Electricity and natural gas: legislation imposing mandated programs and requirements: third-party review.

Existing law vests the Public Utilities Commission with regulatory authority over public utilities, including electrical corporations and gas corporations. Existing law finds and declares that the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) was organized as a nonprofit corporation at the request of the Legislature for the specific purpose of offering expert advice to the state government on public policy issues significantly related to science and technology. Existing law requests the CCST, every 3 years, to assess the infrastructure project types, scale, and pace necessary to achieve the state's energy, climate change, and air quality goals, as specified. This bill would require the CCST to establish, on or before January 1, 2027, a program to, upon request of the Legislature, analyze legislation that would establish a mandated requirement or program, as defined, or otherwise affect electrical corporation or gas corporation ratepayers, as specified. The bill would require the CCST to develop and implement conflict-of-interest provisions to prohibit a person from participating in an analysis for which the person knows or has reasons to know that the person has a material financial interest. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2032.