2. Procedural Matters

As relevant to today's decision, we have received several rounds of comments on our original proposals, set forth in the order instituting this rulemaking. Then, on February 14, 2001, the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued a draft decision (the "2001 Draft") in which the ALJ invited comment on extensive revisions to the originally proposed GO 96-B. Following these comments and replies, further comments were invited on specific aspects of the Telecommunications Industry Rules. We continue to consider the various Industry Rules and the General Rules that complement the planned tier structure for advice letter review in the respective utility industries. Meanwhile, today's decision not only puts in place another part of the necessary groundwork for final adoption of GO 96-B, but also improves the handling of advice letters under current practice. The comments specific to today's decision are discussed in Section 4 below.