State high court restores embattled PSC

Maryland’s highest court ruled Thursday that state lawmakers did not have the right to fire the PSC, whose members were terminated in June because the Legislature, controlled by Democrats, believed they had not done enough to keep electricity rates down.

The Legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Robert Ehrlich, who appointed four of the five commissioners, to fire the utility-regulating PSC.

But in a 6-1 decision Thursday, the Court of Appeals said the Legislature overstepped its authority.

“We have the duty to protect all of the branches of government from granting power to, or seizing power from, each other,” the judges wrote in an 86-page decision.

The legislature may not “simply fire the gubernatorial appointees it does not like, ..., the judges wrote.

The decision will not affect the rate relief plan for customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. that the Legislature established this summer.

Minutes after the judges released their opinion, Democrats began attacking their decision.

“Bob Ehrlich and [PSC Chairman] Ken Schisler won their case today, but Maryland families, consumers and taxpayers lost,” Baltimore Mayor Martin O’Malley said in a statement. “If I am elected governor, I will fire Bob Ehrlich’s so-called ‘business-oriented’ Public Service Commission and replace them with independent and competent members who will protect the public.”

House speaker Michael Busch and Senate President Mike Miller, both Democrats, agreed with O’Malley.

“It’s hard for me to contemplate how there can’t be any oversight in government for competency in doing their job,” Busch said.

Miller said he was “extremely disappointed” in the court’s ruling.

“Most Marylanders don’t care about appellate constitutional arguments, they care that their state government is fighting for and protecting them,” he said.

Ehrlich, however, said he applauded the decision.

“The court’s decision demonstrates that the General Assembly’s rush to deflect blame for their 1999 deregulation law was irresponsible and an overreach of the Maryland Constitution,” he said in a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.