III. Greenlining/LIF's Petition

On October 28, 2002, Greenlining/LIF filed a petition for rulemaking pursuant to Pub. Util. Code 1708.5 to amend GO 156. Section 1708.5 authorizes "interested persons to petition the commission to adopt, amend, or repeal a regulation." The Commission is then to consider the petition and, within six months, either deny the petition or institute a proceeding to adopt, repeal, or amend the regulation.

Greenlining/LIF's petition makes two alternative proposals regarding exclusions. First, petitioners propose to amend GO 156 to eliminate the currently allowed exclusions from the base of procurement dollars the utilities use to establish the monetary value of the WMDVBE procurement goals, "unless a utility can overwhelmingly demonstrate that there are no WMDVBE companies available and that they have engaged in best practices and very substantial efforts to encourage the development of such companies." (Petition at p. 1, emphasis in the original.) Greenlining/LIF believe their recommended test is much stronger than what currently exists under GO 156, § 8.5, which permits the utility to exclude products or services if it is clearly evident that WMDVBEs do not provide such products or services. Alternatively, Greenlining/LIF request that the Commission entirely eliminate exclusions.

Greenlining/LIF believe that the markets have changed dramatically since the Commission's first WMDVBE decision issued in 1982, that WMDVBEs are participating in the utilities' markets to a more significant extent than before, and that the existence of exclusions encourages the utilities to exaggerate the absence of WMDVBE suppliers rather than to aggressively foster their participation. Furthermore, because some utilities use exclusions and others (such as SBC/California (SBC)) do not, petitioners argue that the existence of the reporting exclusion diminishes public recognition of excellence in achieving the implicit goals of General Order 156 of significantly increasing the extent of women, minority and disabled veteran business enterprises' participation in the utilities contract procurement.

Greenlining/LIF also request that the Commission's Communications and Public Information Division conduct a study showing how much in dollars, as well as in percent of dollars, each major utility has excluded each year since the initiation of GO 156, or that each utility be required to report this data.

Finally, Greenlining/LIF propose that the Commission conduct an audit to ensure that each utility's WMDVBE verification and reporting process is accurate and reliable, and propose that the Commission require the utilities to standardize their WMDVBE reporting and verification.