Eastern Kentuckians lead General Assembly in taking aim at Public Service Commission
Mary Potter Editor's Note: The House Committee today debated the bill discussed below, but took no action on it according to a report in the Lexington Herald Leader. Click on "more" at the bottom of this page to access their story. Senate Bill 151 would change the make up of the Public Service Commission drastically, replacing the three appointed commissioners with seven elected members. The legislation passed the Senate by a vote of 29-5. The three senators who sponsored the bill are all Democrats and all from Eastern Kentucky. The Senate, controlled by the Republicans, doesn’t see many bills introduced by Democrats get such overwhelming approval. It has gone to the House Tourism Development and Energy Committee chaired by a fellow Eastern Kentuckian Rep. Leslie Combs. Representatives Keith Hall and Hubert Collins, also of Eastern Kentucky, introduced House Concurrent Resolution 124 which will study the proposal to elect PSC commissioners. (See below). A similar amendment to study the idea was voted down in the Senate. Opponents to the bill say that electing commissioners will inject big money politics into the process. Proponents say that voters have little say in the process of rate setting. By law the Kentucky Attorney General represents citizens. Rate increases in electric, water and natural gas granted by the PSC in recent years have hit virtually every county in Kentucky. With the Legislature winding down, the fates of SB 151 and HCR 124 remain up in the air. Whether they pass this session or not, it is clear that the General Assembly is expressing its displeasure with the PSC. To weigh in on the discussion, contact the Legislature by email by going to the right hand column of the Legislative Research Commission homepage and clicking on “email your legislator" or by calling 1-800-372-7181 and leaving a message.
HCR 124 (BR 1637) - K. Hall, H. Collins Create a Task Force on the feasibility of elected Public Service Commissioners; increase the number of commissioners from three to six, with one commissioner for each U.S. Congressional District, with the concurrence of both the House and the Senate; direct the task force to survey the experiences of states that have elected public service commissioners and compare those with the experiences of other states for which the Governor appoints commissioners; establish task force membership to consist of three members of the Kentucky Senate appointed by the Senate President and three members of the House of Representatives appointed by the Speaker of the House; provide that the Senate President shall select one co-chair from the appointed senators, and the Speaker of the House shall select one co-chair from the appointed representatives; authorize the task force to consult with the State Board of Elections regarding the financing of an elected Public Service Commission and shall make recommendations regarding the feasibility of an expanded PSC; require the task force to meet periodically during the interim at the call of the task force co-chairs and require the task force to submit a final report of its recommendations no later than December 1, 2011; to authorize LRC to alternatively assign the issues identified herein to a committee or subcommittee and designate a study completion date.
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