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OP-ED: CPUC Helps Drive $750 Million in Diverse Spending by Water Utilities

Each year the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) shines a light on California’s investor-owned utilities’ efforts to boost local economies through working and spending with diverse suppliers.

Published

3 years ago

February 21, 2023

Oakland Post

The California Water Association (CWA), which represents regulated utilities providing water to more than 6 million Californians, has a long-established supplier diversity commitment to help members work with businesses owned by women, minorities, disabled veterans, members of the LGBTQIA community, and persons with disabilities.

With the right policies and practices, we can do more in 2023 and beyond

By Holley Joy

Black businesses benefit from some of this investment, and I am working to grow that share as one of my New Year’s resolutions. We should celebrate the CPUC for emphasizing investment in diverse suppliers and push the Commission to avoid undermining this investment with other policies.

The CPUC held its 20th Annual Supplier Diversity En Banc, “Implementing Best Practices to Reshape the Future of Supplier Diversity,” in October 2022, highlighting the efforts of investor-owned utilities’ efforts to support diverse suppliers.

As a result of our industry’s commitment, an average of 37% of the contractors used by California’s seven largest investor-owned water utilities are owned by a diverse supplier. That equates to nearly $750 million invested in diverse suppliers and contractors in 2021 alone.

One of California’s utilities increased water and wastewater treatment spending with disabled veteran-owned businesses by 35% in 2021 over 2020, and generally increased spending with diverse subcontractors by 30%.

A3K Consulting, an African American woman-owned consulting firm, worked with the CWA over the past year to design and create a strategic plan, which has been adopted by the association’s 80+ investor-owned member utilities and addresses diversity, equity, inclusion, water quality, and water safety, all of which are issues critical to our community.

I want to see more participation by Black-owned businesses, which is currently less than 1% of the otherwise impressive total diverse spend by water utilities.

How do we increase this percentage?

Seven investor-owned water utilities collaborate annually to present two events to offer a more personalized approach for suppliers and utility buyers and staff to get to know the people behind the business enterprise.

When you know the people you’re doing business with and can trust their integrity, character, and skills, there is greater opportunity for successful business partnership. These events encourage a deeper understanding and sharing of mutual goals and objectives that go beyond the singular opportunity for contract award.

The Supplier Diversity Program, which I have the honor of running for Liberty Utilities, helps us strengthen the utility supply chain, grow and develop diverse supplier partnerships, and enhance and positively impact the communities that we serve.

I can stand confidently in the knowledge that we are positively and greatly influencing the diverse supplier marketplace and the economies in which they reside.

These achievements benefit everyone – the utilities, small businesses, and the communities they serve. Over one-third of customers served by California’s regulated water utilities live in underserved communities, and the areas served need innovative investments in water infrastructure to prepare for challenges that climate change present to the future of water resilience in California.

Our investments in supplier diversity enhance customer confidence and satisfaction and represent a high-value use of the dollars spent on capital investment. Water utilities’ services and projects succeed when the professionals doing the work know, understand, and reflect the people in the communities served.

Regulated water utilities use customer-funded dollars to leverage larger investments back into repairs and maintenance of existing infrastructure and capitalize on the latest innovations in their local water infrastructure projects. The strength of our investments depends on important financing decisions made by the CPUC to attract the necessary funding to make these infrastructure investments.

Supporting local firms with the right expertise, workforce, competitive prices, and community understanding is one way that water utilities provide benefits to the customers who help generate the funding and the businesses at work in their neighborhoods.

I look forward to working with more Black-owned businesses and other diverse suppliers in the years ahead to continue diversifying Liberty’s supplier community and supporting the CPUC’s continued incentivizing of diverse investment that benefits all of us and our communities.

Holley Joy is the Supplier Diversity Program Manager for Liberty Utilities

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OP-ED: AB 1349 Puts Corporate Power Over Community

Since Ticketmaster and Live Nation merged in 2010, ticket prices have jumped more than 150 percent. Activities that once fit a family’s budget now take significant disposable income that most working families simply don’t have. The problem is compounded by a system that has tilted access toward the wealthy and white-collar workers. If you have a fancy credit card, you get “presale access,” and if you work in an office instead of a warehouse, you might be able to wait in an online queue to buy a ticket. Access now means privilege.

Published

7 days ago

January 9, 2026

Oakland Post

Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

By Bishop Joseph Simmons, Senior Pastor, Greater St. Paul Baptist Church, Oakland

As a pastor, I believe in the power that a sense of community can have on improving people’s lives. Live events are one of the few places where people from different backgrounds and ages can share the same space and experience – where construction workers sit next to lawyers at a concert, and teenagers enjoy a basketball game with their grandparents. Yet, over the past decade, I’ve witnessed these experiences – the concerts, games, and cultural events where we gather – become increasingly unaffordable, and it is a shame.

These moments of connection matter as they form part of the fabric that holds communities together. But that fabric is fraying because of Ticketmaster/Live Nation’s unchecked control over access to live events. Unfortunately, AB 1349 would only further entrench their corporate power over our spaces.

Power over live events is concentrated in a single corporate entity, and this regime operates without transparency or accountability – much like a dictator. Ticketmaster controls 80 percent of first-sale tickets and nearly a third of resale tickets, but they still want more. More power, more control for Ticketmaster means higher prices and less access for consumers. It’s the agenda they are pushing nationally, with the help of former Trump political operatives, who are quietly trying to undo the antitrust lawsuit launched against Ticketmaster/Live Nation under President Biden’s DOJ.

That’s why I’m deeply concerned about AB 1349 in its current form. Rather than reining in Ticketmaster’s power, the bill risks strengthening it, aligning with Trump. AB 1349 gives Ticketmaster the ability to control a consumer’s ticket forever by granting Ticketmaster’s regime new powers in state law to prevent consumers from reselling or giving away their tickets. It also creates new pathways for Ticketmaster to discriminate and retaliate against consumers who choose to shop around for the best service and fees on resale platforms that aren’t yet controlled by Ticketmaster. These provisions are anti-consumer and anti-democratic.

California has an opportunity to stand with consumers, to demand transparency, and to restore genuine competition in this industry. But that requires legislation developed with input from the community and faith leaders, not proposals backed by the very company causing the harm.

Will our laws reflect fairness, inclusion, and accountability? Or will we let corporate interests tighten their grip on spaces that should belong to everyone? I, for one, support the former and encourage the California Legislature to reject AB 1349 outright or amend it to remove any provisions that expand Ticketmaster’s control. I also urge community members to contact their representatives and advocate for accessible, inclusive live events for all Californians. Let’s work together to ensure these gathering spaces remain open and welcoming to everyone, regardless of income or background.

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Oakland Post: Week of December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – December 31, 2025 – January 6, 2026

Published

2 weeks ago

January 2, 2026

Oakland Post

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Big God Ministry Gives Away Toys in Marin City

Pastor Hall also gave a message of encouragement to the crowd, thanking Jesus for the “best year of their lives.” He asked each of the children what they wanted to be when they grow up.

Published

3 weeks ago

December 29, 2025

Oakland Post

From top left: Pastor David Hall asking the children what they want to be when they grow up. Worship team Jake Monaghan, Ruby Friedman, and Keri Carpenter. Children lining up to receive their presents. Photos by Godfrey Lee.

By Godfrey Lee

Big God Ministries, pastored by David Hall, gave toys to the children in Marin City on Monday, Dec. 15, on the lawn near the corner of Drake Avenue and Donahue Street.

Pastor Hall also gave a message of encouragement to the crowd, thanking Jesus for the “best year of their lives.” He asked each of the children what they wanted to be when they grew up.

Around 75 parents and children were there to receive the presents, which consisted mainly of Gideon Bibles, Cat in the Hat pillows, Barbie dolls, Tonka trucks, and Lego building sets.

A half dozen volunteers from the Big God Ministry, including Donnie Roary, helped to set up the tables for the toy giveaway. The worship music was sung by Ruby Friedman, Keri Carpenter, and Jake Monaghan, who also played the accordion.

Big God Ministries meets on Sundays at 10 a.m. at the Mill Valley Community Center, 180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA Their phone number is (415) 797-2567.