Public utilities: judicial review.

Existing law authorizes a party aggrieved by a decision or order of the Public Utilities Commission to file a petition for a writ of review in the court of appeal or the Supreme Court for purposes of reviewing the decision or order within 30 days after the commission issues its decision denying the application for a rehearing, or, if the application was granted, within 30 days after the commission issues its decision on the rehearing, or at least 120 days after the application is granted if no decision on rehearing has been issued. This bill would extend the 30-day time periods to 90 days. For a petition challenging a final decision of the commission on the grounds that the final decision substantially deviated from a proposed decision of a commission administrative law judge, the bill would require the court to presume the final decision to be arbitrary and unlawful unless the commission can demonstrate to the satisfaction of the court that the deviations were necessary to comply with state or federal law. Existing law authorizes the commission to fix the rates and charges for public utilities, including electrical and gas corporations, and requires those rates to be just and reasonable. This bill would prohibit the commission from authorizing electrical or gas corporations to recover from their ratepayers the costs associated with seeking judicial review of a commission decision by a state or federal court or requesting relief from a commission decision at a federal agency. The bill would require the electrical and gas corporation to track those costs. Under existing law, a violation of the Public Utilities Act or any order, decision, rule, direction, demand, or requirement of the commission is a crime. Because the above provisions would be part of the act and a violation of a commission action implementing this bill's requirements would be a crime, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.