AgdaPkt 2002-11-18 - Laserfiche WebLink

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November 18, 2002 Subject Second Amended Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) Establishing the San Mateo County Telecommunications and Franchise Negotiation Authority Recommendation Approve Second Amended JPA Establishing San Mateo County Telecommunication and Franchise Negotiation Authority Background In June 1989, five agencies in San Mateo County formed a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) known as the San Mateo County Cable Telecommunication Authority (SAMCAT). SAMC^T's purpose was to aggregate the needs and negotiating power of these agencies to create a model Cable TV franchise that would provide better terms than these agencies had received in the past. The SAMC^T JPA was formed and the original member agencies did indeed obtain much better Cable TV franchise terms than in the prior franchise. In 1994 and again in 1996 fuKher amendments were made to the SAMCAT JPA document. The most significant of these occurred in November 1996, when the SAMCAT JPA was amended to allow SAMCAT to work on issues and the development of model franchise documents that included various forms of telecommunications including fiber optic, wireless, microwave and other telecom services. Interest in SAMCAT's work in these areas resulted in the growth of the group from 8 members in 1996 to 19 member agencies today. Recently, cities in California were approached by representatives from Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) requesting franchises for two new companies that PG&E plans to establish as part of their plan to reorganize and emerge from bankruptcy. These new firms would handle the existing Gas and Electricity Transmission systems and are called the "G-Trans" (Gas Transmission) and "E-Trans" (Electric Transmission) companies or the "newcos" for short. Some or all of the operations of the "newcos" would be regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) instead of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The existing PG&E firm would continue to exist and would handle distribution of Gas and Electricity. A competing plan of bankruptcy reorganization for PG&E has been offered by the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The CPUC plan calls for PG&E to continue to operate both the Gas and Electric transmission and distribution systems and to continue to be subject to regulation by the CPUC (as is the case today). Both plans are subject to review by the Bankruptcy Judge and it is not clear at this point which plan will be adopted and approved.