This agency contact information was current at the time of the report but may have changed in the interim. Please call (512-463-5455) for current contact information of the agency's records manager or records liaison for these records.
Dawn Brinkman
Sunset Advisory Commission
Capitol Building Extension, Room E2.002
1400 N. Congress
Austin, TX 78701
The Task Force on Public Utility Regulation was established by Executive
Order WPC-89-6 of Governor Clements on July 25, 1989. The stated purpose
of the Task Force was to "...study and evaluate the manner in which
public utilities are regulated in the State of Texas and the structure
and function of the entities created under the Public Regulatory Act...".
The executive order gave several reasons for the creation of the Task
Force citing recent controversies surrounding public utility regulation,
the increasing complexity of the field, and a management audit of the
Public Utility Commission (PUC) which suggested various organizational
changes to the agency, including expansion of the commission beyond
its current three-member commission. The Task Force was to consist of
nine members: three members of the Texas Senate appointed by the Lieutenant
Governor, three members of the Texas House of Representatives appointed
by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and three public members
appointed by the governor.
The Task Force was formed on September 8, 1989 and adopted the following
statement: "The purpose of the task force is to examine the institutional
issues related to the jurisdiction, structure, organization, and procedures
of the PUC, its staff, and the Office of the Public Utility Counsel.
This purpose does not include an examination of rate-making process
and criteria." The Task Force held a series of public hearings
to receive comments from those interested in public utility regulation.
The Task Force issued a final report with recommendations to the governor
and legislature in November 1989. These recommendations relate to: PUC's
jurisdiction; the structure of the commission and agency; the operation
of the agency; the responsibilities of the Office of Public Utility
Counsel and the general counsel of the PUC; staffing and funding for
the PUC and OPUC; and other general issues.
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These records were discussed during the appraisal review of the Sunset
Advisory Commission. It was determined that these are actually records
of the Task Force of the Public Utility Task Force. They are listed
on the Commission's retention schedule as "Special Legislative
Projects - Public Utility Commission" and are retained in the Commission's
offices.
Archives Holdings
Task Force on Public Utility Regulation - Final Report to the Governor
and Legislature, 1989, fractional.
Previous Destructions
No destruction requests have been filed by the Task Force on Public
Utility Regulation.
Project outcome
The appraisal for the records of the Task Force on Public Utility
Regulation is complete. This series has been appraised as non-archival.
The series should be deleted from the retention schedule of the Sunset
Advisory Commission. The records have reached the end of their retention
period and disposition of the records may be made upon consultation
with the agency's records consultant at the State and Local Records
Management Division of the Texas State Library.
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Series Title: Special Legislative Projects - Public
Utility Commission
Dates: 1989
Agency: Sunset Advisory Commission
Obsolete record series? Yes
Ongoing record series? No
Annual accumulation:
Agency Holdings:
Records are in the offices of the agency and are to be retained for
four years. All records were created in 1989 and total volume is 3 cubic
feet.
Archival Holdings:
Task Force on Public Utility Regulation - Final Report to the Governor
and Legislature, 1989, fractional.
Description:
Records consist of transcripts of public testimony taken at a series
of hearings held by the Task Force on Public Utility Regulation and
the final report by the Task Force. All records are from 1989. Witnesses
included residential and small business advocates, municipalities, industrial
and commercial consumers, electric utilities, municipal public power
entities, telecommunication cooperatives, the Office of Public Utility
Counsel, current and former Public Utility Commission commissioners,
and former PUC staff. Major topics discussed included: size and structure
of the Public Utility Commission (PUC), selection of PUC commissioners,
conduct of PUC proceedings, operation of the PUC, original jurisdiction
of cities in rate cases, regulation of electric cooperatives and telecommunication
companies, reimbursement of rate case costs, and determination of "public
interest."
Purpose:
The Task Force on Public Utility Regulation was established by Executive
Order WPC-89-6 of Governor Clements on July 25, 1989. The records in
this series document the work of the Task Force on Public Utility Regulation
and of the Sunset Advisory Commission in its support for the Task Force.
The executive order gave several reasons for the creation of the Task
Force citing recent controversies surrounding public utility regulation,
the increasing complexity of the field, and a management audit of the
Public Utility Commission (PUC) which suggested various organizational
changes to the agency, including expansion of the commission beyond
its current three-member commission.
Agency program:
The Sunset Advisory Commission provided clerical support to the Task
Force on Public Utility Regulation. This staff support was outside the
normal duties of the Commission as defined by its statutory authorization,
V.T.C.A. Government Code, Chapter 325. A series of public hearings were
held by the Task Force, with assistance from Sunset Commission staff,
to receive comments from interests concerned with public utility regulation.
The transcripts of these hearings were filed with the staff of the Sunset
Commission. After the Task Force issued its final report in 1989 these
records remained at the Sunset Commission offices.
Arrangement: Chronological
Access Constraints: None
Use Constraints: None
Indexes or finding aids required for/or an aid to access? No
Gaps? None
Problems: None
Known related records in other agencies: None
Previous destructions:
Destruction requests on file in the Archives and Information Services
Division of the Library and Archives Commission were checked for the
Sunset Advisory Commission and none were found for this series or for
equivalent or related series.
Publications based on records:
Task Force on Public Utility Regulation, Final Report to the Governor
and Legislature, November 1989.
Scheduled record series? yes
- Title: Special Legislative Projects - Public Utility Commission
- Series item number: 1.1
- Agency item number: 3
- Archival code: R
- Retention: 4
Appraisal Decision:
The records in this series were not created by the Sunset Advisory
Commission but by the Task Force on Public Utility Regulation. These
are original records from the Task Force, which was dissolved after
it issued its final report. The records ended up in the possession of
the Sunset Commission and on their retention schedule. Records are transcripts
of testimony from public hearings held by the Task Force. A related
record is the Task Force's final report to the Governor and Legislature,
a copy of which has been transferred to the Archives and Information
Services Division. In the final report the testimony from the public
hearings has been arranged into eighty specific issues, with lists of
corresponding witnesses and their comments. Thus, the final report provides
a detailed summary of the testimony and is sufficient in providing an
accurate, historical record of the public hearings. This final report
is included in a Sunset Advisory Commission series, Special Legislative
Projects-Final Report, which is recommended for archival retention.
The transcripts of the hearings, then, do not need to be retained.
With no need for the transcripts, and a copy of the Final Report already
in the Archives, these records are not considered to be archival. Indeed,
this is an obsolete series where the records remaining at the commission
have reached the end of their retention period. The entire series should
be deleted from the Sunset Advisory Commission's retention schedule.
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