Governor Newsom Announces Appointments 12.1.20

Published: Dec 01, 2020

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SACRAMENTO – Governor Gavin Newsom today announced the following appointments:

Katrina Salazar, 49, of Sacramento, has been reappointed to the California Board of Accountancy, where she has served since 2012. Salazar has been Chief Financial Officer of the California Correctional Peace Officers Association since 2015. She was Chief Financial Officer at the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges from 2010 to 2015, an Adjunct Accounting Professor at the Los Rios Community College District from 2007 to 2013 and a Senior Audit Manager for Reznick Group from 2003 to 2007. She is Pacific Regional Director for the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountant’s State Board Committee and the California Society of Certified Public Accountants. Salazar earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Drexel University. This position does not require Senate confirmation and the compensation is $100. Salazar is a Democrat.

Rebecca Eisen, 71, of Oakland, has been appointed to the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. Eisen was a Member of the California State University Board of Trustees from 2012 to 2020. She was a Law Partner at Morgan, Lewis and Bockius from 2003 to 2015 and an Associate and Partner at Brobeck, Phleger and Harrison from 1980 to 2003. She earned a Juris Doctor degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law and a Master of Arts degree in English literature from San Francisco State University. This position requires Senate confirmation and there is no compensation. Eisen is a Democrat.

Melanie M. Shelby, 48, of Sacramento, has been appointed to the State Bar of California Board of Trustees. Shelby has been Managing Director at Gray, Greer, Shelby and Vaughn since 2008. She held several positions at Pacific Gas and Electric Company from 1998 to 2008, including Director of Supplier Diversity, Manager of Federal Governmental Relations and Regional Public Affairs Manager. Shelby is a member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Women Organized for Political Action, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the University of California, Los Angeles Black Alumni Association. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $50 per diem. Shelby is a Democrat.

Mark W. Toney, 60, of Oakland, has been appointed to the State Bar of California Board of Trustees. Toney has been Executive Director at The Utility Reform Network since 2008. He was Executive Director at the Center for Third World Organizing from 2002 to 2004. Toney was Executive Director at Direct Action for Rights and Equality from 1986 to 1994. He was Commissioner at the Rhode Island Energy Coordinating Council from 1992 to 1994. Toney was Lead Organizer at the Workers Association for Guaranteed Employment from 1982 to 1985. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. Toney is a board member of the ACLU of Northern California, California Shakespeare Theater, Consumer Federation of California and the National Whistleblower Center. This position requires Senate confirmation and the compensation is $50 per diem. Toney is a Democrat.

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Bin Laden Bankers and Bechtel Corporation

The Contractors

note: Just before 9/11 Bin Laden Group were investing with Fremont Group which included Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 

Back when Americans were still debating whether there was just cause for a preëmptive strike against Iraq, few arguments were scrutinized more closely than the Bush Administration’s contention that there were covert links between Al Qaeda and Iraq. At the C.I.A., analysts pored over aerial satellite photographs. At the Treasury Department, experts sifted through financial records. At the National Security Agency, Arab-speaking linguists eavesdropped on phone conversations. But, even after Secretary of State Colin Powell put his credibility on the line, in a damning, dot-connecting speech before the United Nations last February, questions persisted about the solidity of the alleged links between Saddam and Osama.

Now there is a new and demonstrable connection, but it is not the kind that the Bush Administration had in mind. In fact, it is more likely to fuel the speculations of conspiracy theorists than it is to put their fears to rest. It turns out that a money trail runs—albeit rather circuitously—from the lucrative business of rebuilding Iraq to the fortune behind Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden’s estranged family, a sprawling, extraordinarily wealthy Saudi Arabian dynasty, is a substantial investor in a private equity firm founded by the Bechtel Group of San Francisco. Bechtel is also the global construction and engineering company to which the U.S. government recently awarded the first major multimillion-dollar contract to reconstruct war-ravaged Iraq. In a closed competitive bidding process, the United States Agency for International Development chose Bechtel to rebuild the major elements of Iraq’s infrastructure, including its roads, railroads, airports, hospitals, and schools, and its water and electrical systems. In the first phase of the contract, the U.S. government will pay Bechtel nearly thirty-five million dollars, but experts say that the cost is likely to reach six hundred and eighty million during the next year and a half.

When the contract was awarded, two weeks ago, the Administration did not mention that the bin Laden family has an ongoing relationship with Bechtel. The bin Ladens have a ten-million-dollar stake in the Fremont Group, a San Francisco-based company formerly called Bechtel Investments, which was until 1986 a subsidiary of Bechtel. The Fremont Group’s Web site, which makes no mention of the bin Ladens, notes that “though now independent, Fremont enjoys a close relationship with Bechtel.” A spokeswoman for the company confirmed that Fremont’s “majority ownership is the Bechtel family.” And a list of the corporate board of directors shows substantial overlap. Five of Fremont’s eight directors are also directors of Bechtel. One Fremont director, Riley Bechtel, is the chairman and chief executive officer of the Bechtel Group, and is a member of the Bush Administration: he was appointed this year to serve on the President’s Export Council. In addition, George Shultz, the Secretary of State in the Reagan Administration, serves as a director both of Fremont and of the Bechtel Group, where he once was president and still is listed as senior counsellor.

Rick Kopf, the general counsel of the Fremont Group, which manages some eleven billion dollars in assets, confirms that the bin Laden family invested about ten million dollars in one of Fremont’s private funds before September 11, 2001. He noted that the bin Laden family has not enlarged its stake since then, but he declined to provide additional details about its association with the firm. He also chose not to discuss the origin or the nature of the relationship between the bin Laden and Bechtel families, both of which made fortunes in huge construction projects in the Arab world. The Fremont Group evidently does not go in for connecting the dots. As Kopf said, “Ownership is private and is not disclosed.”

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Business Unit: Electric Engineering | Transmission & Substation Engineering group

Requisition ID # 120500 

Job Category : Engineering / Science; Information Technology; Maintenance / Construction / Operations 

Job Level : Individual Contributor

Business Unit: Electric Engineering

Technology & Tools Team Overview

Our team within Pacific Gas & Electric Company supports the Transmission & Substation Engineering groups that are designing and building safer more reliable electrical networks.  Our team is currently in the process of implementing intelligent engineering tools that will automate work processes, enhance user experiences, while achieving our project goals.  We are seeking an experienced engineering professional to join our team to help support the Transmission and Substation engineering line of business.  As a member of our team, you will be setting the direction for innovation in design and engineering technologies at PG&E.   

Position Summary

The Business Systems Specialist, Expert will focus on technology and tools, such as, OpenUtilities Substation, ProjectWise, PLS CADD and Grid Search.  Your participation will enable PG&E Transmission and Substation engineering teams to improve capabilities such as 3D design, bill of material generation, project estimations and GIS integrations. We are seeking a knowledgeable engineering resource who is experienced with implementing new technology in a utility environment. Our new team member will be required to implement change thru collaborative decision making.  The expert position requires excellent organizational, communication and business analysis skills.  The position also requires the ability to identify user requirements, correlate them to vendor capabilities, and reach consensus of the engineering community on the technology and tools to influence business processes.   

Job Responsibilities

In this role you will support engineering and design technology for both Transmission Line and Substation engineering groups.  The tools being used are intelligent 3D modeling tools that are integrated with PG&E enterprise systems, such as, SAP and ESRI.  Setting up and configuring the tools will provide you with the knowledge to answer service request tickets while you help develop the road map for continued design excellence.  The successful candidate will:

• Maintain and develop the Remedy Service Ticketing system for all technology & tools used by both Transmission and Substation engineering groups.
• Influence and develop engineering workflows for both Transmission and Substation engineering groups that will use our intelligent design applications
• Create a knowledge base for frequently asked questions on how to develop the design and job package to complete engineering projects
• Lead various end user engagements, such as, user group meetings, Microsoft Teams chat discussion groups, and solution training events
• Participate in gathering PG&E’s business requirements for both Transmission and Substation engineering groups and apply technology to provide solutions.
• Test new technologies and upgrades to existing tools.
• Act as a lead liaison and collaborate with software vendors, system integrators, and PG&E IT, as a PG&E business Subject Matter Experts (SME) for T-Line engineering.
• Champion process efficiency and effective change management
• Maintain in-depth knowledge of the product and solutions and provide direction and input on PGE technology roadmap.
• Manage multiple clients to ensure critical needs are met quickly and efficiently including vendors and consultants; manage time appropriately in a time-sensitive operations environment.  Position will be considered a key contact for PLS CADD, Grid Search, and ProjectWise.

Qualifications

Minimum:

• BBA/BS in Business, Engineering, Computer Science/Information Systems, etc. or equivalent work experience
• 7 years in business systems analysis or related

Desired:

• 5+ years Electric utility background (distribution or transmission operations preferred)
• Project Management Experience
• Demonstrated experience in functional designs, user stories, and training documents, deployments, vendor and defect management.
• Demonstrates strong understanding of the impact(s) of technology changes to the collective business processes across multiple business units.
• Demonstrated self-starter with experience working in complex environments charting a path to successful delivery and operations
• Strong interpersonal, verbal, and written communication skills with the ability to work in a collaborative environment and interact with all levels of management within the Business and IT departments.
• Strong technical acumen with the ability to understand business system and software deployment. 
• Ability to lead all aspects of a functional workstream including engaging stakeholders, driving consensus and design decisions, ensuring alignment with the overall portfolio and execution timelines.
• Awareness and familiarity with tools / applications regularly used by electric transmission engineer such as: PLS CADD, Grid Search, SAP, ProjectWise.
• Experience building, testing, and maintaining mission critical systems within the context of utility operations.
• Strong drive for results and continuous improvement including development of standards and process in line with utility best practices.
• Ability to create core and supplemental materials such as scope and requirements documents, test plans, design documents, training documents, etc.
• Test lead or test management experience; Experience in executing functional and user acceptance testing (UAT) with specific experience in developing, documenting, and executing scenario-based testing scripts for UAT.
• Foster a work environment in which individuals collaborate in pursuit of a common mission and mutual goals.
• Demonstrated skills and experience with MS Professional Office Suite (Excel, Access, Word, Visio)

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PG&E’s major review of finances, operations, management rattles Wall Street amid bankruptcy fears

PG&E shares plummeted on Monday amid a wide-ranging internal review by the embattled utility that raised the prospect of asset sales, a management shakeup and even bankruptcy due to mounting legal, criminal and regulatory challenges unleashed by lethal wildfires that scorched Northern California in 2017 and 2018.

The gyrations in PG&E’s stock could intensify pressure on the state Legislature to bail out the utility from its wildfire-related liabilities and create a smooth path for the utility to pass along those costs to its customers.

“It’s not the Legislature’s responsibility to bail out a company that has shown negligence and disregard for public safety,” said state Sen. Jerry Hill, whose district includes parts of Santa Clara and San Mateo counties as well as San Bruno.

The utility behemoth’s shares nosedived 22.3 percent, or $5.45 a share, and closed at $18.95 on Monday. PG&E declined comment about the stock market decline or the rumors that now swirl around the company.

“The board is actively assessing PG&E’s operations, finances, management, structure, and governance,” the company said Friday.

This sort of review by a publicly held company of its own operations can include studying sales or spin-offs of operating units, as well as an assessment about whether the company should consider a bankruptcy filing if it is unable to meet its financial obligations.

“There is no set timeline, but the process is well underway,” PG&E spokeswoman Lynsey Paulo said Monday. “No decisions have been made and no options have been ruled out.”

San Francisco-based PG&E’s widening challenges could prompt state lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom, who took over as California’s chief executive on Monday, to craft solutions to keep the state’s largest utility afloat financially.

“If the financial viability of PG&E is in jeopardy, then state policy makers would have to think long and hard about how to address that,” said Paul Patterson, an analyst with Glenrock Equities, an investment firm.


PG&E faces potential wildfire liabilities that have increased dramatically.

“It is not surprising to us that PG&E would be assessing a range of alternatives, given the financial duress the company is experiencing,” Stephen Byrd, a Morgan Stanley analyst, wrote Monday in a research note. Byrd added, “We believe a bankruptcy filing is relatively unlikely, but we do believe a sale of the gas utility business is a possible way to address wildfire claims.”

State fire investigators have linked PG&E’s equipment to 17 of the fires that occurred in 2017. PG&E suffered equipment failures in the origin area of the deadly Camp Fire blaze in Butte County last November.

As of the end of September, PG&E estimated that wildfire-related claims against the company totaled $2.79 billion, nearly five times as much as the $561 million in such wildfire claims the company reported as of the end of December 2017, according to a company regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a Nov. 13 filing with the SEC, PG&E disclosed it had borrowed $3 billion under its existing credit facilities. “No additional amounts are available” from PG&E’s respective revolving lines of credit, the filing stated.

PG&E became a convicted felon in 2016 after one of its gas pipelines exploded and killed eight people in San Bruno in 2010. In 2015, the state Public Utilities Commission imposed a $1.6 billion penalty on PG&E for causing the disaster, the largest financial punishment ever levied on an American utility.

The state Legislature has already shielded PG&E from financial hazards in connection with the Wine Country fires in October 2017, legislation that critics have blasted as a bailout of the utility. The legislative package also created a way for PG&E to ward off liabilities for wildfires that began in 2019 or years after.


However, what was missing from the legislation was any protection PG&E needs following the wildfires of 2018, such as the blazes that tore through Butte County and essentially destroyed the town of Paradise in November.

“Last year in January, PG&E’s surrogates warned lawmakers about bankruptcy,” Hill said. “The company eventually got a bailout. A year later, PG&E is back using the same playbook.”

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PG&E Sealed Federal Indictments

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PG&E Announces New IT Officers

PG&E Announces New IT Officers

Release Date: August 06, 2015
Contact: PG&E External Communications (415) 973-5930

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. — Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced the appointments of Bernard Cowens as vice president and Chief Information Security Officer and Kathleen Kay as vice president, Business Technology.

Cowens and Kay, who were both elected by the Board of Directors as officers of the utility, will report to Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer Karen Austin.

"Our ability to effectively manage and protect information is vitally important and challenging. We are very pleased to welcome Bernie and Kathy, who both have exceptionally strong backgrounds, to the PG&E team," said PG&E Corporation Chairman and CEO Tony Earley.

Cowens joins PG&E, effective Aug. 24, from his role as Chief Information Security Officer at First American Financial Corporation. Cowens has extensive experience in information technology and cyber and physical security and previously held senior and executive-level roles in the private sector and the military.

Cowens served in the military from 1980 to 2000, completing his service as Chief Technology Officer and Chief Security Officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency in Los Angeles. Thereafter, he held executive-level roles in information technology with SafeNet Inc., where he was Chief Information Officer; and PricewaterHouseCoopers LLP, where he was director of risk and security advisory services. He subsequently served in senior information security roles for Experian and the Automobile Club of Southern California before joining First American Financial Corporation.

He holds a bachelor's degree in information systems management from the University of Maryland and a master's degree in management information systems from Bowie State University.

Kay, in her new role at PG&E, effective Sept. 1, will be responsible for business technology delivery, primarily focused on PG&E’s strategic solutions such as mobile, data analytics and customer applications.

Kay had a career spanning more than two decades at General Motors. She began as an associate programmer and systems analyst and worked in progressively more responsible roles, concluding with her role as director of application development and support for OnStar.

She served as senior vice president of business technology services for Comerica Bank in Michigan from 2007 to 2012. Kay left Comerica to serve as senior vice president of application services for SunTrust Bank in Atlanta, where she also served as the executive chair for diversity.

Kay holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Wayne State University and a master's degree in engineering science from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

About PG&E

Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation(NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation's cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and www.pge.com/en/about/newsroom/index.page.

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PG&E Offers $10,000 Reward In Walnut Creek Kidnapping And Robbery Case

PG&E Offers $10,000 Reward In Walnut Creek Kidnapping And Robbery Case

Release Date: November 20, 2012
Contact: PG&E External Communications (415) 973-5930

WALNUT CREEK, Calif. – Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the individuals responsible for kidnapping a PG&E contract employee in a parking lot as she left work on November 7 in the Walnut Creek Shadelands area.

On November 7, 2012 at approximately 7:30 p.m., a 57 year old female was abducted as she was leaving work and walking to her vehicle in an isolated parking lot. As the victim unlocked her vehicle two suspects ran up to her, forced her into her vehicle, tied her up and blindfolded her. The victim was driven to various locations in an attempt to get money from her ATM accounts.

The victim was driven to an isolated area in the Oakland Hills where she was released. A vehicle with a loud muffler was heard leaving the area. The victim was able to free herself and called 911. Oakland PD responded and sought medical attention for the victim and obtained the initial information. The Walnut Creek Police Department was called to handle the primary investigation since the incident originated in Walnut Creek.

Suspect #1: Described as a white male adult, early to mid 20s, 5'11", 185/190 lbs, broad shoulders, short dark hair, unknown facial hair. Last seen wearing light colored T shirt under a black zip up colored shirt, jeans, blue or black.

Suspect #2: Described as a white male adult, early to mid 20s, 5'9", 150 lbs with a slight build. Last seen wearing a mask (form type to below the nose), black hooded sweatshirt with the hood up, dark jeans.

Suspect Vehicle: Vehicle with a loud muffler.

The Walnut Creek Police Department is actively investigating this crime. Anyone with information related to this crime is asked to contact the Walnut Creek Police Department Investigations Unit at (925) 943-5868 or (925) 943-5844.

The photos below are of one of the kidnapping/robbery/carjacking suspects in this case. The photos are from a drive up bank ATM. The suspect in the photo went by the name "Aubrey" (see suspect #2 description below). The second suspect went by the name "David". It is important to stress we do not know if these are the suspect's actual names.

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PG&E Events Tracker (Beta)

September 9, 2010

On the evening of September 9, 2010, a suburb of San Francisco, San Bruno, California,

October 2017 Northern California Wildfires

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November 2018

Campfire Butte County

2012

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2011

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Sept 27, 2006

Filed: Bennett v.

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Pete Bennett, PG&E Ethics Program by WilmerHale - The Baloney Files

PG&E TAKES ACTION TO ADDRESS EX PARTE COMMUNICATION ISSUES IDENTIFIED IN SELF-REPORT TO CPUC TODAY; PLEDGES 'NO EXCUSES' COMPLIANCE


Release Date: September 15, 2014

Contact: PG&E External Communications (415) 973-5930

San Francisco, Calif.— Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) today notified the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) that an extensive internal review of nearly five years of emails between the company and officials at the Commission has identified a number of instances in which PG&E believes it violated the CPUC's rules governing communications with the state regulator in the pending Gas Transmission & Storage rate case.

The communications reported to the CPUC today occurred over a three-week period in January, 2014, during which time a number of e-mails were sent to the CPUC concerning the assignment of administrative law judges and commissioners to the Gas Transmission & Storage rate case. These e-mails may have violated CPUC rules prohibiting certain ex parte communications -- meaning communication with decision-makers that takes place without the knowledge of all parties to a proceeding.

These communications were identified after the company voluntarily chose to broaden its internal review of any potential ex parte communications well beyond those communications referenced in a San Bruno motion filed last July. The expanded review included more than 65,000 emails to and from the Commission since early 2010.

Actions to Address

"As a company, we must be committed to complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law and PG&E's own Code of Conduct at all times. No excuses. That is, and must be, the standard for our behavior individually and as a company," Chairman and CEO Tony Earley and President Chris Johns said in a joint letter to employees today.

They outlined actions resulting from the internal review process:
Three officers will no longer be employed by the company. They are the senior vice president of regulatory affairs, vice president of regulatory relations, and vice president of regulatory proceedings and rates.
PG&E has appointed Steve Malnight as senior vice president of regulatory relations. Previously, Malnight was vice president of customer energy solutions. Malnight will report to PG&E President Chris Johns.
The company is creating the new role of chief regulatory compliance officer, whose mandate will be to help oversee compliance with all requirements governing PG&E’s interactions with the CPUC. The position will report to Chairman and CEO Tony Earley and to the Audit Committee of the PG&E Board of Directors.
The company has engaged Ken Salazar, a partner in the WilmerHale law firm, as special counsel on regulatory compliance matters to assist in developing a best-in-class regulatory compliance model. Salazar has deep experience in regulatory and energy matters. Among his roles has been service as Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Senator from Colorado, Attorney General of Colorado and Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Natural Resources.
PG&E plans additional, mandatory training for all employees who routinely interact with PG&E's regulators.


Letter to Employees


In their joint letter announcing these actions to employees, Earley and Johns said, in part:


"As a company, we must be committed to complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law and PG&E's own Code of Conduct at all times. No excuses. That is, and must be, the standard for our behavior individually and as a company.


"We all have a responsibility to know, understand and comply with all of the rules, including PG&E's own Code of Conduct, as they apply to our respective roles.


"In these instances, there was behavior that clearly failed to meet that standard, and we greatly regret that. Even absent an ex parte violation, these actions did not represent the company in the manner we expect of our officers. As a result, we took immediate and definitive action. We’re continuing this review and will take additional actions if warranted.


"Beyond that, it is also clear that we need to take additional steps to raise the level of professionalism and propriety in our interactions with regulators. While many of us have felt that criticism characterizing PG&E's relationship with the CPUC as 'cozy' has been unfair, we need to acknowledge that we have earned some of the criticism and we need to take action to change that.


"As we have said previously, we have been very disappointed by the tone of some emails that have been reviewed. While not violations of regulations, they are unprofessional and unacceptable.




"We've made truly incredible progress in terms of our operational focus and in creating a strong safety culture at PG&E. But to be successful, it's also critical that our culture demonstrates an unfailing commitment to conducting our business in compliance with both the letter and spirit of the law and our Code of Conduct and with a high degree of professionalism."


PG&E's filing with the CPUC can be read here.


About PG&E




Pacific Gas and Electric Company, a subsidiary of PG&E Corporation (NYSE:PCG), is one of the largest combined natural gas and electric utilities in the United States. Based in San Francisco, with more than 20,000 employees, the company delivers some of the nation’s cleanest energy to nearly 16 million people in Northern and Central California. For more information, visit www.pge.com/ and https://www.pge.com/about/newsroom/.

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Pete Bennett - PG&E Witness

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Sniper attack on California power grid may have been 'an insider,' DHS says

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The Unpaid PG&E Invoices and Geisha Gives my money away

ss

PG&E CEO and President Geisha Williams: By investing in today’s youth through scholarships and workforce readiness, we can help strengthen our communities and California for tomorrow. https://t.co/21Fab7zkhe @OaklandPromise @LibbySchaaf #BetterTogetherScholarships pic.twitter.com/wcnBDwHcTx

— Tamar Sarkissian (@PGE_Tamar) May 7, 2018

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PG&E Corporation Statement on Contractors, Consultants & Suppliers

PG&E Corporation Statement on Contractors, Consultants & Suppliers

Every business decision must demonstrate high standards of ethical business conduct and must fully comply with all applicable laws and regulations. This commitment is unwavering and extends to our contractors, c

onsultants, and suppliers.

Any work done for PG&E Corporation must be performed in full compliance with all applicable laws and regulations (e.g., environmental, safety, antitrust, or employment), and in accordance with high standards of ethical business conduct.

If you are a PG&E Corporation contractor, consultant, or supplier and have questions or concerns about compliance or ethics issues while working for our company, please discuss them with your PG&E Corporation liaison or business contact. You also may call PG&E Corporation’s toll-free Compliance and Ethics Helpline at 1-888-231-2310 with questions on compliance or ethics issues or to report illegal or unethical activities. The Helpline should be used to raise complaints regarding accounting, auditing matters or internal controls, and for reports about questionable accounting and auditing matters. Our Helpline is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and you may even choose to call anonymously.

PG&E's Contractor, Consultant and Supplier Code of Conduct (PDF, 230 KB)

Código de Conducta del Proveedor (PDF, 386 KB)

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Ethics and Compliance - At PG&E, we are committed

Ethics and Compliance

At PG&E, we are committed to complying with both the letter and the spirit of the law, and our own Code of Conduct, at all times. We hold ourselves to these standards in all actions, both as a business and as individuals. To accomplish this, PG&E promotes a culture in which employees are empowered to raise concerns and are supported by a structure to ensure compliance.

On this page:

• Our Approach
• 2016 Milestones
• Measuring Progress
• Looking Ahead

(Skip to main navigation)

Our Approach

Compliance and ethics at PG&E are managed on three levels:

Business-Wide

Within senior leadership, compliance and ethics are managed by the Senior Vice President, Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer and Deputy General Counsel (CECO), who reports to the PG&E Corporation Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President. The CECO has additional reporting responsibility to the Audit Committees of the PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company Boards of Directors, and the Compliance and Public Policy Committee of the PG&E Corporation Board.

The CECO is responsible for:

• Building a best-in-class compliance and ethics program and managing its implementation,
• Overseeing enterprise-wide programs for compliance monitoring, reporting, assessment and remediation,
• Strengthening ethics- and compliance-related training,
• Reinforcing PG&E’s compliance and ethics culture, and
• Identifying areas of compliance and ethics risk, and developing action plans to prevent, detect and correct risks and issues.

As part of our enterprise-wide strategic planning process, PG&E’s senior executives from every line of business meet annually to review and assess our compliance obligations, including establishing focus areas for the year. Broadly, this process enables PG&E to assess compliance risks, determine the best way to address them and then allocate resources to successfully manage our work. In 2016, we focused on strengthening the integration and management of regulatory compliance risk and operational risk.

In addition, we developed and implemented a standardized framework for PG&E’s lines of business to enhance their respective compliance and ethics programs. The framework is composed of eight elements derived from the U.S. Federal Sentencing Guidelines. The framework also provides an objective assessment tool to measure PG&E’s overall compliance program. We completed an initial assessment of each line-of-business compliance program in late 2016, and established maturity targets for 2017 and 2018.

Two management-level governance bodies help drive and coordinate our compliance activities:

• Compliance and Ethics Committee: Comprised of senior officers, this committee provides leadership, strategic guidance and oversight of PG&E’s compliance and ethics program and works to promote an organizational culture committed to integrity, ethical conduct and compliance with all applicable laws, regulations and company requirements.
• Compliance and Ethics Leadership Team: This cross-functional team of non-officer compliance leaders within PG&E is accountable for promoting the effectiveness of PG&E’s compliance and ethics program by coordinating across the lines of business on strategy, goals and programs, as well as sharing best practices.

To provide guidance on conduct requirements, PG&E maintains codes of conduct for the following:

• Employees
• Boards of Directors
• Contractors, Consultants and Suppliers

In addition, we maintain a Chairman’s Ethics Council—composed of management and union-represented employees at multiple levels—that helps raise and address issues relating to ethics and conduct at PG&E. The Council meets regularly throughout the year, including one meeting that is open to all employees.

Boards of Directors

Certain PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company Board committees have specific oversight responsibility for compliance management in their respective substantive areas:

ENTITY	RISK OVERSIGHT RESPONSIBILITIES
Compliance and Public Policy CommitteeFootnote1a	Coordinates the compliance-related oversight of the various committees of the Boards, with respect to: The companies’ compliance and ethics program, Compliance with laws, regulations and internal policies and standards, and Internal or external compliance reviews or audits. Oversees public policy, sustainability and corporate responsibility issues that could affect customers, shareholders or employees
Audit Committees	Oversees and monitors compliance with legal and regulatory requirements, in concert with other Board committees
Nuclear, Operations and Safety CommitteeFootnote1b	Oversees matters relating to safety, operational performance and compliance issues related to Pacific Gas and Electric Company’s nuclear, generation, gas and electric transmission, and gas and electric distribution operations and facilities

• 1. Refers to committees of the PG&E Corporation Board of Directors only. ▲1a, 1b

For a full description of Board committee oversight responsibilities, please see the webpages of the Boards of Directors of PG&E Corporation and Pacific Gas and Electric Company, as well as our 2017 Joint Proxy Statement.

Lines of Business

Each of PG&E’s lines of business has employees who are responsible for implementing the line of business’s compliance program. The line of business compliance programs are overseen by the respective senior officer for each line of business.

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2016 Milestones

In 2016, PG&E focused on enhancing our governance structure and “speak up” culture, which aims to create a work environment where everyone feels safe to express their views and concerns—and where everyone is confident that those concerns will be heard and taken seriously. Highlights included the following:

• Updated our compliance program framework to create a road map for each line of business. This model will be used to assess and monitor each line of business’s compliance program.
• Improved our misconduct investigations and reporting process. The redesigned, centralized process promotes thorough and timely investigations of all allegations of misconduct; centralized oversight and record-keeping; consistent outcomes on an enterprise-wide basis; improved tracking and reporting on trends and lessons learned; and follow-up with employees who raise an issue.
• Promoted a “speak up culture.” All employees were invited to attend two events focused on compliance and ethics:
  • Chairman’s Ethics Council: PG&E Corporation’s Chairman, CEO, and President (at that time) hosted the annual all-employee meeting of the Council. More than 2,500 employees participated in the meeting, which featured guest speaker Keith Darcy, one of the world’s foremost experts in corporate compliance and ethics.
  • Compliance and Ethics Week: The theme was Speak Up in Action and featured a keynote with Cynthia Cooper, an internationally recognized speaker on ethical leadership and best practices in corporate governance.
• Surveyed employees on compliance and ethics. PG&E’s biennial employee survey included an index of compliance- and ethics-related questions, which provided us with an assessment of PG&E’s speak-up culture.

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Measuring Progress

In 2016, PG&E’s annual compliance and ethics training, which we aim for all employees to complete annually, focused on speaking up. Specifically, the training was designed to build awareness of how to enhance an open communication environment; improve understanding of how to appropriately handle misconduct reports, as measured by the volume of calls to our Compliance and Ethics Helpline; and help employees understand how our attitudes and actions may inadvertently foster perceptions of retaliation. Video vignettes were based on real-world issues that supervisors and their teams might face.

In addition to the annual compliance and ethics training, management employees are required to complete Code of Conduct training and certify that they have read, understand and will comply with our Employee Code of Conduct.

COMPLIANCE AND CONDUCT TRAININGFootnote1

	2014	2015	2016
Compliance and Ethics Training	99.8%	99.9%	99.4%
Code of Conduct Training	99.8%	99.8%	99.8%

• 1. For a variety of reasons, a statistically small number of PG&E’s employees are unable to attend a training session in any calendar year. ▲

The volume of Helpline calls received in 2016 was roughly 4.0 calls per 100 employees, falling within the normal range of 0.3 to 10.0 calls per 100 employees, according to a benchmark report prepared by NAVEX Global. The total call volume increased 5 percent over 2015, with a 3 percent increase in calls requesting guidance. This suggests that more employees are turning to the Helpline for advice before taking actions that might be in conflict with PG&E’s Code of Conduct, policies, procedures or the law.

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Looking Ahead

To achieve PG&E’s commitment to establish a best-in-class compliance and ethics program, we intend to drive continuous improvement by:

• Continuing to encourage a speak-up culture through annually updated training and communications campaigns, and by leveraging results from our employee survey,
• Revising PG&E’s Employee Code of Conduct,
• Engaging our governance bodies to develop and drive cross-organizational enhancements to PG&E’s compliance and ethics program,
• Strengthening our processes to ensure that all allegations of employee misconduct are consistently investigated and remediated,
• Enhancing our approach for identifying, managing and mitigating compliance-related risks, and
• Fortifying our program to improve enterprise-wide monitoring and analytics, and support compliance with federal contract regulations.

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