3. Procedural History

Petitioners filed these two proceedings on May 30, 2003. Application (A.) 03-05-039, which we addressed in an expedited proceeding in D.03-07-047, sought temporary relief from GO 120-C requirements to enable balloon operators to obtain insurance during their peak flying season. Petition (P.) 03-05-040, which we address in today's decision, sought permanent changes in GO 120-C following public hearing and briefing by the parties.

On an undisputed showing that insurance complying with GO 120-C was no longer available to most balloonists, the Interim Decision authorized alternative ways to meet GO 120-C requirements during the peak ballooning months of May through October. However, it did not reduce the amount of insurance required, since under Pub. Util. Code § 5505 the amount of insurance can be changed only after a public hearing.

Following the Interim Decision, a Prehearing Conference was conducted on August 6, 2003, to consider the petition to amend GO 120-C. Assigned Commissioner Susan P. Kennedy filed a Scoping Memo on October 17, 2003, setting forth the issues to be considered at hearing. The hearing was conducted on November 18, 2003. The Commission heard from eight representatives of the balloon industry, two Napa County landowners, an insurance broker who had protested the application, and a spokesman for the Commission's Transportation Enforcement Section of the Consumer Protection and Safety Division (staff).

Opening briefs in this phase of the proceeding were filed on December 21, 2003, and reply briefs were due on January 16, 2004, at which time this matter was deemed submitted to the Commission for decision.