(1) The members of the Public Service Commission shall be resident citizens of this state, registered voters, and, if members of or practitioners in any profession, in good standing according to the established standards of such profession. The members of the Public Service Commission shall be elected as provided in section 32-509. A candidate for the office of public service commissioner shall be a resident of the district from which he or she seeks election. Each public service commissioner shall be a resident of the district from which he or she is elected. Removal from the district shall cause a vacancy in the office of public service commissioner for the unexpired term.

(2) No person shall be eligible to the office of public service commissioner who is directly or indirectly interested in any common carrier or jurisdictional utility in the state or out of it or who is in any way or manner pecuniarily interested in any common carrier subject to Chapter 75 or 86. If any commissioner becomes so interested after election or appointment, his or her office shall become vacant, except that if any commissioner becomes so interested otherwise than voluntarily, he or she shall, within a reasonable time, divest himself or herself of such interest, and failing to do so, his or her office shall become vacant.

(3) A commissioner shall not hold any other office under the government of the United States, of this state, or of any other state and shall not, while such commissioner, engage in any other occupation.

(a) Commission, when referring to a state agency, means the Public Service Commission; and

Source:Laws 1963, c. 425, art. I, § 1, p. 1354; Laws 1967, c. 476, § 1, p. 1472; Laws 1984, LB 623, § 14; Laws 1994, LB 76, § 587; Laws 1994, LB 414, § 26; Laws 2002, LB 1105, § 481; Laws 2003, LB 790, § 60.

Annotations

Subsections (1) and (2) of this section set out the eligibility requirements to hold the office of commissioner. Subsection (3) sets out restrictions upon those who hold that office: They may not hold another office or engage in another occupation while holding the office of commissioner. Rosberg v. Vap, 284 Neb. 104, 815 N.W.2d 867 (2012).

Under subsection (1), a person is eligible to be a commissioner if he or she is in good standing in any profession of which he or she is a member or practitioner—outside of the duties imposed upon a commissioner while holding office. Rosberg v. Vap, 284 Neb. 104, 815 N.W.2d 867 (2012).