October 23, 1974 (8 pages)

bast Earl Waters , Wed., Oct. 23,1974 The Nevada County Nugget 3 Corporation commissioner change ~ In a report recommending a merger of the Department of Corporations with the office of Secretary of State, the Auditor General has cited a duplication of duties ‘which ‘he correctly declares results in confusion to the public and unnecessary expense. Any study of state government will uncover a myriad of overlapping functions and a confusing dispersal among the various agencies of duties similar in nature to those being carried out by one or more separate entities. Rapid expansion of. state government brought about either by public pressures for added services or bureaucratic tendencies for growth are in part responsible. But it is mostly because of expedient handling by the Legislature. Whenever a new function of government is authorized the problem arises as to how it will be administered. The choice is to create a brand _ New agency or merely assign the responsibility to an existing one. Traditionally the lawmakers have shown great reluctance to create new agencies and have opted for handing the new task to one already there. That is the easy way. : But the easy way completely circumvents a study of what is already being done by other agencies of the state and consolidating functions. Instead the solons look for an agency which they feel can absorb a new workload without difficulty. Sometimes they. will avoid handing it to the most appropriate agency because they have a distrust or aversion to the particular individual heading that agency at the time. On occasion a legislator will tag the new function into a non-related measure which is certain to pass simply because he knows his proposal will not stand aloné. It is a case of the end justifying the The result has been to add. to the hodge podge of government with no consideration for proper organization. Much of the development .of the. present Department of Corporations has come about in this manner. If one were to trace the history of the various departments of state government it will be seen that most have started as embryo. sections of an existing agency. From there they expand to bureaus, then to divisions and ultimately to full blown departments. — Corporations was once merely a division of the Department of Investments, a loosely knit organization which combined the Banking; Savings and Loan, Real. Estate and Insurance Commissioners, along with Corporations. Each now is a department. Basically the Corporations department function is that of approving securities issued. by corporations. The actual creation of a corporation is accomplished by filing articles with the Secretary of State. This very fact. creates a. duplication of corporate records. .The Corporation Commissioner also licenses those engaged in the marketing of. .corporate securities. In recent years the licensing of, lender-fiduciaries have been added to his duties. Also added, were .some of. the duties formerly held by the Secretary. of State until a small scandal prompted the Legislature to transfer. these to others. Among those. duties which were transferred was the licensing of collection agencies which was handed to the Department of Professional and Vocational Standards, now. the Department of Consumer Affairs. The Auditor General is on the right track when he seeks to eliminate such duplications as: now .exist. among the, three agencies. But the wisdom of placing-these functions with the Secretary of State is dubious. More. appropriately the Auditor General could have recommended a much: larger reorganization which would consolidate all of the: various licensing functions of the state under one roof. Since this is the basic function. of the Department of Consumer Affairs that would: seem the proper agency to assign these responsiblities. Unfortunately, that department has been distracted by the new assignments implied with its name change. But the consumer advocates are _monumentally dissatisfied with the restyled Consumer Affairs Department and are demanding the consumer role be divorced from the licensing agency. It would therefore be timely to restudy the department, remove from it the consumer advocacy duties and restore it to its former exclusive role of performing the licensing regulatory duties. If that were done, not only could the present functions of the Corporations department be merged into it but those of some other departments such as the Real Estate agency. It would make for a much better organization if all licensing functions were handled by one department. Amohg other ‘things efficiency would be gained in the handling of complaint investigations and the public would not be shuttled from one department to another seeking the proper authorities to deal with licenses and licensees. ‘Deputy sheriff gets certificate Deputy Sheriff Curt Stone, who works at the Truckee SubStation, has received an Advanced certificate from the California Commission on Peace Officer standards and training. The commission, which is part of the Department of. Justice, awards certificates on the basis of training, experience, and education. Curt has been with . the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department for six years and he has been in Nevada county since’ 1959. Curt is a graduate of Nevada Union High School, Sierra. College, and California State University, Sacramento. WANT ADS J EGET RESULTS . ~ “THE NEW PRICE FOR THE REASON WE HAVE ASKED FOR H About 40% of the natural gas you get from PG&E comes from Canada. In January, the Canadian Government will raise the price of this gas by 58%. This follows a Canadian price increase of 83 just last July. We must pay the new, higher price. If we don’t, Canada will divert the gas to users in Canada. We cannot replace it from domestic sources. There is already a U. S. shortage. f No less-costly foreign gas is available. Even an all-out conservation effort could not make up for a 40% loss of supply. We cannot meet the added cost of Canadian gas without an offsetting rate increase. So we have applied tothe California Public Utilities Commission for O4OLG1274 me Cura of SF cent AWA.—Twe Con of day don Government has ot ¥ este ¢ WAcre@ase nounced RT increase tae a ate wal g . et ‘0 the United phir States, effective #2 The price Pat exignn wel eae would Te LO 4 , ~ 4,000 ¢ pie feet, UP he present average P tern ati rive states. pee men eee een mee permission to raise our gas rates by approximately $151 million a year, starting in January. Every penny of it is to offset the higher cost of Canadian gas. It is not a request for an increase in PG&E’s rate of return (profit). The typical residential gas bill would PGE ook expated JU 1,80 pion envice aa by eT cent of its § tity ce er Most of it went co Wes+ Canada fo ne increase Price of (a 4 othe Natural Gas a = secording it \ i ty ANROUTCE: the 4 Led o Wise bi N rb ERS. za " produchy® tha = in 4973." nal : Vous jdwestern — yin 4 bas ate Ste commend Mert wt 1~ $3 We CANADIAN NATURAL GAS IS IGHER GAS RATES yee: be raised 15%, or about 6¢ a day averaged over the year. ; We regret having to ask for this increase. Higher utility bills, we know, are a serious burden to our customers. are continuing to work hard to be efficient and hold down rates a as much as possible. But we cannot make up cost increases of this,size no matter how efficient we are. These are times of mounting energy . costs. We urge you again to conserve PG&E bill down. energy. This will help you to keep your Helpful information and booklets: on‘saving gas (and electricity) are available. to you at all PG&E offices.

bast Earl Waters , Wed., Oct. 23,1974 The Nevada County Nugget 3 Corporation commissioner change ~ In a report recommending a merger of the Department of Corporations with the office of Secretary of State, the Auditor General has cited a duplication of duties ‘which ‘he correctly declares results in confusion to the public and unnecessary expense. Any study of state government will uncover a myriad of overlapping functions and a confusing dispersal among the various agencies of duties similar in nature to those being carried out by one or more separate entities. Rapid expansion of. state government brought about either by public pressures for added services or bureaucratic tendencies for growth are in part responsible. But it is mostly because of expedient handling by the Legislature. Whenever a new function of government is authorized the problem arises as to how it will be administered. The choice is to create a brand _ New agency or merely assign the responsibility to an existing one. Traditionally the lawmakers have shown great reluctance to create new agencies and have opted for handing the new task to one already there. That is the easy way. : But the easy way completely circumvents a study of what is already being done by other agencies of the state and consolidating functions. Instead the solons look for an agency which they feel can absorb a new workload without difficulty. Sometimes they. will avoid handing it to the most appropriate agency because they have a distrust or aversion to the particular individual heading that agency at the time. On occasion a legislator will tag the new function into a non-related measure which is certain to pass simply because he knows his proposal will not stand aloné. It is a case of the end justifying the The result has been to add. to the hodge podge of government with no consideration for proper organization. Much of the development .of the. present Department of Corporations has come about in this manner. If one were to trace the history of the various departments of state government it will be seen that most have started as embryo. sections of an existing agency. From there they expand to bureaus, then to divisions and ultimately to full blown departments. — Corporations was once merely a division of the Department of Investments, a loosely knit organization which combined the Banking; Savings and Loan, Real. Estate and Insurance Commissioners, along with Corporations. Each now is a department. Basically the Corporations department function is that of approving securities issued. by corporations. The actual creation of a corporation is accomplished by filing articles with the Secretary of State. This very fact. creates a. duplication of corporate records. .The Corporation Commissioner also licenses those engaged in the marketing of. .corporate securities. In recent years the licensing of, lender-fiduciaries have been added to his duties. Also added, were .some of. the duties formerly held by the Secretary. of State until a small scandal prompted the Legislature to transfer. these to others. Among those. duties which were transferred was the licensing of collection agencies which was handed to the Department of Professional and Vocational Standards, now. the Department of Consumer Affairs. The Auditor General is on the right track when he seeks to eliminate such duplications as: now .exist. among the, three agencies. But the wisdom of placing-these functions with the Secretary of State is dubious. More. appropriately the Auditor General could have recommended a much: larger reorganization which would consolidate all of the: various licensing functions of the state under one roof. Since this is the basic function. of the Department of Consumer Affairs that would: seem the proper agency to assign these responsiblities. Unfortunately, that department has been distracted by the new assignments implied with its name change. But the consumer advocates are _monumentally dissatisfied with the restyled Consumer Affairs Department and are demanding the consumer role be divorced from the licensing agency. It would therefore be timely to restudy the department, remove from it

the consumer advocacy duties and restore it to its former exclusive role of performing the licensing regulatory duties. If that were done, not only could the present functions of the Corporations department be merged into it but those of some other departments such as the Real Estate agency. It would make for a much better organization if all licensing functions were handled by one department. Amohg other ‘things efficiency would be gained in the handling of complaint investigations and the public would not be shuttled from one department to another seeking the proper authorities to deal with licenses and licensees. ‘Deputy sheriff gets certificate Deputy Sheriff Curt Stone, who works at the Truckee SubStation, has received an Advanced certificate from the California Commission on Peace Officer standards and training. The commission, which is part of the Department of. Justice, awards certificates on the basis of training, experience, and education. Curt has been with . the Nevada County Sheriff’s Department for six years and he has been in Nevada county since’ 1959. Curt is a graduate of Nevada Union High School, Sierra. College, and California State University, Sacramento. WANT ADS J EGET RESULTS . ~ “THE NEW PRICE FOR THE REASON WE HAVE ASKED FOR H About 40% of the natural gas you get from PG&E comes from Canada. In January, the Canadian Government will raise the price of this gas by 58%. This follows a Canadian price increase of 83 just last July. We must pay the new, higher price. If we don’t, Canada will divert the gas to users in Canada. We cannot replace it from domestic sources. There is already a U. S. shortage. f No less-costly foreign gas is available. Even an all-out conservation effort could not make up for a 40% loss of supply. We cannot meet the added cost of Canadian gas without an offsetting rate increase. So we have applied tothe California Public Utilities Commission for O4OLG1274 me Cura of SF cent AWA.—Twe Con of day don Government has ot ¥ este ¢ WAcre@ase nounced RT increase tae a ate wal g . et ‘0 the United phir States, effective #2 The price Pat exignn wel eae would Te LO 4 , ~ 4,000 ¢ pie feet, UP he present average P tern ati rive states. pee men eee een mee permission to raise our gas rates by approximately $151 million a year, starting in January. Every penny of it is to offset the higher cost of Canadian gas. It is not a request for an increase in PG&E’s rate of return (profit). The typical residential gas bill would PGE ook expated JU 1,80 pion envice aa by eT cent of its § tity ce er Most of it went co Wes+ Canada fo ne increase Price of (a 4 othe Natural Gas a = secording it \ i ty ANROUTCE: the 4 Led o Wise bi N rb ERS. za " produchy® tha = in 4973." nal : Vous jdwestern — yin 4 bas ate Ste commend Mert wt 1~ $3 We CANADIAN NATURAL GAS IS IGHER GAS RATES yee: be raised 15%, or about 6¢ a day averaged over the year. ; We regret having to ask for this increase. Higher utility bills, we know, are a serious burden to our customers. are continuing to work hard to be efficient and hold down rates a as much as possible. But we cannot make up cost increases of this,size no matter how efficient we are. These are times of mounting energy . costs. We urge you again to conserve PG&E bill down. energy. This will help you to keep your Helpful information and booklets: on‘saving gas (and electricity) are available. to you at all PG&E offices.