New NARUC President Stresses Skills Development for State Commissioners
State utility commissioners must hone skills to respond to a rapidly changing industry, said new NARUC President Nick Wagner in an interview. NARUC elected the Iowa Utilities Board member at the association’s annual meeting this month in Orlando. State commissioners’ relationships with the FCC and other federal agencies are “absolutely critical,” and there’s “always room for improvement,” said Wagner, referring to calls by some NARUC members to work on states’ rapport with the FCC (see 1811190010).
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Wagner said his priorities as NARUC president are “less policy-driven and more focused on the organization as a whole and making sure we’re prepared for a changing industry” across telecom and other sectors. Building on NARUC’s commissioner-orientation program, Wagner plans to convene commission chairs for skills training specific to their roles. Professional development also should include ethics training, he said.
Wagner plans to appoint a new Telecom Committee chair within one to two weeks, he said. Idaho Public Utilities Commission member Paul Kjellander exited the role to become NARUC second vice president. “I’ve spoken to a few individuals who are interested,” said Wagner, saying he'll choose someone who has been engaged in the committee and is willing to take on extra time commitment.
Big changes in telecom include migration to wireless from landlines and broadband expansion into unserved and underserved area, Wagner said. “People’s demand for being connected is only increasing and I don’t see that that’s going to slow down any time in the future.” Connectivity is driving productivity gains in Iowa’s agricultural industry, he noted. “We don’t regulate broadband, but the people in our states that are using those services still look to us to understand it, know it and be able to answer questions,” he said. As technology changes, “some of those lines of regulation or who has jurisdiction start to … get fuzzy,” Wagner said. States disagree among themselves over issues like net neutrality and authority over interconnected VoIP, he said.
The NARUC president sees both sides of the broadband infrastructure debate, he said. Cities want to maintain their jurisdiction while the FCC and others want to drive the technology, said Wagner, who chaired a local government committee when he was in the Iowa legislature and spent four years as a city council member. More education is needed “so that the cities can understand the potential” with 5G, while the other side can better understand cities’ needs and how to make them more comfortable with the buildout, he said. “There’s got to be a balance.”
Wagner hopes to continue dialogue with the FCC on USF revisions, a subject on which state members of the Joint Board on Universal Service have complained that the FCC hasn’t shared information, he said. “The FCC has got a lot on their plate [and] we’ve got a lot on our plates.”
NARUC supports giving states access to national outage information (see 1811210018), and Wagner predicted protecting critical infrastructure will be a 2019 focus for the organization. Resiliency is rapidly evolving from a sector-centric issue to one requiring coordination among electric, gas, telecom and other industries, Wagner said. “They are all intertwined.”