FRANKFORT — The Republican state auditor would get two appointments to an expanded Public Service Commission (PSC) under changes made to an advancing bill in the final days of this year’s regular legislative session.  Senate Bill 8, sponsored by Sen. Brandon Smith, would expand membership of the utility regulator’s board from its current three members to five members, adding specific experience requirements for commissioners. The governor currently appoints all three members to the PSC who are confirmed by the Kentucky Senate.  The latest change to SB 8 would give Republican State Auditor Allison Ball two of the five commission appointments.  Sen. Robby Mills, R-Henderson, who spoke Thursday afternoon in favor of the bill changes before a special meeting of the House Appropriations and Revenue Committee, said he believed Ball was a “great person to be able to look at the type of people that need to be on the PSC.”  “There’s a lot of finance and background that we would like to make sure — understanding of rates and things of that nature. So that’s a very good choice in my opinion,” Mills said.  Mills said the bill was changing “like a chameleon” but that provisions in the bill still largely pertained to the PSC. Republicans who’ve supported SB 8 have argued adding more commissioners to the PSC gives the regulator more resources to go about its work regulating the rates and service of more than 1,000 utilities across the state.  The bill has been through multiple revisions as it advanced through the GOP-controlled legislature. The bill had been approved earlier this month by the House Natural Resources and Energy Committee but had been recommitted to the Appropriations and Revenue Committee. An initial version of the bill that passed the Senate had given the state auditor appointments, and then a modified version in the House gave the governor all five appointments.  A spokesperson for Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear, weighing in on a previous version that gave the auditor appointments, told the Lantern it was a “partisan move to remove both appointments and authority from a Democratic governor and send them to Republican officeholders.” A Beshear spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Lantern request for comment about the latest version of SB 8.  The Appropriations and Revenue Committee advanced SB 8 by a vote of 17-1 with three lawmakers passing on the bill, some mentioning they needed more time to review significant changes made to the legislation.  Minority Caucus Chair Lindsey Burke, D-Lexington, who voted against the new version of SB 8, had concerns about a potential conflict of interest if the auditor — who is responsible for examining state agencies, including the PSC — is appointing board members to oversee agencies. She told reporters after the committee meeting that the auditor could be “disincentivized” from scrutinizing decisions made by her appointees. “It gives the appearance of self dealing,” Burke said. “(House budget committee chair Jason) Petrie said that they were trying to find some person who’s not affiliated with the governor, and they just kind of landed on auditor, but maybe there’s going to be a compromise.”  The provisions given the auditor appointments were added to SB 8 via a committee amendment. Petrie said that amendment would be considered on the House floor, with the decision to add it to the bill made at that point.  “We can pursue the question that Rep. Burke raised about conflict of interest and see if it’s substantial enough,” Petrie said. The latest version of SB 8 also adds language that appears to provide a prospective 53-mile natural gas pipeline project an exemption from PSC regulation of its rates and service. The agency proposing the pipeline project is in Petrie’s home county.   The Pennyrile Regional Energy Agency, founded in 2022 as an interlocal agreement between two Todd County cities, is trying to build a 53-mile natural gas pipeline through multiple Western Kentucky counties to expand service and supply in the region.The agency received a $30 million allocation in the 2022 state budget, and the agency announced in 2025 it had reached a contract with Fort Campbell to supply natural gas to the military installation.  The pipeline agency asked the PSC in 2023 to declare that it was exempt from having the pipeline’s construction and service regulated by the PSC because it qualified as a city under state law; utility service provided by cities is not regulated by the PSC.  The PSC denied the agency’s request in a 2025 order, and the agency sued the PSC in Franklin Circuit Court. That case is still pending.  The new language, taken from other bills including House Bill 757 and House Bill 844, would add into state law the exemption the agency is seeking. “The exemption is very narrow,” Petrie said, mentioning the pipeline serves industrial and commercial customers with “no intention ever to get to residential ratepayers.”  Audrey Ernstberger, a lobbyist with the environmental legal group Kentucky Resources Council, had shared concerns with lawmakers that the exemption from PSC regulation could mean that ratepayers of the gas pipeline who live outside Todd County cities could be left with no recourse against the utility if service is inadequate or rates are unfair. The post KY auditor would get appointments to utility regulator board with last-minute bill changes appeared first on The Lexington Times. ...read more read less