Fiscal impact
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SPONSOR |
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DATE TYPED |
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HB |
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SHORT
TITLE |
Appointment & Elections of PRC Members |
SB |
SJR 14 |
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ANALYST |
Garcia |
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APPROPRIATION
|
Appropriation
Contained |
Estimated
Additional Impact |
Recurring or
Non-Rec |
Fund Affected |
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|
FY04 |
FY05 |
FY04 |
FY05 |
||
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|
|
|
($32.0) |
Non-Recurring |
General
Fund |
(Parenthesis
( ) Indicate Expenditure Decreases)
Relates to HJR 1 and HJR 2, HJR 7, and SJR 6.
Responses
Received From
Public
Regulation Commission
Attorney
General’s Office
SUMMARY
Synopsis of Bill
The bill would submit
to the voters at the November general election a proposal to amend Article 11,
§ 1 of the Constitution of New Mexico. The amendment would reduce the number of
elected PRC commissioners from 5 to 3. The three elected members would be
elected from redrawn districts that would not reflect the current federal
congressional districts. The bill would require the other two commissioners to
be appointed by the governor, with advice and consent of the Senate.
Furthermore, the bill further amends the statute
to note that one of the elected shall hold office for two years and the other
two for four years beginning on January 1 of the year following the election. The chairman would be
elected at the first meeting after commissioners have been elected, and would
serve for two years.
The following is a description of the new
districts for the three elected commissioners:
(1)
The proposed district one would include
for the most part the entire westside of Albuquerque,
the North and South Valley of Albuquerque, move east until San Mateo boulevard,
and would include Valencia, Socorro, Catron, Sierra, Grant, Hidalgo, Luna, and
Dona Ana counties to the south.
(2)
The proposed district two would include
the entire eastside of
(3)
The proposed district three would include
the far westside of Albuquerque such as Paradise
Hills and Ventana Ranch and includes the counties of
Cibola, McKinley, Sandoval, Los Alamos, Santa Fe, San Miguel, Mora, Colfax,
Taos, Rio Arriba, and San Juan.
Significant Issues
In 2001, the legislature passed Senate Joint Memorial 41 requesting that the New Mexico Legislative Council designate an interim committee to examine the organization, financing and performance of the PRC. The Legislative Council appointed the Public Regulation Commission Subcommittee to meet during the 2001 and 2002 interims to address these issues.
The subcommittee report to the Legislative Council makes recommendations in four areas, including the organization of the PRC. Currently, the responsibilities of the PRC consists of regulating public utilities, including electric, natural gas and water companies; transportation companies, including common and contract carriers; transmission and pipeline companies, including telephone, telegraph and information transmission companies; insurance companies and others engaged in risk assumption; and other public service companies in such manner as the legislature shall provide. The subcommittee acknowledged that, because of the complex issues involved in the decision-making made by the PRC that impact the businesses and citizens of New Mexico, commissioners must have certain qualifications. These qualifications would ensure that commissioners have the background and experience necessary to understand complex regulatory issues.
The subcommittee members, however, supported two different approaches regarding the selection of PRC commissioners, and recommended a full debate by the legislature.
Approach #1
This
position is consistent with the 1995 Report of the Constitutional Revision
Commission to
the Governor and
the Legislature that stated:
Because
the essential task (of utility regulation) requires special expertise,
judicial-like adjudicatory responsibility, as well as administrative and
rule-making responsibility, it is also recommended that the entity be
appointive rather than elective, and that the powers and duties and process of
removal be established by law.
The
1997 Report of the Regulation Commission Reorganization Committee also
recommended a constitutional amendment “to provide for appointment rather than
election of the public regulation commission...”.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS
The bill does not
contain an appropriation. However, an estimated non-recurring cost to the general
fund of $32.0 is expected because of the cost to the Secretary of State for
advertising and printing to place an item on the ballot.
ADMINISTRATIVE IMPLICATIONS
As an agency controlled by separately elected officials, the PRC is an
administratively independent part of the executive branch. With the new mix of appointed and elected,
will the PRC remain an independent agency or more a part of the executive
branch?
RELATIONSHIP
SJR 14 relates to HJR
01, HJR 02, HJR 07, and SJR 06. HJR 02 adds the provision that no PRC appointee
can by “employed by an entity regulated by the commission for the ten years
prior to appointment.” In addition, HJR 02 does not include language that HJR
01 adds that address commissioners’ expertise. HJR 01 states: “commissioners
shall at minimum have four years of education or experience in regulatory law
or affairs.” HJR 07 eliminates 2 commissioner positions and maintains that the
remaining 3 commissioners be appointed by the governor. SJR 6 is similar to SJR
14 but does not redraw the 3 federal congressional districts for PRC elections
and SJR 6 requires the two appointed commissioners should be from each of the
two major parties.
TECHNICAL ISSUES
If voters approve the
constitutional amendment, the Legislature will subsequently have to repeal the
existing laws governing commissioner elections.
The bill would require
further amendments if the number of
OTHER SUBSTANTIVE ISSUES
PRC provided the
following comments:
1) PRC commissioners, as elected, are directly
accountable to the citizens of the state and work on behalf of citizens
directly. However, moving commissioners
to appointed, they would be directly accountable to the governor and indirectly
citizens.
2) PRC commissioners, as elected, serve as
consumer advocates where they create policies on utilities rates, insurance
regulation, telecommunication regulation, transportation regulation, etc. based
solely on consumer interests and independent of legislative or executive
mandates or policies. However, moving to appointed, commissioners will likely
serve at the pleasure of the governor’s policy initiatives, which at times can
be counter to consumer interests.
3) Moving PRC commissioners to appointed can
create conflicts of interest. For instance, commissioners, as elected and
independent officers, are first and foremost consumer advocates and cannot
accept campaign contributions from regulated entities. However, the governor is
not constrained by the same requirements, which can create conflicts where
regulated entities’ interests have special favor with the governor/executive
and consequently filtrate down to appointed commissioners.
The Attorney General provided the following
comments:
Other appointments to
constitutional commissions (i.e. university regents) have language in the text
explaining: (a) on what grounds a commissioner can be removed; (b) whether a
commissioner can serve until her replacement is confirmed by the Senate. These items are not required, but help
explain how to resolve disputed situations.
POSSIBLE QUESTIONS
DG/yr