with respect to the investigation that it determines to be just and reasonable. This bill would require that any order or recommendation made by the commission and any accident report filed with, or generated by, the commission pursuant to these requirements be made available and ready for public review in compliance with the California Public Records Act and these provisions. (2) The Public Utilities Act prohibits the commission or an officer or employee of the commission from disclosing any information furnished to the commission by a public utility, a subsidiary, an affiliate, or corporation holding a controlling interest in a public utility, unless the information is specifically required to be open to public inspection under the act, except on order of the commission or a commissioner in the course of a hearing or proceeding. The act provides that any present or former officer or employee of the commission who divulges this information is guilty of a misdemeanor. This bill would require the commission, for those records subject to public disclosure, to determine, prior to disclosing any record, whether any exemptions to the California Public Records Act or other law restricting disclosure applies to that record. This bill would require the commission to create a list of safety-related reports submitted by gas corporations or electrical corporations that the commission would, upon completion of the reports, automatically disclose to the public. The bill would require the commission, prior to disclosing any record, to determine whether any exemptions to the California Public Records Act or other law restricting disclosure apply to that record. The bill would require the commission to post certain information on its Internet Web site.