DOCKET NO. A-970591
May 27, 1998
Page 1
Agenda Date: May 27, 1998
Item Number: 4A

Docket No.:  A-970591
   
Company Names: Administrative - General

Review of the Commission's procedural rules in Chapter 480-09 (Procedures) 
   
Staff:   Bob Wallis, Review Judge

Recommendation: 

File a notice of proposed rulemaking (CR-102) with the Code Reviser to begin 
the process of adopting and amending certain sections within chapter 480-09 
WAC, the Commission’s procedural rules.

Discussion: 

The Commission periodically reviews its procedural rules in light of 
experience, to assure that rules are reasonably clear and that they reasonably 
meet the needs of the Commission and persons who deal with the Commission.

Staff has excluded some provisions from this review, believing that they 
require additional work with stakeholders, further study, and potentially -- in 
one instance --legislation.  Those include rules regarding the protection of 
confidential information; filing general rate increase requests; formal 
investigations and fact finding; discovery processes; and a new provision on 
expedited petitions for enforcement of interconnection agreements.  Those items 
are not included in this package and will be treated separately as Commission 
Staff and stakeholders are able to address them.

In this review, Commission Staff also was operating under Executive Order No. 
97-02 and looking more closely at clarity and the other review criteria 
established in the Order. Commission Staff have attended classes in Clear Rule 
Writing that demonstrated “new” ways to phrase rules, to be more clear, without 
losing their intended effect.

The result of the Executive Order review is that the proposed package contains 
lots of cross-outs and lots of underlines.  This is done principally in the 
pursuit of clear language.  

There are some changes in meaning; for example, there is a proposal for a 
change in the number of copies needed when filing documents, for example.  In 
general we believe that those matters are relatively minor and have general 
acceptance.  

This proposal has been circulated to the stakeholders who have been following 
the proposal from the beginning.  The suggestions received have been almost 
exclusively grammatical rather than substantive.

In reviewing these rules, we realized that the organization of the chapter 
should be changed to further enhance public and stakeholder understanding.  We 
recommend, however, that this step be delayed until the other issues mentioned 
above are largely addressed so that we minimize disruption and enhance the ease 
of transition.

Commission Staff asks that the Commission direct the Secretary to file a Notice 
of Proposed Rulemaking with the Code Reviser to publish this proposal in the 
State Register as the next step toward adoption.