The California Public Utilities Commission has been in the news a lot since a PG&E gas pipeline exploded in San Bruno six years ago, killing eight people. Investigations into that tragedy and other flaps involving utilities since then have raised questions about the agency and led to charges that its members are too cozy with the private businesses they are tasked with overseeing.

Lawmakers in Sacramento for years have been trying to get at some of the accountability issues raised during those investigations -- including making sure utility officials don’t have inappropriate private conversations with CPUC commissioners and staff before key votes, and more broadly ensuring CPUC officials are following ethics rules. Last fall, Gov. Brown vetoed a package of bills aimed at reforming the troubled agency -- but he promised to work with the Legislature in 2016 to reach a compromise.

After months of negotiations, Brown and Democratic lawmakers in June announced an agreement.

SB 215 by state Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would set stricter rules and disclosure requirements around lobbying CPUC commissioners and expand the circumstances under which they would be required to recuse themselves from a vote because of a conflict of interest.

SB 512 by Sen. Jerry Hill, D-San Mateo, would require the CPUC to reach out to all potentially affected parties, not just utilities, before a vote, would require annual reviews of the commission’s executive director and would make some changes to the agency’s governance structure. The governor has promised to sign both bills.

A third CPUC reform bill failed to win passage. AB 2903, by Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, would have created two new CPUC positions to oversee ethics and safety issues while also moving transportation oversight from the agency to Caltrans. It was a bitter defeat for Gatto, who is termed out of the Assembly.