Puc

According to reports from other districts, this is the first petition for writ of review invoking the Court of Appeal’s newly established jurisdiction to review decisions of the Public Utilities Commission (Commission or PUC). By amendments effective January 1, 1998 (Stats. 1996, ch. 855, §§ 1-26), litigants are no longer restricted to seeking review in the California Supreme Court. They may petition the Court of Appeal for the district in which they reside or establish their principal place of business (Pub. Util. Code, § 1756, subds. (b) & (e)).

New statutes frequently present new legal issues for the courts; this one is no exception. We consider in this opinion only a request by petitioner, North Shuttle Service, Inc. (North), to stay the effect of a Commission ruling revoking North’s “certificate of public convenience and necessity” and its “charter-party” certificate. Several Public Utilities Code sections prescribe conditions for stays by appellate courts (§ 1761 et seq.). The stay provisions were adopted in 1911 (Stats. 1911, Ex. Sess., ch. 14, § 68, pp. 56-57) and then augmented in 1933 (Stats. 1933, ch. 442, § 68, pp. 1158-1160). Although reworded slightly in…