Fla. regulators to do ethics self-examination

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - The Florida Public Service Commission is planning a self-examination amid complaints the agency has been too cozy with the utilities it regulates, the panel's top staffer told lawmakers.

Executive Director Mary Bane said Wednesday the five-member commission may revise its own rules and recommend that the Legislature make changes in state law to help avoid even the appearance of favoritism.

"The commissioners overall are very concerned about the perception of the agency that we're seeing in the papers and that we're seeing on television," Bane told the House Energy and Utilities Policy Committee.

That perception was fostered when the commission's lobbyist resigned after attending a party at the home of a Florida Power & Light Co. executive and other staffers were disciplined for giving utility officials smart phone codes so they could exchange text messages. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Tallahassee state attorney's office investigated but found no criminal wrongdoing.

Bane said the commission will solicit public comment at staff workshop sessions set for Nov. 24. The commission then will determine whether to launch formal rule-making procedures and submit recommendations to the Legislature.

Public Counsel J.R. Kelly, whose office represents consumer interests, said he's asked his staffers to attend and speak their minds. Kelly said he knew of at least two issues he plans to address.

"We should take a very strong look at the commissioners acting more like the judiciary," Kelly said.

The commission currently follows court-like rules that prohibit members from communicating outside the written public record with utilities and other parties to rate cases.

Lawmakers may want to consider also applying that restriction to other functions such as rule-making and to staff members, Kelly said.

"We're still scoping things out," Committee Chairman Stephen Precourt, R-Orlando, said after the meeting.

Precourt said the panel will look at everything from a major overhaul of laws governing the commission to minor tweaks or doing nothing except insisting existing laws be strictly followed and enforced.

Defining what constitutes the public record — and whether that includes text messages and audio and video communications — will be an underlying issue, he acknowledged.

"The technological advances and leapfrogs in communications technology are changing the dynamic of how we operate," Precourt said.

Some lawmakers want to return to electing public service commissioners, but not Precourt.

"I don't understand how that fixes the problem," he said.

The commissioners now are appointed by the governor from slates submitted by the Public Service Commission Nominating Council. That panel has 12 members. Half are legislators and all are appointed by House and Senate leaders.

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