Please forward to others who need this information.

As you know, Enron's been involved with a group of business customers, small customers, labor and enviros trying to hammer out a core/noncore proposal that would act as a key modification to Edison's MOU with the Governor.

Today, the Assembly leadership released a bill (AB 82XX) that modifies the MOU but does not follow the core/noncore proposal negotiated by the group.  The bill just came out, is about 80 pages long, and thorough analysis has not yet been completed.  The URL for the bill is attached.  Based on a meeting attended this morning in Sacramento,the key features of the bill( which is attached) are:

Direct Access suspended until 1.1.2003 (suspension presumably effective on the effective date of the bill)
Transmission sale at 2X book.
Approximately 90% (or greater) of Edison's undercollection absorbed by customers 20KW and above.
Create a Trust to address the money owed to the generators and offer the generators 70 cents on the dollar (but does not do away with the suits, investigations, etc.)
The bill is completely silent regarding who will pay for the DWR contracts and what the payment structure will look like.

Reaction and Timetable
Very chaotic, with considerable uncertainty about where (if anywhere) the bill will go, leaving many to believe that bankruptcy remains a strong possibility.
Business customers (and of course Enron) are strongly opposed
Republicans are strongly opposed
Labor has big problems with the Tx sale unless they get assurances that TX labor jobs are guaranteed, which is not yet included in the bill
We are working with business to remove the Direct Access suspension
We are also working on the Senate side to attempt to get the Senate to include Direct Access in their version of the modified MOU, but the Senate has been more hostile than the Assembly to Direct Access.
Senate Democrats still intend to run a bill that delinks payment of the bonds to repay General Fund for power already purchased from the DWR contracts. AB82XX does not address this issue.
Senate Democrats also intend to craft their own version of a "modified MOU."  Word is that the Senate will release their bond language and their "modified" MOU this weekend or early next week.
The Assembly will hold an "informational" hearing on the bill tomorrow (Saturday) to get members up to speed
The Assembly will have a committee hearing and vote on the bill on Monday, with the intent of sending the bill to the full Assembly for a vote on Tuesday.
The Legsilature is supposed to have a month-long recess beginning Friday, July 20th, which requires that both the budget and the energy issue get resolved by then, or suspend the recess and continue working

Will continue to provide updates as events unfold. If folks have additional comments on the bill, please direct them to Harry Kingerski and Leslie Lawner, who will ensure that they get into the hands of our lobbyists in Sacramento.

If there are any questions, my pager is 888.916.7184.

Best,
Jeff
 - abx2_82_bill_20010712_intro.pdf