Public power board change amended, advanced

Senators gave first-round approval Jan. 27 to a bill that would change provisions relating to public power district boards in Nebraska.

Currently, public power district employees are prohibited from serving on the board of directors of the public power district by which they are employed.

Under LB177, introduced by Malcolm Sen. Ken Haar, a full- or part-time employee of a public power district would be prohibited from serving as a member of the board of directors of any public power district.

Members of a governing body of a municipality within the area of a district also would be prohibited from serving on the original board of directors.

If a public power district employee requests leave to serve on a board of directors of another public power district, the bill would require the employing district to grant the leave as requested.

Haar said existing law does not address a potential conflict of interest that may arise if a public power employee of one district were to be elected to the board of directors of another. For example, he said, in a long-term power purchase negotiation, the interests of an employer and the interests of the people who elected that person as a board member may be in opposition.

“LB177 starts with this premise: that the Legislature has an oversight responsibility to the political subdivisions that it has formed,” Haar said. “And public power certainly is one of those political subdivisions.”

Heartwell Sen. John Kuehn questioned the need for the bill, saying voters have the ability to discern potential conflicts of interest. In addition, he said, the bill would prevent individuals with valuable expertise from serving their communities.

“These are highly technical positions in a highly tech industry,” Kuehn said. “The learning cure is steep.”

Papillion Sen. Jim Smith offered an amendment that would alter the prohibition to include only employed officers of any public-owned electric utility. He said LB177 was too narrow as written.

“I think it restricts the service that public power employees can provide to our state,” he said.

Smith said the amendment would allow employees who could not impact negotiations to serve on neighboring public power boards—allowing citizens to benefit from their expertise.

Haar supported the amendment, saying it was consistent with the bill’s policy goals.

Following adoption of a technical amendment, senators voted 44-0 to adopt the Smith amendment. LB177 advanced to select file on a vote of 36-8.