Working closely with clients, policy makers and stakeholders, to find common ground or better understand and respect differences on complex policy issues is a challenge I enjoy. Our clients appreciate the fact that our team is a trusted resource in Capitol offices, both legislative and administration, across state agencies and with a variety of diverse interests.
Audra Hartmann
Audra has been involved in or at the forefront of major climate and energy policy in California for the past 20 years. She is considered an expert in these areas and provides strategic advice and advocacy on legislative and regulatory issues. Prior to joining PPA, Audra was a partner with Smith, Watts & Hartmann, a boutique California advocacy and consulting firm that specialized in energy and transportation issues. Before that, she was the owner and CEO of Hartmann Strategies Group.
During Audra’s tenure at these firms, she has been involved in negotiations on the cap and trade program. She has represented large industrial clients in wildfire-related policy discussions and has been an instrumental part of coalitions to defeat measures that would have imposed additional procurement costs on ratepayers. Additionally, she has been involved in demand response, energy efficiency, microgrid, and renewable fuel discussions for clients. Audra’s clients have included California manufacturers, a large array of energy-related companies, a major water authority, probate officials, and several investment firms that were seeking the latest information on legislative and regulatory developments.
In addition to her work as a contract lobbyist, Audra has over 13 years of experience working as an in-house lobbyist for Duke Energy, Dynegy, LS Power, and NextEra Energy across the western United States. Her work focused on passing state environmental, climate, and tax legislation. She also assisted the companies’ development teams with environmental permitting issues related to wind and solar energy facilities. Prior to working with these large companies, Audra worked as a legislative aide/director for California State Senators Bill Leonard and Dick Monteith. She worked as a liaison in the government affairs office of the California Public Utilities Commission, and she spent a year and a half working for the Texas House Criminal Jurisprudence Committee. Because of these efforts, Audra has direct knowledge of how the state legislature and agencies operate.
Audra currently serves as a board member of the Institute of Governmental Advocates, a non-partisan association that represents professional lobbyists and lobbying associations. In 2013, she obtained the rank of first-degree black belt (Jo Kyo Nim) in Kuk Sool Won, a Korean martial art. Audra attended the University of Southern California and majored in public administration. She was admitted under the Resident Honor Program, a program that allows high school students to enter college a year early.