Committee sends House Bill 8 to the floor with 'do pass' recommendation; bill removes obsolete Public Utilities Code sections

Representative Joe Palmer, sponsor of House Bill 8, told the House State Affairs Committee the bill revises Title 32 by removing sections the Public Utilities Commission no longer regulates.

"Basically it takes out of current Code 32 secondtions of Code that are no longer needed. It deals with the Public Utilities Committee and Commission, sorry, not Committee. It's things that they cannot or do not regulate at this time and so they felt that it was proper to be able to remove it," Palmer said, describing the bill as a clean-up of obsolete statutory provisions.

Palmer told the committee the bill previously passed the House last year with strong support — "went over to the Senate with 70 yes votes" — but stalled in the Senate because it arrived too late in the session. He said staff from the Public Utilities Commission were available to answer technical questions.

Representative Nicholson moved to accept House Bill 8 with a do-pass recommendation. The committee asked whether anyone in the audience wished to testify; none did. Representative Keelys thanked the sponsor and staff for prior discussions with Mr. Goodson and the PUC. The chair put the motion to a voice vote: "Aye. Opposed, nay. The motion is carried." The transcript records the motion as carried; no roll-call tally is provided.

Why it matters: House Bill 8 would remove statutory provisions in Title 32 that the Public Utilities Commission no longer regulates, according to the sponsor. The committee's do-pass recommendation advances the measure to the full House for consideration.