Electrical corporations and gas corporations: rate recovery: political activities and promotional advertising.

Assembly Members Berman and Addis have put forward legislation prohibiting California's electrical and gas corporations from charging ratepayers for political activities and promotional advertising. The bill establishes strict accounting requirements that prevent utilities from recording expenses related to political influence, trade association dues, charitable giving, and image-building communications to accounts recovered through customer rates.

Under the measure, utilities must clearly disclose whether shareholders or ratepayers fund their public messages and submit detailed annual reports documenting expenses for covered activities. These reports must include employee compensation, vendor costs, and time allocations for business units involved in political or promotional work. The Public Utilities Commission would make these reports publicly available while protecting confidential information.

The legislation creates new enforcement mechanisms, authorizing civil penalties between $1,000 and $10,000 per violation when utilities improperly charge political or promotional costs to ratepayer accounts. Utilities have 30 days to correct misclassified expenses before each day counts as a separate violation. One-fourth of collected penalties would fund enhanced oversight by the commission, subject to legislative appropriation. The Public Advocate's Office would gain authority to examine utility accounts and records to verify compliance.