Bill Text: MS HB1441 | 2012 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Public Service Commission and Public Utilities Staff; authorize to hire attorneys or consultants.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Failed) 2012-03-06 - Died In Committee [HB1441 Detail]
Download: Mississippi-2012-HB1441-Introduced.html
MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2012 Regular Session
To: Public Utilities
By: Representative Beckett
House Bill 1441
AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE MISSISSIPPI PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION AND PUBLIC UTILITIES STAFF TO HIRE ATTORNEYS OR CONSULTANTS FOR CERTAIN LEGAL PROCEEDINGS; TO AMEND SECTIONS 72-2-3 AND 7-5-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, IN CONFORMITY THERETO; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1.
(1) The Mississippi Public Service Commission, with the aid and the assistance
of the Public Utilities Staff, shall have the power to monitor,
investigate, and seek relief in any appropriate forum from all existing or
proposed interstate
rates, charges, allocations and classifications, and all rules and practices
in relation thereto promulgated and prescribed by
or for any public utility as defined in Section 77-3-3(d). Additionally, the
Mississippi Public Service Commission, with the aid and the assistance of the
Public Utilities Staff, may seek relief from any proposed or final decision,
order, regulation, rule or law that has an impact on any existing or proposed
interstate rate, charge allocation or classification.
(2) For the purposes of
this section, the Mississippi Public Service Commission and the Executive
Director of the Public Utilities Staff may each enter into professional
services
contracts with one or more attorneys or consultants from a competent, qualified
and independent firm as may be
required by the commission or the executive director. Costs
associated with such professional service contracts shall not
exceed One Million Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($1,500,000.00) for each
agency with respect to each affected utility in any twelve-month period.
(3) The consultants or
counsel shall submit periodically, but no less frequently than once each
calendar quarter, to the executive director or the commission, as applicable,
for
approval of payment, itemized bills detailing the work
performed. The executive director or the chairman of the
commission, as applicable, shall requisition the applicable public utility to
make the requisite payments to such consultants.
(4) The commission shall
allow the utility to recover both the total costs the utility incurred under
this section and the carrying charges for those costs through a rate rider
established to recover the costs incurred and carrying charges incurred. Such
rider shall include a true-up provision to ensure actual recovery of costs paid
or otherwise incurred by the utility.
SECTION 2. Section 77-2-3, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as
follows:
77-2-3. (1) The Public Utilities Staff created pursuant to Section 77-2-1 and the Public Service Commission and commission staff shall have and possess all of the rights and powers to perform all of the duties vested by this chapter as well as those prescribed in House Bill No. , 2012 Regular Session.
(2) The functions of the commission, with the aid and assistance of its staff, shall be regulatory and quasi-judicial in nature. It may make such investigations and determinations, hold such hearings, prescribe such rules and issue such orders with respect to the control and conduct of the businesses coming within its jurisdiction. It may adjudicate all proceedings brought before it in which the violation of any law or rule administered by the commission is alleged.
(3) The primary functions of the public utilities staff shall be investigative and advisory in nature.
SECTION 3. Section 7-5-1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
7-5-1. The Attorney General provided for by Section 173 of the Mississippi Constitution shall be elected at the same time and in the same manner as the Governor is elected. His term of office shall be four (4) years and his compensation shall be fixed by the Legislature. He shall be the chief legal officer and advisor for the state, both civil and criminal, and is charged with managing all litigation on behalf of the state. No arm or agency of the state government shall bring or defend a suit against another such arm or agency without prior written approval of the Attorney General. He shall have the powers of the Attorney General at common law and is given the sole power to bring or defend a lawsuit, except as provided in House Bill No. , 2012 Regular Session, on behalf of a state agency, the subject matter of which is of statewide interest, and he shall intervene and argue the constitutionality of any statute when notified of a challenge thereto, pursuant to the Mississippi Rules of Civil Procedure. His qualifications for office shall be as provided for chancery and circuit judges in Section 154 of the Mississippi Constitution.
SECTION 4. Section 1 of this act shall stand repealed from and after July 1, 2015.
SECTION 5. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2012.
