Panel Passes Bill Allowing Search Warrants by PUC

A Senate committee on Wednesday unanimously passed without comment a bill that state investigators had claimed Southern California Edison was trying to use to curtail their police powers.

“This vote was important for us and for the consumers of California,” said William Schulte, director of the Public Utility Commission’s consumer safety division. “We appreciate Edison’s support.”

Edison abruptly dropped its opposition last week after Assemblywoman Diane Martinez (D-Monterey Park) and a PUC investigative supervisor publicly criticized the utility for trying to cut the agency’s powers.

They said the utility was miffed because two PUC investigators participated in last year’s raid on Edison’s Rosemead headquarters, which occurred because state arson investigators said the utility would not cooperate with their probe of the massive 1996 Calabasas fire.

But utility officials insist their opposition was not intended as retaliation, but rather they were trying to raise a “red flag” about some imprecise wording in the bill that might have inadvertently broadened the powers of the PUC.

“We’re delighted. This was a victory for the good guys,” said Martinez, who carried the bill for the PUC. “They took steps to bully the commission and failed.”

The proposed legislation, known as a “cleanup” bill, changes the name of the unit for which the investigators now work and states that investigators and supervisors in the consumer services division, if approved and properly trained, can serve search warrants and make arrests.

The bill that passed, said Edison Vice President Tommy Ross, “neither expands nor diminishes the power of the commission and that . . . is consistent with our position.”

The bill goes back to the Assembly where it is expected to pass easily before it is sent to the governor’s office.