PRINTER'S NO. 1160
No. 1007 Session of 1983
INTRODUCED BY FREEMAN, KUKOVICH, TIGUE, CAWLEY, COHEN, DALEY,
JAROLIN, KASUNIC, KOSINSKI, CARN, PISTELLA, WACHOB, DeWEESE
AND MORRIS, MAY 11, 1983
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, MAY 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.--
10 (1) The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission,
11 established by the act of March 31, 1937 (P.L.160, No.43), as
12 an independent administrative commission, is hereby continued
13 as such and shall consist of [five members who shall be
14 appointed by the Governor, by and with the advice and consent
15 of two-thirds of all the members of the Senate, for a term of
16 ten years. No commissioner upon the expiration of his term
17 shall continue to hold office until his successor shall be
18 duly appointed or shall be qualified.] three elected members.
1 The term of office shall begin on the second Monday of the
2 January following election and shall continue for six years.
3 One commissioner shall be elected Statewide every two years
4 in the even-numbered years. In the event of a vacancy, the
5 Governor shall appoint a person to serve until a successor is
6 elected. The election of a successor commissioner shall take
7 place during the first general election to be held ten or
8 more months after the vacancy occurs.
9 (2) Campaigns to elect public utility commissioners may
10 be conducted by candidates with moneys from a public campaign
11 financing fund. A public utility campaign financing fund
12 committee shall be selected to supervise the collection,
13 administration and distribution of moneys to candidates.
14 (i) The committee shall consist of the Majority and
15 Minority Leaders of the House of Representatives and the
16 Senate, or their designated representatives, and a
17 chairman who shall be a resident of this Commonwealth and
18 appointed by the Governor from the membership of the
19 League of Women Voters or Common Cause. The committee
20 members shall serve for two-year terms, which terms shall
21 run concurrently with the legislative session. Committee
22 members shall be reimbursed for expenses incurred while
23 conducting official business of the committee.
24 (ii) In order to provide a campaign financing fund,
25 an annual 0.25% tax is hereby imposed on the gross
26 profits realized by each public utility company. Utility
27 companies shall not pass this cost on to their customers.
28 The allowable rate of return granted to a public utility
29 shall be adjusted to reflect the percentage of profit
30 taken by this tax. Funds not used in an election shall be
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1 placed in an interest-bearing account to be available for
2 use in the next election.
3 (iii) Campaign financing moneys shall be available
4 to primary election candidates who are registered with a
5 political party which is legally recognized and which may
6 nominate candidates in a primary election. These
7 candidates shall, when filing their nominating petitions,
8 file a security deposit with the campaign financing fund
9 committee in the amount of 10% of the moneys they will
10 receive from the campaign financing fund.
11 (A) Documentation indicating the source of the
12 security deposit moneys, including the name, address,
13 occupation and employment of each source and the date
14 received by the candidate, shall be filed with the
15 Department of State and with the fund committee.
16 (B) Within ten days of depositing the security
17 deposit and qualifying as a candidate for the
18 primary, candidates will receive 10¢ for each voter
19 registered Statewide in the candidate's political
20 party according to the voter registration for the
21 November election immediately preceding the primary.
22 (C) Candidates who receive at least 15% of the
23 total votes cast in the primary election will have
24 their security deposits refunded by the committee.
25 Each candidate will return contributions used to make
26 his security deposit to contributors in the exact
27 amount contributed by each. Those who do not receive
28 at least 15% of the vote will lose their security
29 deposit and the moneys forfeited will be added to the
30 campaign financing fund.
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1 (D) Candidates who wish to receive campaign
2 financing fund moneys may, from the time of the
3 commencement of any action in furtherance of their
4 candidacy, spend up to $10,000 of private campaign
5 contributions and shall file a source and expenditure
6 disclosure statement, indicating the sources of
7 private contributions, with the nominating petition.
8 No private contributions from a public utility
9 political action committee or public utility
10 employees shall be accepted by the candidate.
11 (E) As used in this clause the term "action in
12 furtherance of their candidacy" means any action
13 taken by or on behalf of a candidate to promote his
14 candidacy for the public utility commission and
15 includes, but is not limited to:
16 (I) Circulating petitions bearing the
17 candidate's name.
18 (II) Raising funds totalling $1,000 or more
19 for a campaign.
20 (III) Expending funds of $1,000 or more.
21 (iv) To conduct their campaigns for the general
22 election, successful candidates in the primary election
23 will automatically receive campaign financing fund moneys
24 amounting to 7¢ for each voter registered Statewide, with
25 registration being computed according to the number of
26 voters registered at the time of the most recently held
27 primary election, and a check in the proper amount will
28 be sent to the candidates within ten days of the
29 certification of the primary election results.
30 (v) Candidates accepting moneys from the campaign
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1 financing fund may not spend more in their campaign than
2 the amount given to them from the fund, plus that portion
3 of $10,000 which the candidate raised from private
4 sources as permitted by subparagraph (iii)(D).
5 (3) Candidates of political bodies other than political
6 parties may receive moneys from the campaign financing fund
7 for the general election by following the same formula as
8 party candidates follow for receiving campaign financing fund
9 moneys in the general election, except that when political
10 body candidates file their nominating petitions they must
11 deposit a security deposit representing 10% of the moneys
12 they will receive based on the general election formula of 7¢
13 per voter registered at the time of the most recently held
14 primary election. They will receive these moneys within ten
15 days after primary election results are certified. If the
16 candidate receives 15% of the total vote cast in the
17 election, the security deposit will be refunded to him and
18 he, in turn, will return the moneys to those persons who
19 contributed it. If the candidate does not receive 15% of the
20 vote, the security deposit will be forfeited by the candidate
21 to the campaign financing fund committee, which will deposit
22 the forfeited sum in the campaign financing fund.
23 (4) All campaign financing fund moneys distributed to
24 candidates but not used by them during their primary or
25 general campaigns shall be returned to the committee within
26 30 days of the election for which the moneys were
27 distributed.
28 (5) Those candidates who do not accept moneys from the
29 campaign financing fund shall follow present financing laws
30 and shall file reporting and disclosure statements. The
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1 candidate is subject to the following restrictions:
2 (i) No public utility political action committee
3 (PAC) money shall be accepted nor shall any public
4 utility employee make an individual contribution.
5 (ii) Individual contributions, except those made by
6 the candidate to himself, shall not exceed $100 per
7 contributor. Permitted PAC contributions are limited to
8 $500 per PAC. Any contribution exceeding $50 must be
9 reported in a manner which indicates the contributor's
10 occupation and employer.
11 (iii) Privately financed candidates must report each
12 contribution within seven days of its receipt.
13 (6) Any political campaign advertisements sponsored,
14 financed or underwritten by a public utility or by a public
15 utility PAC shall address only the issues of a particular
16 campaign and shall not name or in any way promote any
17 candidate for the public utility commission.
18 (b) Qualifications and restrictions.--Each commissioner, at
19 the time of his [appointment] election and qualification, shall
20 be a resident of this Commonwealth and shall have been a
21 qualified elector therein for a period of at least one year next
22 preceding his appointment, and shall also be not less than 30
23 years of age. No person shall be [appointed] elected a member of
24 the commission or hold any place, position or office under it,
25 who occupies any official relation to any public utility or who
26 holds any other appointive or elected office of the Commonwealth
27 or any political subdivision thereof. Commencing July 1, 1977,
28 commissioners shall devote full time to their official duties.
29 No commissioner shall hold any office or position, the duties of
30 which are incompatible with the duties of his office as
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1 commissioner, or be engaged in any business, employment or
2 vocation, for which he shall receive any remuneration, except as
3 provided in this chapter. No employee, appointee or official
4 engaged in the service of or in any manner connected with, the
5 commission shall hold any office or position, or be engaged in
6 any employment or vocation, the duties of which are incompatible
7 with his employment in the service of or in connection with the
8 work of the commission. No commissioner shall be paid or accept
9 for any service connected with the office, any fee or emolument
10 other than the salary and expenses provided by law. No
11 commissioner shall participate in any hearing or proceeding in
12 which he has any direct or indirect pecuniary interest. Within
13 90 days of confirmation, each commissioner shall disclose, at
14 that time and thereafter annually, the existence of all security
15 holdings in any public utility or its affiliates held by such
16 commissioner, his or her spouse and any minor or unemancipated
17 children and must either divest or place in a blind trust such
18 securities. As used in this part, blind trust means a trust over
19 which neither the commissioners, their spouses, nor any minor or
20 unemancipated children shall exercise any managerial control,
21 and from which neither the commissioners, their spouses, nor any
22 minor or unemancipated children shall receive any income from
23 the trust during the commissioner's tenure of office. Such
24 disclosure statement shall be filed with the secretary of the
25 commission and shall be open to inspection by the public during
26 the normal business hours of the commission during the tenure of
27 the commissioner. Every commissioner, and every individual or
28 official, elected, employed or appointed to office under, in the
29 service of, or in connection with, the work of the commission,
30 is forbidden, directly or indirectly, to solicit or request
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1 from, or to suggest or recommend to any public utility, or to
2 any officer, attorney, agent or employee thereof, the
3 appointment of any individual to any office, place or position
4 in, or the employment of any individual in any capacity by, such
5 public utility. Every commissioner, every bureau director and
6 every administrative law judge elected, employed or appointed to
7 office under, in the service of or in connection with the work
8 of the commission, is prohibited from accepting employment with
9 any public utility subject to the rules and regulations of the
10 commission for a period of one year after terminating employment
11 or service with the commission. If any person elected, employed
12 or appointed in the service of the commission violates any
13 provision of this section, the commission shall forthwith remove
14 him from the office or employment held by him.
15 (c) Chairman.--A member designated by the [Governor]
16 commissioners shall be the chairman of the commission during
17 such member's term of office. When present, the chairman shall
18 preside at all meetings, but in his absence a member, designated
19 by the chairman, shall preside and shall exercise, for the time
20 being, all the powers of the chairman. The chairman shall have
21 such powers and duties as authorized by the commission as
22 provided in section 331(b) (relating to powers of commission and
23 administrative law judges).
24 (d) Quorum.--A majority of the members of the commission
25 serving in accordance with law shall constitute a quorum and
26 such majority, acting unanimously, shall be required for any
27 action, including the making of any order or the ratification of
28 any act done or order made by one or more of the commissioners.
29 No vacancy in the commission shall impair the right of a quorum
30 of the commissioners to exercise all the rights and perform all
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1 the duties of the commission.
2 (e) Compensation.--Each of the commissioners shall receive
3 an annual salary of [$35,000, as of January 1, 1977, and]
4 $40,000, [as of January 1, 1978,] except the chairman, who shall
5 receive an annual salary of [$37,500, as of January 1, 1977,
6 and] $42,500[, as of January 1, 1978].
7 (f) Open proceedings.--The proceedings of the commission
8 shall be conducted in accordance with the provisions of the act
9 of July 19, 1974 (P.L.486, No.175), referred to as the Public
10 Agency Open Meeting Law.
11 (g) Monitoring cases.--Each commissioner shall be
12 responsible for monitoring specified cases as shall be assigned
13 to him in a manner determined by the commission. All proceedings
14 properly before the commission shall be assigned immediately
15 upon filing.
16 Section 2. In the general election of the first even-
17 numbered year following the effective date of this act, all
18 three public commissioners will be elected. One will be elected
19 for a two-year term, one will be elected for a four-year term,
20 and one will be elected for a six-year term. To finance this
21 campaign only, moneys from the General Fund will be used if
22 necessary in addition to moneys from the public utility campaign
23 financing fund.
24 Section 3. Terms of public utility commissioners appointed
25 before the date when commissioners elected under this act assume
26 office shall terminate at noon of the second Monday of January
27 following the first general election in which commissioners are
28 elected.
29 Section 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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