Rep. Gail Griffin sponsors HB 2536/Photo file/ Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
By Howard Fischer | Capitol Media Services
A House panel voted Tuesday to give Arizonans fewer choices for who gets to set the rates they are charged by their utilities.
The measure crafted by Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, would require candidates for the Arizona Corporation Commission to be at least 30 years old and have been a state resident for two or more years.
But the real heart of HB 2536 would disqualify anyone from running in 2024 and beyond unless they have at least five years experience in specified areas. These include accounting, business administration, finance, administrative law or professional engineering.
“This is a highly technical job,’’ said Griffin who chairs the Committee on Natural Resources, Energy and Water. She told colleagues that the qualifications were “suggested’’ to her, though she denied that they came from the utilities the commission regulates.
But Sandy Bahr, lobbyist for the Arizona chapter of the Sierra Club, which appears at the commission to talk about environmental implications of its decision, suggested that the requirements were drawn so narrow as to eliminate people who have a legitimate role in setting energy policy and rates.
For example, she told lawmakers that if they are looking for qualifications they should also consider those who have training in water or energy policy.
“Why not a background in climate science or a consumer advocate?’’ Bahr said.
And she scoffed at the idea that the work done and the policies set at the five-member commission is any more technical than the work done at the Capitol.
“You don’t require legislators to have any qualifications,’’ Bahr said.
