PRC Chief of Staff Jason Montoya

By MICHAEL GERSTEIN
The New Mexican

After three hours of debate, the House passed legislation late Sunday that would dramatically alter the structure of the state commission that regulates utility companies in New Mexico following frustration from Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and other elected officials over how it has functioned.

In a 36-34 vote, the House approved a plan to shift nearly every division within the Public Regulation Commission to another state agency that is under the authority of the governor. It also would make the PRC chief of staff a position appointed by the governor rather than selected by commissioners.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where it faces debate in one or more committees, with four days left in the legislative session. 

A spokeswoman for the governor has said the legislation in part stemmed from frustration over the commission not immediately deciding to apply the Energy Transition Act in a case that was ultimately decided by the New Mexico Supreme Court. The court ruled that the energy law does apply to the closure of the coal-fired San Juan Generating Station near Farmington.

The Governor’s Office and bill sponsors have said the legislation is meant to address problems with finding and retaining qualified staff — something the commission has struggled with in recent years.

During the floor debate, bill co-sponsor Rep. Nathan Small, D-Las Cruces, said in September of last year, for example, the commission lacked five of seven division directors. Small argued the changes will help the commission find more qualified staff needed to make decisions on “weighty, momentous matters”, such as access to broadband internet and electricity rates.

PRC Chief of Staff Jason Montoya has argued the changes would not identify and retain better staff. Republicans argued the same thing Sunday night and expressed concern over the prospect of granting the governor more authority over the utility commission.

“It takes clear lines of communication, it takes clear lines of responsibility and shifts it to an unintelligible string of spaghetti,” said Rep. Larry Scott, R-Hobbs, during the floor debate. “I do not believe that this is in any fashion good government.”

House Minority Floor Leader Jim Townsend, R-Artesia, argued that there are many positions in state government that are difficult to fill.

“So should the governor appoint everybody?” he said. “I have not seen anything in this that I believe would produce a different result. We just get a different cast of characters.”