Public utilities: property, franchises, and permits: exemption.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities. Existing law prohibits public utilities, other than certain common carriers, from selling, leasing, assigning, mortgaging, or otherwise disposing of, or encumbering, its assets that are necessary or useful in the performance of its duties to the public, unless the public utility has secured an order from the commission to do so for a qualified transaction above $5,000,000 or an approval from the commission through the filing of an advice letter for a qualified transaction at or below $5,000,000. Absent protest or incomplete documentation, existing law requires the commission to approve or deny the advice letter within 120 days of its filing by the applicant public utility. This bill would reduce the time the commission has to approve or deny the advice letter from 120 days to 90 days.