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Assembly committee advances bill to bar utilities from using ratepayer funds to oppose municipal utilities
Summary
The Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy advanced SB 327 to prohibit investor‑owned utilities from spending ratepayer dollars to oppose municipalization and to codify the Public Advocates Office's authority to inspect utility accounting; the measure passed out of committee (final roll noted 12–2) and moves to appropriations.
The Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy voted to move SB 327 out of committee after discussion and amendments aimed at strengthening ratepayer protections. The bill would bar investor‑owned utilities (IOUs) from using ratepayer funds to lobby against the creation or expansion of municipal utilities and would codify the Public Advocates Office’s authority to inspect IOU accounting and financial records.
Supporters told the committee that IOUs have spent substantial sums opposing municipalization. Adria Tinnan, director of race equity and legislative policy for TURN, said SB 327 “ensures that ratepayer money is not used to undermine the establishment or expansion of municipal utilities,” and described the measure as a way to protect customer dollars for necessary investments like clean energy and infrastructure.
Annabel Hopkins of the Public Advocates Office said the bill formalizes an existing understanding that the PAO can review utilities’ books and explained there is a formal CPUC process to adjudicate utility objections to data requests. “We do receive quite a lot of pushback to our data requests,” Hopkins said, and the bill, she added, preserves an adjudicative review in writing by an assigned commissioner or the PUC president.
Industry witnesses objected to parts of the bill while acknowledging some changes. Joe Zanzi, speaking for SoCal Gas and San Diego Gas & Electric, said his companies were reviewing committee amendments and urged continued work on exemptions for regulatory and legally required activities. Other trade associations and utilities testified they may oppose unless amended.
Committee members pressed for clarity about what the bill adds beyond prior legislation and how safeguards would protect utilities’ ability to provide technical information in regulatory proceedings. Sponsors and the author said SB 327 supplements existing law and preserves procedural checks already in statute.
After discussion, the committee approved a motion to pass SB 327 as amended to appropriations; the roll was left open for absent members, and the clerk recorded a final tally reported in committee as 12 yes, 2 no.
