Possible PRC impeachment effort faces long road
No formal steps have been taken in dispute over state energy act
SANTA FE — New Mexico House Speaker Brian Egolf said Thursday that no formal steps have been taken toward launching impeachment proceedings against three state Public Regulation Commission members.
Egolf, a Santa Fe Democrat, said that he shares the frustration of Sen. Jacob Candelaria, D-Albuquerque, over how the three commissioners have balked at implementing the state’s new Energy Transition Act but that he’s not sure their actions rise to the level of impeachment.
“I completely share his frustration that you have a majority on the PRC right now that in effect is trying to override the Legislature,” Egolf told the Journal. “They don’t get to decide whether to enforce it — it’s the law.”
Candelaria said this week that he has contacted legislative staffers about beginning an impeachment inquiry against the three commissioners: Democrats Valerie Espinoza and Theresa Becenti-Aguilar and Republican Jefferson Byrd.
He said the three commissioners have failed to enforce the Energy Transition Act, which was sponsored by Cande
laria and signed into law in March by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.
Specifically, the commissioners have expressed misgivings about a provision in the new law that authorizes the Public Service Company of New Mexico to issue bonds that customers would pay off through a surcharge on their bills. Those bonds would raise about $360 million to pay for all costs related to the shutdown of the San Juan Generating Station, including $40 million for laid-off workers and local aid programs.
Becenti-Aguilar said Thursday that she’s accustomed to political pressure and is focused on doing her job.
“One thing I do know for sure is that the Public Regulation Commission is an independent body,” BecentiAguilar told the Journal.
However, Candelaria said he thinks the three commissioners’ actions are impeachable offenses and should be acted upon by the Legislature.
“I think it would be a dereliction of our constitutional authority not to investigate” their actions, he said.
Any impeachment effort would likely face long political odds, based on state history. No elected official has been impeached in New Mexico’s history, but special legislative committees have been created to weigh possible impeachment, most recently in 2005 and 2011. The elected officials stepped down in both cases before the Legislature could hold an impeachment vote.
Under the state Constitution, the impeachment of a public official must start in the House of Representatives. If a majority of elected members of the 70-member House vote for impeachment, it’s then up to the Senate to hold a formal trial on the matter.
The Constitution also stipulates that elected officials and state judges can be impeached only for “crimes, misdemeanors and malfeasance” in office.