Tampabay.com
MARCH 11, 2010

Florida House plans 'aggressive' changes to Public Service Commission

House Energy Committee chairman Rep. Steve Precourt has scheduled a Wednesday workshop on his committee's Public Service Commission bill that is intended to reorganize the utility regulator - which he described as "not operating very efficiently, very well internally.''

The bill will reorganize part of the PSC, he said Thursday, in addition to tightening the ex parte communication rules between commission staff and utilities that was passed by the full Senate on the second day of the legislative session last week.

"We're going to do something more aggressive than what the Senate has proposed at his point,'' said Precourt, R-Orlando. "We’re going to look at the commissioners themselves, how they’re appointed, their terms and all of that. We’re still dotting all the i's and crossing all the t's. We’re not in a position to give too much definition to that right now.''

Precourt said he disagrees that commissioners should be required to follow the judicial code of conduct but that changes need to be made to the way the commission handles "internal communication and influence." The House proposal will include "some of the pieces and parts out of the Senate bill," he said.

What has motivated the change? "All the things you see in the media,'' he said. The House bill will be available on Tuesday.

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