00 HOUSE BILL NO. 183 01 "An Act relating to the powers and duties of the chair of the Alaska Public 02 Utilities Commission; relating to membership on the Alaska Public Utilities 03 Commission; and relating to the annual report of the Alaska Public Utilities 04 Commission." 05 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 06 * Section 1. AS 42.05.020(b) is amended to read: 07  (b) The governor shall designate one member of the commission as  chair 08 [CHAIRMAN] of the commission. This member shall serve as  chair [CHAIRMAN] 09 for a term of four years, but may be appointed for successive terms.  The chair is 10 responsible for the administration of the commission and commission employees. 11 * Sec. 2. AS 42.05.040 is repealed and reenacted to read: 12  Sec. 42.05.040. Qualifications of members. No more than two members of 13 the commission may be members of the same political party. A person may not be 14 appointed or reappointed to the commission for one year after changing political party 01 membership. 02 * Sec. 3. AS 42.05.101(a) is amended to read: 03  (a) The  chair of the commission shall establish  for the commission a 04 principal office and branch offices necessary to discharge its business efficiently. For 05 the convenience of the public or of parties to a proceeding, the commission may hold 06 meetings, hearings, or other proceedings at other locations. 07 * Sec. 4. AS 42.05.111(b) is amended to read: 08  (b) The  chair of the commission may employ temporary legal counsel  for the 09 commission from time to time in proceedings before the commission in which the 10 attorney general is representing the public interest or a party before the commission. 11 * Sec. 5. AS 42.05.121 is amended to read: 12  Sec. 42.05.121. Employment of commission personnel. (a) The commission 13 may employ an executive director who shall have had at least five years of experience 14 in public utility management or regulation, law, accounting, engineering, or an allied 15 field. The executive director is responsible for directing the administrative functions 16 of the commission and carrying out the policies as set by the commission. The  chair 17 of the commission may employ engineers, hearing officers, administrative law judges 18 to the extent provided by AS 42.06.140(b), experts, clerks, accountants, and other 19 agents and assistants  considered [IT CONSIDERS] necessary. Employees and agents 20 of the commission who are not partially exempt under AS 39.25.120, other than legal 21 counsel, are in the classified service under AS 39.25.100. 22  (b) In addition to  the [ITS] staff of regular employees, the  chair of the 23 commission may contract for and engage the services of consultants and experts the 24 commission considers necessary. 25 * Sec. 6. AS 42.05.211 is amended to read: 26  Sec. 42.05.211. Annual report. The commission shall, by February  1  [15] of 27 each year, publish an annual report reviewing its work and notify the legislature that 28 the report is available. The report must contain 29   (1)  information and data that bear a significant relationship to the 30 development and regulation of public utility services in the state ; 31  (2)  [AND INCLUDE] an outline of the commission's program for the 01 development and regulation of public utility services in the forthcoming year ; 02  (3) a summary of the activities of the commission during the 03 previous year; and 04  (4) a report on and evaluation of the timeliness of the commission's 05 action on dockets during the previous year . 06 * Sec. 7. AS 42.05.050 is repealed.