Published: July 03, 2009 08:32 am      

Miss. utility regulators working without budget

JACKSON — The Mississippi Public Service Commission continues to function, even though legislators failed to pass a budget for the agency that regulates utilities.

As the state fiscal year started Wednesday, commissioners said Attorney General Jim Hood told them the PSC has the legal authority to keep operating because it is considered a core function of state government.

Commissioners and their staff members were being cautious about spending, though. Chairman Lynn Posey said the PSC is minimizing expenses by cutting travel.

Commissioner Brandon Presley said the staff is taking smaller steps to save money, such as delaying the purchase of copier paper.

“We have not lost one bit of authority to enforce law,” Presley said. “We have just lost authority to spend money.”

Officials said the PSC is in an unusual position in Mississippi government. In 1968, lawmakers failed to pass a state budget before July 1. Longtime lawmakers have said they don’t recall any times in recent decades that individual agencies have been unfunded at the beginning of a budget year.

Gov. Haley Barbour will call another special session so lawmakers can pass budgets for the PSC and for the Public Utilities Staff, a companion agency that examines utility companies’ finances and evaluates the companies’ requests for rate changes. The Public Utilities staff makes recommendations to the PSC, and the three elected members of the PSC vote on whether to approve rate changes.

Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said Wednesday that session will be set when the House and Senate agree on budgets for the PSC and the Public Utilities staff.

Lawmakers were in special session from Sunday afternoon until midnight Tuesday to approve most parts of the state’s $6 billion budget for the year that began Wednesday.

The utility regulation budgets died amid a dispute over letting the PSC hire more employees. Commissioners say they need their own experts to evaluate the recommendations made by the Public Utilities staff.

The House voted to give the PSC 89 full-time and four part-time staff positions. The Senate cut that back to the existing 73 full-time and four part-time positions.

A separate budget bill for the Public Utilities staff passed both chambers Sunday, but a House member held it for the possibility of more debate — a procedural move that eventually killed the bill.

Posey said because of the reduction in travel by the PSC, utility customers might have to wait longer for state regulators to investigate complaints about unwanted telephone solicitations or spotty electrical service. He also said utility companies or contractors could be affected. For example, companies that want to install natural gas pipelines might not expect a quick decision from the state.

The bills are House Bill 4 and 5.