SAN BRUNO — State and local officials expressed outrage Wednesday and called for an investigation by the state attorney general into the reassignment of key regulatory attorneys examining PG&E’s role in the fatal gas explosion in San Bruno.

San Bruno officials and state Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Bruno, said the attorneys requested reassignment. That decision came as the state Public Utilities Commission weighs a proposal for a $2.25 billion penalty against PG&E for the 2010 blast, which killed eight people and destroyed 38 homes.

They said the integrity of the process by the PUC to determine the appropriate punishment for PG&E is now in question because of the departures.

“I thought I had seen it all with the PUC, but they always manage to top their previous outrageous actions and mistakes,” Hill said in an interview with this newspaper. “The attorneys refused to go along with the charade and the sham of the recommendation from the PUC staff.”

Jack Hagan, director of the PUC’s Safety and Enforcement Division, which is supervising the penalty phase of the PG&E explosion case, said the transfer of the attorneys will not compromise the PUC’s ruling.

“The attorneys have done a tremendous amount of work, and the work they have done is excellent,” Hagan said. “The attorneys have written all the things that need to be written. The last brief we needed to turn in has been turned in. Their departures will have no bearing on the final outcome.”

San Francisco-based PG&E has been lambasted for inspection blunders and faulty record-keeping in connection with the explosion, and the PUC has been criticized for ineffective oversight of PG&E and a cozy relationship with the utility.

“The PUC is broken in many respects and no longer capable of effectively monitoring the safety and security of the public utility infrastructure in California,” San Bruno city officials said in a letter to state Attorney General Kamala Harris. “The very structure of the commission and its leadership is severely wanting.”

The reassigned attorneys could not be reached for comment, but San Bruno Mayor Jim Ruane said an independent investigation by the attorney general is the only way to ensure transparency and fairness in the PUC’s decision.

“One has to publicly ask: Why did these and other PUC public servants resign or were forced out?” Ruane said. “Is it because they did not want to see nearly three years of their work turned into a conclusion that lets PG&E off the hook?”

The PUC, in a response to a PG&E legal brief protesting the $2.25 billion penalty, said Wednesday that PG&E shareholders bear the entire burden of the proposed penalty. The staff also said the entire sum should be spent on upgrades and improvements for the gas system.

But Sen. Hill said that is not enough.

“After killing eight people and destroying 38 homes, PG&E is getting away with paying virtually nothing,” Hill said. “That $2.25 billion consists of work PG&E has already done and paid for, work that PG&E has already decided it will do and work that they should have been doing anyway to make the system safe.”

San Bruno officials claimed that the PUC staff proposal would enable PG&E to receive a $1 billion credit for money the utility says it has spent on improvements and repairs, along with $900 million in state and federal tax deductions.

Hill and city officials say PG&E should be forced to pay $4 billion, and Hill also would like to see criminal indictments of PG&E executives and the company itself in connection with the blast.

While recommending a punishment much milder, the PUC’s staff, in its final brief before the matter is turned over for hearings before administrative law judges at the PUC, said the utility must be harshly punished.

“It is time to throw the book at PG&E,” Hagan said. “Even at this stage of the game, PG&E is still not taking responsibility for what happened.

“We still don’t really know how much more has to be done,” Hagan added. “We have just scratched the surface. We are just cleaning up 56 years of neglect for PG&E’s gas system.”

Contact George Avalos at 408-373-3556 or 925-977-8477. Follow him at twitter.com/george_avalos.