Senate urges public hearing on whether Utah Public Service Commission should be elected

The Utah Senate on Jan. 28 approved SJR4, a resolution urging the Public Utilities and Technology interim committee to hold a public hearing to examine whether the Utah Public Service Commission should be chosen by election rather than appointment.

Senator Maine, who introduced the resolution, said the measure is intended to bring the question into the public arena for full debate. Maine cited a Deseret News/Dan Jones poll and said, "74% said that the public service commission should be elected," and concluded: "Let's have a public hearing."

Senator Hilliard opposed the floor resolution on procedural grounds, saying the same inquiry could be handled through the interim study process and warning that floor resolutions could flood the session: "After talking and thinking about the matter, I'm going to vote no, and I'll tell you why," he said, explaining concerns that the practice could create many similar floor directives and take time away from committee priorities. Senator Stevenson replied that a public hearing would clarify questions and recommended airing the issue publicly.

The Senate recorded 20 aye votes, 7 no votes and 2 absent; SJR4 passed and will be sent to the House for further consideration. The resolution does not itself change law or commission structure but urges the interim committee to schedule and hold a public hearing to examine the institutional question and gather evidence.

Next steps: the resolution asks the interim committee to hold the hearing; the committee will decide whether to schedule it and how to structure testimony.