A pair of Democrats in the Michigan Legislature have proposed that the state’s top utility regulators should be elected instead of appointed by the governor.
That’s following complaints about rate hikes and the three-member Michigan Public Service Commission’s handling of permits for data centers, solar farms in rural areas, and extended gas and electric outages.
“The goal of the proposal is to give Michigan residents a direct voice in who serves on that commission,” said state Representative Reggie Miller (D-Van Buren Township). “They make important decisions about utility rates, data centers, large-scale projects, infrastructure, and they want representation, not appointed positions. This is what residents have told me.”
A package of legislation introduced Thursday includes amending the Michigan Constitution to have voters select the members of the Public Service Commission. Right now, the three commission members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the state Senate.
Under the provisions of the legislative package, commission candidates would be selected by delegates to state party conventions, although they would appear on the nonpartisan section of November general election ballots. It essentially matches how Michigan Supreme Court candidates are selected and appear on those ballots.
“That way the two parties can vet their candidates and then, hopefully, that will keep utilities somewhat out of the process of just buying off a candidate,” state Representative Jimmie Wilson (D-Ypsilanti) told public radio station WEMU. “So, they will be nonpartisan on the ballot, but they will be nominated at the two party conventions.”
The plan would require bipartisan buy-in because it would take supermajorities in the House and the Senate to put a constitutional amendment on the ballot for voters to approve.
Republican House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) has been critical of the utility commission, but said the answer is not electing its members, but narrowing their powers.
“The track that I’m working on is just to take away a lot of this authority away from the Public Service Commission, take away their ability to force the local communities to take the data centers, the windmills, the solar panels and then force them to lower rates,” he told Michigan Public Radio.
Only 10 other states have elected public service commissions. The MPSC did not comment specifically on the legislation, but spokesman Matt Helms shared a statement.
“The Commission is focused on keeping up recent momentum on significant improvements in electric reliability and keeping customer costs in check and will decline further comment,” he said.
