PRINTER'S NO. 791
No. 709 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY DeLUCA, KUKOVICH, JAROLIN, KOSINSKI, CLARK,
KASUNIC, DALEY, CARN, TRUMAN, OLIVER, DONATUCCI, RIEGER,
DEAL, TRELLO, FATTAH, RYBAK, PRESTON, PETRONE, PISTELLA,
SEVENTY, MAYERNIK, RICHARDSON, SALOOM, CORDISCO, COHEN,
EVANS, VAN HORNE, DAWIDA, PETRARCA, TIGUE, CAWLEY, GAMBLE,
MRKONIC, BELARDI, HALUSKA, DUFFY, DeWEESE, FISCHER, BELFANTI,
FREEMAN AND McCALL, APRIL 11, 1983
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, APRIL 11, 1983
AN ACT
1 Amending Title 66 (Public Utilities) of the Pennsylvania
2 Consolidated Statutes, providing for the election of public
3 utility commissioners and for their campaign expenses.
4 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
5 hereby enacts as follows:
6 Section 1. Section 301 of Title 66 of the Pennsylvania
7 Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
8 § 301. Establishment, members, qualifications and chairman.
9 (a) Appointment, election and terms of members.--The
10 Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, established by the act
11 of March 31, 1937 (P.L.160, No.43), as an independent
12 administrative commission, is hereby continued as such and shall
13 consist of [five] seven members [who] two of whom shall be
14 appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of
15 two-thirds of all the members of the Senate, for a term of [ten]
16 four years[. No commissioner upon the expiration of his term
1 shall continue to hold office until his successor shall be duly
2 appointed or shall be qualified] and five of whom shall be
3 elected. The elected members shall be elected for four-year
4 terms. Terms shall begin January 1 following their election. On
5 January 1, 1984, the terms of office of the three appointed
6 commissioners with the shortest amount of time in office shall
7 be terminated. Their seats will be filled by three of the five
8 elected commissioners selected in November of 1983. In the event
9 of a vacancy, the position shall be filled at the next municipal
10 election. The Commonwealth shall be divided into five utility
11 districts of equal population consisting of ten geographically
12 contiguous senatorial districts and one commissioner shall be
13 elected from each district. Nomination and election of a
14 candidate for the office of commissioner of the Public Utility
15 Commission shall be governed by the act of June 3, 1937
16 (P.L.1333, No.320), known as the Pennsylvania Election Code.
17 Nominating petitions shall contain 2,500 signatures of the
18 electorate registered with the candidate's party and residing in
19 the candidate's district. Not more than 50% of the signatures
20 shall be from one county.
21 (b) Qualifications and restrictions.--Each commissioner, at
22 the time of his appointment or election and qualification, shall
23 be a resident of this Commonwealth and shall have been a
24 qualified elector therein for a period of at least one year next
25 preceding his appointment, and shall also be not less than 30
26 years of age. No person shall be appointed or elected a member
27 of the commission or hold any place, position or office under
28 it, who occupies any official relation to any public utility or
29 who holds any other appointive or elected office of the
30 Commonwealth or any political subdivision thereof. [Commencing
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1 July 1, 1977, commissioners] Commissioners shall devote full
2 time to their official duties. No commissioner shall hold any
3 office or position, the duties of which are incompatible with
4 the duties of his office as commissioner, or be engaged in any
5 business, employment or vocation, for which he shall receive any
6 remuneration, except as provided in this chapter. No employee,
7 appointee or official engaged in the service of or in any manner
8 connected with, the commission shall hold any office or
9 position, or be engaged in any employment or vocation, the
10 duties of which are incompatible with his employment in the
11 service of or in connection with the work of the commission. No
12 commissioner shall be paid or accept for any service connected
13 with the office, any fee or emolument other than the salary and
14 expenses provided by law. No commissioner shall participate in
15 any hearing or proceeding in which he has any direct or indirect
16 pecuniary interest. Within 90 days of confirmation, each
17 commissioner shall disclose, at that time and thereafter
18 annually, the existence of all security holdings in any public
19 utility or its affiliates held by such commissioner, his or her
20 spouse and any minor or unemancipated children and must either
21 divest or place in a blind trust such securities. As used in
22 this part, blind trust means a trust over which neither the
23 commissioners, their spouses, nor any minor or unemancipated
24 children shall exercise any managerial control, and from which
25 neither the commissioners, their spouses, nor any minor or
26 unemancipated children shall receive any income from the trust
27 during the commissioner's tenure of office. Such disclosure
28 statement shall be filed with the secretary of the commission
29 and shall be open to inspection by the public during the normal
30 business hours of the commission during the tenure of the
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1 commissioner. Every commissioner, and every individual or
2 official, elected, employed or appointed to office under, in the
3 service of, or in connection with, the work of the commission,
4 is forbidden, directly or indirectly, to solicit or request
5 from, or to suggest or recommend to any public utility, or to
6 any officer, attorney, agent or employee thereof, the
7 appointment of any individual to any office, place or position
8 in, or the employment of any individual in any capacity by, such
9 public utility. Every commissioner, every bureau director and
10 every administrative law judge elected, employed or appointed to
11 office under, in the service of or in connection with the work
12 of the commission, is prohibited from accepting employment with
13 any public utility subject to the rules and regulations of the
14 commission for a period of one year after terminating employment
15 or service with the commission. If any person elected, employed
16 or appointed in the service of the commission violates any
17 provision of this section, the commission shall forthwith remove
18 him from the office or employment held by him.
19 (c) Chairman.--A member designated by the [Governor]
20 commissioners shall be the chairman of the commission for a
21 period of two years during such member's term of office. When
22 present, the chairman shall preside at all meetings, but in his
23 absence a member, designated by the chairman, shall preside and
24 shall exercise, for the time being, all the powers of the
25 chairman. The chairman shall have such powers and duties as
26 authorized by the commission as provided in section 331(b)
27 (relating to powers of commission and administrative law
28 judges).
29 (d) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the commission
30 serving in accordance with law shall constitute a quorum and
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1 such majority, acting unanimously, shall be required for any
2 action, including the making of any order or the ratification of
3 any act done or order made by one or more of the commissioners.
4 No vacancy in the commission shall impair the right of a quorum
5 of the commissioners to exercise all the rights and perform all
6 the duties of the commission.
7 (e) Compensation.--Each of the commissioners shall receive
8 an annual salary of $35,000, as of January 1, 1977, and $40,000,
9 as of January 1, 1978, except the chairman, who shall receive an
10 annual salary of $37,500, as of January 1, 1977, and $42,500, as
11 of January 1, 1978.
12 (f) Open proceedings.--The proceedings of the commission
13 shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the act
14 of July 19, 1974 (P.L.486, No.175), referred to as the Public
15 Agency Open Meeting Law.
16 (g) Monitoring cases.--Each commissioner shall be
17 responsible for monitoring specified cases as shall be assigned
18 to him in a manner determined by the commission. All proceedings
19 properly before the commission shall be assigned immediately
20 upon filing.
21 (h) Utility Election District Committee.--The General
22 Assembly shall establish a Utility Election District Committee
23 composed of representatives of the Majority Leaders of the House
24 of Representatives and the Senate and the Minority Leaders of
25 the House of Representatives and Senate.
26 (i) Donation limits.--No candidate for the office of
27 commissioner shall accept more than $25 in donations from any
28 individual employee of utilities. Total donations from employees
29 of utilities shall not exceed $500. No candidate for
30 commissioner shall accept donations of more than $100 from other
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1 individuals or political committees. No corporation, association
2 or private individual regulated directly by the commission shall
3 make any contributions to any candidate for nomination or
4 election to the commission.
5 (j) Additional restrictions.--The commissioners shall be
6 representative of the general public and no person who has held
7 any office in, or been employed by, a public utility or any
8 business providing services to a public utility shall be
9 eligible for nomination to the office of commissioner until two
10 years after he has left that office or employment.
11 (k) Offers for employment.--No commissioner or employee of
12 the commission may accept any office or employment with a public
13 utility subject to regulation under this part until two years
14 have elapsed from the last day in office or employment with the
15 commission. A violation of this prohibition shall result in
16 immediate and complete forfeiture of any claim to a public
17 pension under 71 Pa.C.S. Pt. XXV (relating to retirement for
18 State employees and officers).
19 Section 2. Terms of Public Utility Commission commissioners
20 appointed before the effective date of this act shall terminate
21 on the election and qualification of elected Public Utility
22 Commission commissioners.
23 Section 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
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