State Commissioners Lag Nation in Racial, Gender Diversity

Fewer than two in 10 state utility regulators were people of color (POC) in 2020, while more than one in three were women, showed a Communications Daily analysis of National Utilities Diversity Council (NUDC) data. More than half of the commissions or equivalent bodies had zero POC as members. Six had no women and four had none from either category.

Commissioners see room for improvement, and in interviews they praised NARUC for more diversity emphasis amid this year’s social unrest. President Paul Kjellander said diversity should be “a key piece of any association’s responsibility,” and he welcomes uncomfortable conversations to learn how NARUC can improve: “We’ve done a good job as a national association. Can we do better? We can always do better.”

People of color were 16% of 203 commissioners, as of Oct. 5, based on data from a commission diversity toolkit that NUDC plans to release this month. About 60% of the national population is white, not including Hispanic or Latino, says the U.S. Census Bureau. Women were 36% of state commissioners. NUDC reported diversity data for the first year and plans to update numbers at least annually, said Executive Director Laurie Dowling.

“We can do better,” said Illinois Commerce Commissioner Sadzi Oliva. The NARUC diversity committee she chairs will “definitely” consider composition of regulatory bodies, she said. "We as leaders should reflect our states and the communities that we serve,” Oliva said. “Having people from different backgrounds, different experiences only makes our commissions better because of the diversity of thought.”

No POC were commissioners in 28 states, including eight of 11 elected commissions and 20 of 40 appointed commissions. POC were about 11% of all elected commissioners and 18% of all appointed members. No women were commissioners in six states, including three elected and three appointed bodies, though the three-member D.C. Public Service Commission had one open seat most recently filled by a woman. Women were 27% of elected commissioners and 39% of appointed members.

Latinos were 3% of all commissioners, though they're 19% of the U.S. population; the 21 African Americans were 10%, compared with 13% of the population. The five Asian Americans or Pacific Islanders were 2% of commissioners, compared with 5.9% and 0.2% of the population, respectively. One state commissioner is Native American, which is less than 0.5% of commissioners, compared with 1.3% of the population.

Four of five California PUC members are women, three POC. Women filled all three seats on the Nevada PUC and three of five on the Illinois commission. Women chair all three agencies. The five-member New Mexico Public Regulation Commission had three women, including two POC, and the three-member Wisconsin PSC had two women including one POC. Two of three D.C. PSC members are African American men. Two of four Massachusetts commissioners, including Department of Telecommunications and Cable Commissioner Karen Charles Peterson and one of three Department of Public Utilities members, are Black women.

Each commission should reflect the state’s population, Dowling said. “The goal is to make sure we’re hearing all the voices.” The NUDC head was optimistic future reports will show more women, and more Latin and Asian-American representation.

“It’s nice to have a snapshot” of state commissioner diversity, but it’s “a constantly moving thing,” with a commissioner’s average tenure four years, said Kjellander. The Idaho Public Utilities Commission member predicted “we’re going to continue to see membership reflect the change that’s happening out in the real world.”

‘Work to Do’

“It's a little shocking that in 2020, some commissions have no diversity,” and Native Americans and Asian American and Pacific Islanders numbers are “very low,” said Oliva. She was the Illinois commission’s first Hispanic female member; now there are two. That the first Latina was appointed in 2017 shows “there's always room for improvement,” she said.

The numbers didn’t surprise D.C. PSC Chairman Willie Phillips, vice chair of NARUC's diversity committee. They’re better than the predominately white male executive leadership of “industry at large,” including telecom and utilities, but industry has a “long way to go,” he said. Women at 36% is “good but not where it needs to be,” and six agencies with no women is too many, Phillips said. Twenty Black commissioners isn’t enough, he said. “Diversity -- and that includes diversity of thought -- helps you make better decisions,” said Phillips. “I know what it feels like to have my family’s utilities disconnected.”

“We still have a lot of work to do,” said Arizona Corporation Commissioner Lea Marquez Peterson (R). She became Arizona’s first Latina in any statewide seat when Gov. Doug Ducey (R) appointed her to fill a vacancy last year. Voters elected her and another Hispanic woman, Anna Tovar (D), to the five-member ACC in November. Commissions should “represent the communities in which we serve,” said Marquez Peterson, noting Hispanics are nearly one-third of Arizona's population.

No POC regulators in 28 states “shows a ways to go,” said former Michigan PSC Commissioner Monica Martinez, who worked with NUDC on the data. “We have to push more -- no different than when we talk about NFL coaches” to ensure “a diverse pool of candidates,” she said. When she was appointed in 2005, the PSC was the only one in the U.S. with a female majority, said the Ruben Strategy principal. “I remember thinking this is such a shock.” She highlighted some improvement now with more female officials now and fewer agencies with no women.

Pipeline

“We have to be intentional” and willing to “make ourselves uncomfortable,” said Phillips. “We have a small window here with the light on this issue, and it is incumbent upon all of us to make the most of this moment.”

Commissioners can encourage “qualified people to seek these positions” and push appointers to seek diversity, the regulator said. “Once we get in these roles, we have to go out to elementary schools ... to say this is an option.” Phillips, who plans to participate next year in a local school’s career day, said increasing workforce and supplier diversity goals for regulated entities “puts people in the pipeline.”

State commissions won’t reflect state demographics “overnight,” but “I’d like to see growth toward that,” said Marquez Peterson. “I think I was elected because I worked very hard at this campaign, really getting out to folks ... and speaking about my principles and the important things I was working on.” In states that elect commissioners, political parties must find more diverse candidates, she said. For appointed commissions, “the governor really needs to choose the best qualified person for that seat, but we need to expand the circle or the network of those that are in that line.”

Affecting governor appointments is challenging, acknowledged Oliva. “In states where diversity leadership is a priority, you tend to see diverse commissions, but that's not the case everywhere.” Oliva thinks once diversity becomes a commission priority, its interest will carry up to the state administration that appoints members, she said. Commissioners "can bring this up within their own administrations and, hopefully, when new appointments are made, that's taken into consideration.”

NARUC

NARUC moved in the right direction this year, said current and former commissioners. In July, then-President Brandon Presley asked Oliva and Missouri Commissioner Maida Coleman to lead a diversity initiative (see 2007290053). At its October meeting, NARUC upped the Supplier and Workforce Diversity Subcommittee to full committee status (see 2010140065). The committee hosted a webinar Thursday on COVID-19’s impact on minorities.

Kjellander supports the initiative but noted the association “can’t really influence who governors decide to appoint and who the electors ... decide to elect.” He personally doesn’t intend to while he’s an Idaho commissioner, he said. “When I get out and I have free rein to be in politics again, that’s a different story.” NARUC staff didn’t “participate in NUDC’s data collection, nor has the Association verified the results of the study,” a spokesperson said.

While largely praising NARUC’s diversity work, Phillips noted the association has only had one African American president, Colette Honorable in 2013-14. While current First Vice President Judy Jagdmann from Virginia is a woman, nobody in line to become president is a person of color, he said. “You’re talking four years at best.”

“We certainly do nothing to discourage anyone from trying to run,” responded Kjellander. NARUC tries to “provide an opportunity and a platform for every commissioner to advance,” he said. He pointed to diversity in NARUC leadership, including Jagdmann.

Dowling saw “a tremendous shift in emphasis and enthusiasm around diversity and inclusion” among commissioners and NARUC “in the last several years,” she said. Having NARUC’s president as a permanent member of the diversity committee is big, she said. Martinez noted there wasn’t even a subcommittee when she attended her first NARUC meeting. Some members invited her to an unofficial diversity gathering, she recalled: “We met on the side on a Sunday morning.”