PSC staff outlines motor-carrier and telecom rule changes; committee agrees to withdrawal and sends two items to full committee

Public Service Commission staffors explained proposed updates to motor-carrier, telecommunications and hearing-procedure regulations at a South Carolina House Regulations and Administrative Procedures subcommittee hearing; the panel agreed to allow the PSC to withdraw and resubmit the motor-carrier filing to correct numbering errors and voted to send the telecommunications and discovery-rule changes to the full committee.

The proposed motor-carrier regulation (Document 5242) implements provisions of Act 214 of 2022, the PSC’s Jocelyn Boyd told the subcommittee. The changes require the commission’s docket system to post motor-carrier applications online, open a 15-day window for public objections, and allow staff to issue a directive that becomes effective 30 days after issuance. Boyd said the Office of Regulatory Staff (ORS) will issue a carrier certificate once required insurance and other filings are received — a process she described as cutting the prior cycle from as long as about 60 days to roughly 20–22 days in many cases. The PSC also proposes deleting references to public convenience and necessity determinations and certificates of FWA, moving maximum rates from newspaper tariffs to a public spreadsheet on the commission website, eliminating routine newspaper notice unless a hearing is scheduled, and deleting an annual-report filing requirement. The PSC said it will add or amend definitions (including class C nonemergency certificate, class C stretcher-van certificate and wheelchair-accessible vehicle) and add a rule allowing extensions to compliance deadlines (requests older than one year would require a new application). The PSC cited Code section 34-31-20(a) to apply interest when a carrier willfully overcharges a customer.

Boyd asked the subcommittee’s permission to withdraw and resubmit Document 5242 after staff discovered a numbering error during final verification of the regulation text; the panel approved the withdrawal so the PSC can correct renumbering misalignments before refiling.

On telecommunications (Document 5267), Boyd said the proposed changes remove regulations tied to a repealed statute governing a telecommunications relay advisory committee and bring the PSC’s rules into alignment with federal law for eligible telecommunications carriers. The PSC also proposed amending directory rules so a telephone utility must make directory information available but need not print or distribute a directory unless a customer requests it. Boyd told the panel that, as with the motor-carrier changes, interest on willful overcharges would be assessed at the statutory legal rate (which the PSC read as 8 3/4 percent per year).

On discovery and hearing papers (Document 5275 and related practice-and-procedure language in Article 8), Boyd asked the subcommittee to restore the phrase "working papers or attorney work product" to the commission’s discovery regulation. She said the intent is to protect mental impressions or work product not just of attorneys but of nonattorney experts who may appear in PSC dockets, and she cited Rule 26(b)(1) and 26(b)(3) of the South Carolina Rules of Civil Procedure in support of the wording.

Committee members asked the PSC to provide a brief, plain-language synopsis showing how the statutory and regulatory changes shorten processing times or otherwise produce efficiencies for businesses, customers and taxpayers. Several members said such a one-page metric would help industry stakeholders and smaller businesses understand concrete benefits from the rule changes.

Votes at a glance

- Document 5242 (motor-carrier regulations): PSC requested withdrawal and resubmission to correct regulation numbering; committee approved the withdrawal for refiling (outcome: withdrawn for resubmission). - Document 5267 (telecommunications): motion to approve and send to full committee was made and the subcommittee voted to send it to full committee (outcome: sent to full committee). - Document 5275 (discovery/hearing papers and practice-and-procedure cleanup): subcommittee voted to move the regulation to full committee (outcome: sent to full committee).

The PSC representatives said they will return with corrected filings and with the requested efficiency synopsis. No formal final agency orders were issued at the hearing; the subcommittee’s votes move the items to the next stage in the legislative-review process.