California Public Utilities Code § 748.3

(a) For purposes of this section, all of the following definitions apply: (1) “Above-the-line account” means an account that contains expenses that a utility recovers from ratepayers, including an account that contains expenses that the utility used to calculate a revenue requirement request in its general rate case. (2) “Below-the-line account” means an account that contains expenses that a utility does not generally recover from ratepayers. (3) “Compensation” means salary, a bonus, benefits, or other consideration of any value. (4) “Covered business unit” means a division, department, or other organizational employee group within a utility that performs activities specified in subdivision (b). (5) “Expense” means a payment to an external entity, a cost incurred by a parent company or corporate affiliate and invoiced to a utility, and compensation paid to an employee of a utility. (6) (A) “Political influence activity” means either of the following: (i) An activity for the purpose of directly or indirectly influencing any of the following: (I) The adoption, repeal, or modification of federal, state, regional, or local legislation, regulations, or ordinances. (II) The election, recall, appointment, or removal of a public official or the adoption of initiatives or referenda. (III) The approval, modification, or revocation of franchises of a utility. (IV) Public opinion with respect to legislation, regulations, ordinances, elections, referenda, or rate setting of a utility. (V) Decisions of federal, state, regional, or local public officials. (ii) Research, preparation, or any other activity undertaken for the purpose of supporting any activities specified in clause (i). (B) “Political influence activity” does not include any of the following: (i) An activity that is directly and necessarily related to appearances before regulatory or other governmental bodies in connection with the utility’s existing or proposed operations of the utility’s regulated system. Policies affecting the use of gaseous fuels or electricity are not directly and necessarily related to the utility’s existing or proposed operations. (ii) An activity that is directly related to a commission-approved energy efficiency program or another commission-approved public purpose program if the participation of the utility has not otherwise been prohibited by the commission. (iii) An activity that responds to a request by a legislative committee, the commission, or a government agency for technical information from the utility. (iv) An activity required by applicable federal or state statute, or by order of a regulatory authority, and undertaken for the purpose of satisfying that statutory or regulatory requirement. (7) (A) “Promotional advertising” means written, online, video, or audio communications that primarily build the public image of a utility and that is not required by the commission, including communications about the undergrounding of electrical lines or other actions that a utility may take in the future. (B) “Promotional advertising” does not include, except as specified in subparagraph (A), any of the following: (i) Public messages that the utility is directed to publish by a federal, state, or local agency. (ii) Public messages that provide information on safety measures, emergency conditions, the conservation of energy as described in subdivision (b) of Section 796, rates, utility programs and services approved by the commission, or service interruptions, and that do not primarily build the public image of the utility. (iii) Public messages providing necessary information to customers about specific actions the customers can take for their safety. (8) “Public official” means a decisionmaker within an administrative agency or legislative body at the local, regional, state, or federal level, or an executive officer at the local, regional, state, or federal level. (9) “Utility” means an electrical corpo

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