§269-2  Public utilities commission; number,appointment of commissioners, qualifications; compensation; persons havinginterest in public utilities.  (a)  There shall be a public utilitiescommission of three members, to be called commissioners, and who shall beappointed in the manner prescribed in section 26-34, except as otherwiseprovided in this section.  All members shall be appointed for terms of sixyears each, except that the terms of the members first appointed shall be fortwo, four, and six years, respectively, as designated by the governor at thetime of appointment.  The governor shall designate a member to be chairpersonof the commission.  Each member shall hold office until the member's successoris appointed and qualified.  Section 26-34 shall not apply insofar as itrelates to the number of terms and consecutive number of years a member canserve on the commission; provided that no member shall serve more than twelveconsecutive years.

In appointing commissioners, the governor shallselect persons who have had experience in accounting, business, engineering,government, finance, law, or other similar fields.  The commissioners shalldevote full time to their duties as members of the commission and nocommissioner shall hold any other public office or other employment during thecommissioner's term of office.  No person owning any stock or bonds of anypublic utility corporation, or having any interest in, or deriving anyremuneration from, any public utility shall be appointed a commissioner.

(b)  Effective July 1, 2005, the chairperson ofthe commission shall be paid a salary set at eighty-seven per cent of thesalary of the director of human resources development, and each of the othercommissioners shall be paid a salary equal to ninety-five per cent of thechairperson's salary.  The commissioners shall be exempt from chapters 76 and89 but shall be members of the state employees retirement system and shall beeligible to receive the benefits of any state or federal employee benefit programgenerally applicable to officers and employees of the State, including thoseunder chapter 87A.

The commission is placed within the departmentof budget and finance for administrative purposes. [L 1913, c 89, §1; am L1915, c 170, §1; am L 1917, c 165, §1; am L 1919, c 88, §1; am L 1921, c 127,§1; RL 1925, §2189; am L 1933, c 141, §1; RL 1935, §7941; RL 1945, §4702; am L1951, c 213, §1; RL 1955, §104-2; am L Sp 1959 2d, c 1, §5; am imp L 1967, c80, §1; HRS §269-2; am L 1972, c 118, §1; am L 1976, c 165, §1; am L 1982, c129, §8; gen ch 1985; am L 1986, c 128, §7; am L 1989, c 329, §5; am L 1990, c140, §5; am L 2002, c 148, §24; am L 2005, c 22, §10 and c 226, §7]

 

Cross References

 

  Administration, see §26-8.

  Commissions, generally, see §26-34.

 

Case Notes

 

  Cited:  32 H. 127, 129.