Section 1701.3 Of Article 1. Hearings From California Public Utilities Code >> Division 1. >> Part 1. >> Chapter 9. >> Article 1.
1701.3
. (a) If the commission pursuant to Section 1701.1 has
determined that a ratesetting case requires a hearing, the procedures
prescribed by this section shall be applicable. The assigned
commissioner shall determine prior to the first hearing whether the
commissioner or the assigned administrative law judge shall be
designated as the principal hearing officer. The principal hearing
officer shall be present for more than one-half of the hearing days.
The decision of the principal hearing officer shall be the proposed
decision. An alternate decision may be issued by the assigned
commissioner or the assigned administrative law judge who is not the
principal hearing officer. The commission shall establish a procedure
for any party to request the presence of a commissioner at a
hearing. The assigned commissioner shall be present at the closing
arguments of the case. The principal hearing officer shall present
the proposed decision to the full commission in a public meeting. The
alternate decision, if any, shall also be presented to the full
commission at that public meeting. The alternate decision shall be
filed with the commission and shall be served on all parties
simultaneously with the proposed decision.
The presentation to the full commission shall contain a record of
the number of days of the hearing, the number of days that each
commissioner was present, and whether the decision was completed on
time.
(b) The commission shall provide by regulation for peremptory
challenges and challenges for cause of the administrative law judge.
Challenges for cause shall include, but not be limited to, financial
interests and prejudice. All parties shall be entitled to unlimited
peremptory challenges in any case in which the administrative law
judge has within the previous 12 months served in any capacity in an
advocacy position at the commission, been employed by a regulated
public utility, or has represented a party or has been a party of
interest in the case.
(c) Ex parte communications are prohibited in ratesetting cases.
However, oral ex parte communications may be permitted at any time by
any commissioner if all interested parties are invited and given not
less than three days' notice. Written ex parte communications may be
permitted by any party provided that copies of the communication are
transmitted to all parties on the same day. If an ex parte
communication meeting is granted to any party, all other parties
shall also be granted individual ex parte meetings of a substantially
equal period of time and shall be sent a notice of that
authorization at the time that the request is granted. In no event
shall that notice be less than three days. The commission may
establish a period during which no oral or written ex parte
communications shall be permitted and may meet in closed session
during that period, which shall not in any circumstance exceed 14
days. If the commission holds the decision, it may permit ex parte
communications during the first half of the interval between the hold
date and the date that the decision is calendared for final
decision. The commission may meet in closed session for the second
half of that interval.
(d) Any party has the right to present a final oral argument of
its case before the commission. Those requests shall be scheduled in
a timely manner. A quorum of the commission shall be present for the
final oral arguments.
(e) The commission may, in issuing its decision, adopt, modify, or
set aside the proposed decision or any part of the decision based on
evidence in the record. The final decision of the commission shall
be issued not later than 60 days after the issuance of the proposed
decision. Under extraordinary circumstances the commission may extend
this date for a reasonable period. The 60-day period shall be
extended for 30 days if any alternate decision is proposed pursuant
to Section 311.