i Mirant contends that it is improper to take official notice of the Governor's 2001 State of the State Address. Even if proper, Mirant asserts that the Governor's Address provides no evidentiary support regarding questionable operation of powerplants and resulting disruptions. We disagree to the extent explained below.
Official notice may be taken of matters that may be judicially noticed by the courts of the State of California. (Rule 73.) Judicial notice may be taken of official acts of the executive department of any state of the United States. (Evidence Code § 452(c).) The 2001 State of the State Address is an official act of California's Governor. (California Constitution, Article 5, Section 3.)
The 2001 State of the State reflects the beliefs of the State's Chief Executive at the time. Those views provide useful context for the adoption of SB 2X 39, and our related responsibilities.
Mirant contends that even if official notice may be taken, the Commission must still apply its own discretion to determine what inferences, if any, should be drawn from the document, and what weight it should be given. We do so. For example, we consider our own filed pleadings before the federal government (i.e., pleadings which document many instances of generating assets being placed in reserve status for questionable reasons and resulting in power outages), and we add a reference in this decision to these pleadings (i.e., the same reference cited in D.04-05-018). We consider the fact that the Governor determined the situation to be so grave that he proclaimed a State of Emergency (the proclamation itself identifying shortages, blackouts, imminent threat of widespread and prolonged disruption, and a condition of extreme peril). We consider our own many decisions which discuss and address California's dysfunctional electricity market and energy crisis. (E.g., D.01-01-018, D.01-03-082, D.01-04-006, D.02-04-060, D.04-01-026.) We also consider relevant court decisions in cases in which we were involved (e.g., Southern California Edison Co. v. Peevey (2003) 31 Cal. 4th 781) in determining the inferences to be drawn, and the weight to give, the 2001 State of the State Address.
Finally, we note that this reference is used in the background section of the decision to provide context. It is not used as evidence, and is not relied upon in this order for any finding of fact, conclusion of law, or ordering paragraph.
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