Questions have been raised about the constitutionality of a bill taking some powers from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and forcing regulators to act on utility requests at a faster rate than is the current law.
SB998 was passed by the state legislature and allowed to become law without the signature of Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt. Authors were Sen. Grant Green, Republican of Wellston and Rep.Trey Caldwell, Republican of Faxon. The measure is set to become law on August 29 and was the subject of a discussion in a meeting of the Corporation Commission last week.
The phrase in SB998 that raised concerns among some was the reduction from 240 days to 180 days for action to be taken by the Corporation Commission.
“This 180 day thing is a real problem,” stated attorney Thomas Schroedter, with the Oklahoma Industrial Energy Consumers group. “It does strip you of your authority and we believe the legislation, 998 is unconstitutional because it usurps your authority.”
He told commissioners it defies Article 9, Section 18 of the state constitution.
“It’s legally deficient and conflicts and violates other articles in the constitution.”
Commission Chair Kim David agreed that she “questioned it as well.”
Chiming in was commissioner Brian Bingman who noted that no legal challenge had been filed with the state Supreme Court.
“It needs to be ripe for appeal and I think the commission itself could raise the issue.”
Bingman suggested waiting until SB998 is involved in a Commission case.
“When there’s a case where 998 is to be implemented, then the issue could be raised with the Supreme Court. Otherwise, we have to assume it is law.”
The OIEC’s Schroedter observed that a number of utilities were involved in lobbying for the measure to become law.
“So I think there’s gonna be applications soon, if not already.”
OK Energy Today made efforts to get responses from Sen. Green and Rep. Caldwell regarding the constitutionality of their bill. They did not respond by the posting of this story.
