(1) Commissioners and administrative law judges shall file memoranda, in accordance with this section, of all private communications to or from interested persons concerning matters under the commissioners' or judges' jurisdiction.
(2) For purposes of this section, "interested person" means any person or entity, or any agent or representative of a person or entity:
Whose operations are within the jurisdiction of the commission; or
Who has participated in a proceeding before the commission within one year prior tothe communication; or
Who anticipates participating in a proceeding before the commission within one yearafter the communication.
Each memorandum filed pursuant to subsection (1) of this section shall set forth thetime and place at which the communication was made, the persons who were present at that time and place, a statement of the subject matter of the communication, other than proprietary information, and a statement that the subject matter of the communication did not relate to any pending adjudicatory proceeding before the commission. It shall not be necessary for the memorandum to be prepared by the commissioner or judge, but it shall be signed or otherwise authenticated by the commissioner or judge, whose signature or authentication shall constitute a certificate by such commissioner or judge that the memorandum is complete and accurate. All such memoranda shall be filed with the director of the commission, who shall keep them on file and available for public inspection for a minimum of three years after their submission.
Any public utility may request that the commission conduct a public meeting at which communications otherwise subject to this section may be made without the necessity of filing memoranda. The commission shall adopt reasonable rules and regulations to govern such requests. In addition, the commission may adopt such other rules as are necessary and proper to govern ex parte communications generally.
As used in this section, an "adjudicatory proceeding" does not include a rule-makingproceeding or discussions on pending legislative proposals.
Source: L. 93: Entire section added, p. 2066, § 23, effective July 1. L. 2008: (3) amended and (5) added, p. 1797, § 16, effective July 1.