Could a former Texas Public Utility Commission member or employee work for a regulated utility as an outside lawyer or consultant during the statutory cooling-off period?
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This page answers the general question as of 1984. Ezel answers yours: what it means for your facts, under current Texas law, with citations.
Texas AG Opinion JM-280: PUC Post-Employment Work
Plain-English summary
The Public Utility Commission asked whether the statutory ban on being “employed by a public utility” also covered work performed as an outside consultant or attorney. Section 6(i) imposed a two-year restriction on former commissioners and a one-year restriction on former employees when the utility had been within their official responsibility. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
JM-280 concluded that the restriction covered outside legal and consulting work. A former commissioner or employee could not avoid the waiting period merely because the utility retained the person as an independent professional rather than placing the person on its payroll. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
The opinion compared section 6(i) with the amended section 6(b). The earlier law had broadly restricted pecuniary interests involving utilities, affiliated interests, and businesses serving utilities. The 1983 amendments removed the post-employment restriction for affiliated and contracting entities but retained a broad ban on work for the regulated utility itself. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
The conference committee report distinguished prohibited work for a regulated utility from permitted work for an affiliated interest or a firm doing substantial business with utilities. The Attorney General treated that distinction as evidence that “work for” the utility included representation and consulting services. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Currency note
This opinion was issued in 1984. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.
Common questions
Did the post-employment restriction cover an outside attorney?
Yes. JM-280 said representing a public utility as outside counsel was prohibited during the applicable statutory period. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Did it also cover an outside consultant?
Yes. The opinion treated consulting work performed for the utility as employment within section 6(i)'s prohibition. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
How long were the waiting periods described in the opinion?
Two years for a former commissioner and one year for a former employee. The restriction applied when the public utility had been within that person's official responsibility at the commission. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Was all utility-related private work prohibited?
No. The legislative history quoted in JM-280 distinguished direct work for a regulated utility from work for an affiliated interest or a separate firm that did substantial business with utilities. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Why did the opinion read “employed by” broadly?
The conference committee described the rule by saying former commissioners and employees could not “work for a public utility.” JM-280 concluded that this broader wording included representation and outside consulting. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Background and statutory framework
Section 6(i) was enacted through Senate Bill No. 232 in 1983. It prohibited a former commissioner, for two years, and a former employee, for one year, from being employed by a public utility that had been within the person's official responsibility. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
The same legislation amended section 6(b), which governed business relationships while a person served at the commission. The amendment deleted that section's former two-year post-employment language and placed the narrower waiting-period rule in section 6(i). Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
The House version would have imposed a new two-year rule only on former commissioners. The Senate version proposed one year for employees and two years for commissioners and certain senior officials. The conference committee adopted two years for commissioners and one year for employees. Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Citations and references
- Section 6(i) of article 1446c, V.T.C.S., the Public Utility Regulatory Act
- Section 6(b) of article 1446c, V.T.C.S.
- Senate Bill No. 232, Acts 1983, 68th Legislature, chapter 274, at 1270
- Acts 1975, 64th Legislature, chapter 721, at 2331
Source: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Source
- Landing page: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/opinions/jim-mattox/jm-0280
- Original PDF: https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/sites/default/files/opinion-files/opinion/1984/jm0280.pdf
Original opinion text
Best-effort transcription from a scanned PDF. Minor errors may remain. The linked PDF is authoritative.
The Attorney General of Texas
December 28, 1984
Mr. Philip F. Ricketts
Chairman
Public Utility Commission of Texas
7800 Shoal Creek Boulevard
Suites 400-450N
Austin, Texas 78757
Opinion No. JM-280
Re: Whether section 6(i) of article 1446c, V.T.C.S., prohibits former members and employees of the Public Utility Commission from serving a public utility as an outside consultant or attorney during the stated time period
Dear Chairman Ricketts:
You ask the following question about section 6(i) of article 1446c, V.T.C.S., the Public Utility Regulatory Act.
Does section 6(i) of the Public Utility Regulatory Act, article 1446c, V.T.C.S., prohibit a member or employee of the Public Utility Commission from representing or performing work for a public utility in the capacity of an outside consultant or attorney during the period of time set forth in the section?
Section 6(i) of article 1446c, V.T.C.S., provides as follows:
(i) No commissioner shall within two years, and no employee shall, within one year after his employment with the commission has ceased, be employed by a public utility which was in the scope of the commissioner's or employee's official responsibility while the commissioner or employee was associated with the commission. (Emphasis added).
You specifically inquire whether the phrase “be employed by a public utility” includes serving the utility as an outside consultant or attorney.
Section 6(i) was enacted by Senate Bill No. 232 of the Sixty-eighth Legislature which amended the Public Utility Regulatory Act. Acts 1983, 68th Leg., ch. 274, at 1270. The same enactment amended section 6(b) which formerly prohibited Public Utility Commission officers and employees from having “any pecuniary interest . . . in any public utility or affiliated interest” while with the commission and for two years thereafter. Acts 1975, 64th Leg., ch. 721, at 2331. The 1983 amendment deleted the post-employment prohibition from section 6(b), quoted below with the deleted language shown in brackets.
(b) No commissioner or employee of the commission may do any of the following during his period of service with the commission [and for two years thereafter]:
(1) have any pecuniary interest, either as an officer, director, partner, owner, employee, attorney, consultant, or otherwise, in any public utility or affiliated interest, or in any person or corporation or other business entity a significant portion of whose business consists of furnishing goods or services to public utilities or affiliated interests, but not including a nonprofit group or association solely supported by gratuitous contributions of money, property or services. . . . (Emphasis added).
Acts 1983, supra, at 1268.
Section 6(b)(1) prohibits a current commissioner or employee from having certain business relationships with a public utility, an affiliated interest, or a business entity, a significant portion of whose business consists of furnishing goods or services to public utilities or affiliated interests. Section 6(i) applies the post-employment restriction only to employment by a public utility within the scope of the individual's official responsibility while with the commission.
The conference committee report on Senate Bill No. 232 indicates the legislature's intent in enacting section 6(i). The House version of the bill provided a new two-year rule for former PUC commissioners only. The report stated as follows:
Under this provision, commissioners could not go to work for a regulated utility for a period of two years after the termination of employment with the PUC. However, unlike current law, a commissioner could go to work for an affiliated interest or a firm that does substantial business with a regulated utility as long as the commissioner was not involved in such transactions for a period of two years. (Emphasis added).
The Senate version applied a one-year prohibition to employees and a two-year prohibition to commissioners, administrative law judges, the general counsel, or chief hearing examiner. The conference committee combined the Senate and House
to restrict post employment of commissioners to two years and employees to one year. Neither can work for a public utility. (Emphasis added).
The conference committee report distinguishes between work for a regulated utility, which is not permitted during the statutory post-employment period, and work for an affiliated interest or a firm that does substantial business with a utility which is not so prohibited. We believe this report expresses the legislature's intent to continue a broad prohibition against work for a public utility while removing the former prohibition against work for affiliated entities or entities that contract with public utilities. In our opinion, the section 6(i) restriction prohibits a commissioner or employee of the Public Utility Commission from representing or performing work for a public utility in the capacity of an outside consultant or attorney during the statutory time period.
SUMMARY
Section 6(i) of article 1446c, V.T.C.S., prohibits a former member or employee of the Public Utility Commission from serving a public utility as an outside consultant or outside attorney during the time period stated in that provision.
Very truly yours,
JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas
TOM GREEN
First Assistant Attorney General
DAVID R. RICHARDS
Executive Assistant Attorney General
RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee
Prepared by Susan Garrison
Assistant Attorney General
APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE
Rick Gilpin, Chairman
Colin Carl
Susan Garrison
Tony Guillory
Jim Moellinger
Jennifer Riggs
Nancy Sutton
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