The Colorado Public Utilities Commission on Oct. 29 agreed to issue a notice of proposed rulemaking intended to incorporate equity considerations from Senate Bill 21-272 into the commission's practice and procedure rules and referred the matter to an administrative law judge. The move follows a staff capstone report and multiple stakeholder workshops that recommended a new category of "equity impact proceedings" for cases such as electric resource plans, distribution system plans and gas infrastructure filings.

Mitchell DeCenzo, commission counsel, told commissioners the proposed rules would require utilities to perform outreach and include equity-related filing requirements for proceedings designated as equity impact proceedings, and would direct the commission to address disproportionate impacts on affected communities in final decisions. "These proposed rules are largely based on the findings and recommendations of the capstone report," DeCenzo said, summarizing stakeholder input and the parallel internal policy work Director White has led on language access and tribal consultation.

Commissioner Gilman and other commissioners praised the outreach effort and supported moving the draft to an adjudicative process. Gilman said the rules and parallel internal policies will be an iterative effort to improve accessibility and to allow disproportionately impacted communities a clearer line of sight into proceedings that affect them.

The commission's action was procedural: it authorized the issuance of a notice of proposed rulemaking and the referral of the matter to an administrative law judge to guide additional outreach and public comment. The ALJ process will allow parties and stakeholders to file comments and proposed edits before any final rules are adopted.

What happens next: the ALJ will manage further outreach and public comment, and staff and stakeholders will have the opportunity to refine the proposed rules in light of comments. The commission emphasized that internal policy updates will continue in parallel with the formal rulemaking to improve language access, community compensation and tribal consultation.

Speakers quoted or referenced in this story are members of the hearing record. The commission did not adopt final rules; it issued a NOPR and referred the matter to an ALJ for further development.