Georgia utility regulators are one step closer to being able to elect their own leader.
Whether that means they can choose to remove the one currently serving remains in question.
The Georgia House passed the bill SB 483 on a 94-65 vote Tuesday night. The measure would let the five-member group start electing its own chairman for a two-year term starting next January.
If, during that two-year term, the regulators wanted to remove that chairman, four out of five of them would have to agree to hold an election.
Under this version, the bill would be effective Dec. 31 of. The Senate’s version sets the bill’s effective date immediately after Gov. Nathan Deal signs it, which worries PSC Chairman Tim Echols. The House and Senate will have to come to an agreement over their differences before the governor can sign it into law.
Echols, who said he confirmed the information with the attorney general’s office, testified at a recent House committee meeting that if the bill is effective as soon as Deal signs it, his colleagues could easily call an election to remove him.
PSC member Chuck Eaton said at that meeting that it would be "extremely hard to speculate" whether that would actually happen.
"I can tell you in informal conversations with my colleagues, I would find it less than 50 percent that four of them would vote to remove (Echols)," Eaton testified.
The Senate, which passed the bill 34-18 on March 4.
"Even though the House thought it best to change the PSC Chairman rotation, I am grateful they amended the bill to protect my chairmanship for this year,” Echols said in a statement Tuesday night. “Hopefully, this new system will not distract the Commission from our important duties of regulating GA Power and protecting consumers."
The PSC chairman sets agendas, chooses committee heads and runs meetings and times. For nearly 20 years the job has rotated among the five members. The commission has sought the change for three years.
Echols, elected to the PSC in 2010, has drawn media attention by using official state letterhead to request complimentary practice round tickets to the Masters. He also has racked up several thousands dollars in expenses for what he defended as a “strenuous speaking schedule” and statewide travel, sometimes with family members.
Echols has not been accused of any wrongdoing but has said he should not have asked for the Masters tickets because of the “appearance of impropriety.” He also has not included his family members’ expenses on his state tab.
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