Consumer groups say lawmakers violated state constitution

(The Center Square) – Georgia consumer groups have filed a federal lawsuit against the state, saying lawmakers violated the state’s constitution by passing legislation that delays Georgia Public Service Commission elections.

Georgia-based attorneys Bryan Sells and Lester Tate filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Georgia WAND Education Fund, the Georgia Conservation Voters and Brionté McCorkle, the advocacy's executive director. The action, which names Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, follows the U.S. Supreme Court’s denial of a request to review an 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision in an earlier case saying at-large elections of commission members runs afoul of the federal Voting Rights Act.

House Bill 1312, signed in April by Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, delays the election of new members until 2025 and 2026.

Commission members have been elected in partisan elections to serve staggered six-year terms, and the groups said the change extends current members’ terms to eight or nine years. State officials canceled elections in 2022 and 2024 amid litigation, and the members’ terms will return to six years following the next round of elections.

The lawsuit says Georgia’s constitution requires terms be six years, which cannot be lengthened without a constitutional amendment. The plaintiffs argue postponing elections will allow the commission members to “rubberstamp” utility rate increases.

“The illegal postponement of PSC elections in Georgia is an attack on our constitutional right to vote and the state’s constitutional mandate to hold statewide elections within the time frame governed by the law,” Kimberly Scott, a plaintiff and the executive director of Georgia WAND, said in a statement. “This lawsuit will show that Georgia lawmakers have made de facto regulatory decisions that are harmful to the state instead of adhering to our constitution. Let the people vote!”

A spokesman for Attorney General Chris Carr said the office had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment. The Center Square was unsuccessful getting comment from Kemp.

A Public Service Commission representative referred questions about the lawsuit to the members, three of whom declined to comment.

“The commissioners will follow any law passed by the General Assembly or ordered by the courts,” Commission Chairman Jason Shaw wrote in an email to The Center Square.

The groups behind Wednesday’s lawsuit were among those that commissioned a report critical of Plant Vogtle in Georgia. The report, “Plant Vogtle: the True Cost of Nuclear Power in the United States,” found the nuclear plant project “points to the failure of the State of Georgia generally, and the Georgia Public Service Commission specifically, in protecting its people from monopoly utility power and overreach.”