1.1                          A bill for an act 
  1.2             relating to utilities; requiring Public Utilities 
  1.3             Commission to have two members from rural Minnesota; 
  1.4             amending Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 216A.03, 
  1.5             subdivision 1.  
  1.6   BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
  1.7      Section 1.  Minnesota Statutes 2002, section 216A.03, 
  1.8   subdivision 1, is amended to read: 
  1.9      Subdivision 1.  [MEMBERS.] (a) The Public Utilities 
  1.10  Commission shall consist of five members.  The terms of members 
  1.11  shall be six years and until their successors have been 
  1.12  appointed and qualified.  Each commissioner shall be appointed 
  1.13  by the governor by and with the advice and consent of the 
  1.14  senate.  Not more than three commissioners shall belong to the 
  1.15  same political party.  
  1.16     (b) At least one commissioner two commissioners must have 
  1.17  been be domiciled at the time of their initial appointment 
  1.18  outside the seven-county metropolitan area.  Of these two 
  1.19  commissioners, at least one must be domiciled at the time of 
  1.20  initial appointment outside a city of the first or second class, 
  1.21  as defined in section 410.01.  If the membership of the 
  1.22  commission after July 31, 1986 August 1, 2004, does not consist 
  1.23  of at least one member two members domiciled at the time 
  1.24  of their initial appointment outside the seven-county 
  1.25  metropolitan area, the membership shall conform to this 
  2.1   requirement following normal attrition of the present 
  2.2   commissioners.  
  2.3      (c) The governor when selecting commissioners shall give 
  2.4   consideration to persons learned in the law or persons who have 
  2.5   engaged in the profession of engineering, public accounting, 
  2.6   property and utility valuation, finance, physical or natural 
  2.7   sciences, production agriculture, or natural resources as well 
  2.8   as being representative of the general public. 
  2.9      (d) For purposes of this subdivision, "seven-county 
  2.10  metropolitan area" means Anoka, Carver, Dakota, Hennepin, 
  2.11  Ramsey, Scott, and Washington counties.