A Day (Two Actually) at the California PUC
Allison Brown is the Public Advisor at the California Public Utilities Commission.
PUF's Steve Mitnick: Allison, tell me about your job.
Allison Brown: The official job title is public advisor. Public Utility Code Section 321 created the role of public advisor to assist the public in participating in our proceedings, and to advise the commission on procedures and policies that would benefit the public. It creates staff as necessary to assist with that.
When I came into this role a little over two years ago, there was restructuring going on. They added the business community outreach team to the public advisory team. It's essentially two teams that work together, and they have separate specialties.
PUF: Is this relatively new? I understand that in the last few years there's been an increased push for the public to have more involvement.
Allison Brown: Yes. This role has been around for several years. But recently, especially with these five commissioners, they're very focused on increasing outreach opportunities and increasing our communication with various entities around the state.