Contact: Regina Davis, 202-898-9382, rdavis@naruc.org

Broadband-Focused Resolutions Passed by Board

WASHINGTON (July 21, 2021) — The National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners concluded a successful Summer Policy Summit with a focus on the newly established Joint Federal-State Task Force on Electric Transmission. The hybrid meeting, held in Denver, Colo., July 18-21, attracted 900+ utility regulators and industry and consumer representatives, of which more than 600 attended in person.

At the meeting’s final session, NARUC President Paul Kjellander (Idaho) opened his dialogue with Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Richard Glick noting that, “Cooperative federalism should mean something.” As Glick observed, a more meaningful relationship between FERC and the states starts with better communication.

Specifically addressing the need for the transmission task force, Glick stated that we “are not able to achieve transmission goals unless we work together” and that the task force could serve as a “model moving forward” to address other issues.

NARUC submitted its list of 10 state task force nominees to FERC on July 19, described by Kjellander as “work horses, not show horses.”

Glick is expecting “substantial engagement” from task force members and said there would be many dialogues occurring in between the public meetings. His overall goal and vision of success entails moving the transmission agenda forward. Glick also said that he anticipates holding the first task force meeting during the NARUC Annual Meeting and Education Conference in Louisville, Ky., November 7-10.

Along with transmission, he cited three other priorities concerning FERC and the states, including: (1) market reform, particularly in the East; (2) distributed energy resources, such as energy storage; and (3) the “blurry line” between state and federal jurisdiction.

Other FERC commissioners in attendance at the summit include Allison Clements (virtually), James Danly and Neil Chatterjee.

Resolutions

Along with its full slate of committee and general session panels, the NARUC board approved several substantive and honorary resolutions, including:

TC-1    Resolution Supporting Recommendations from the Broadband Expansion Task Force

TC-2    Resolution in Support of California’s Petition for Reconsideration Requesting FCC Seek Comment on Whether the Public Interest and Competition Would Be Served by Maintaining its Policy to Presume All Network Outage Reporting System and Disaster Information Reporting System Information to be Confidential

TC-3    Resolution on Ensuring that Low-Income Households Can Efficiently Enroll in the Emergency Broadband Benefit Program and Seeking Additional Funding for the EBB Program.

Honorary resolutions were approved for former Texas Public Utility Commission Chair DeAnn Walker and former New York Public Service Commission Chairman John B. Rhodes.

The substantive and honorary resolutions are online on NARUC’s website at bit.ly/Summer21Resolutions.

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About NARUC

NARUC is a non-profit organization founded in 1889 whose members include the governmental agencies that are engaged in the regulation of utilities and carriers in the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. NARUC's member agencies regulate telecommunications, energy, and water utilities. NARUC represents the interests of state public utility commissions before the three branches of the Federal government.