Maryland
Moore appoints Barve, veteran lawmaker, to the Public Service Commission – Maryland Matters
Gov. Wes Moore (D) on Thursday night confirmed one of many worst-kept secrets and techniques in Annapolis: That he’s nominating Del. Kumar P. Barve (D-Montgomery) for a slot on the Maryland Public Service Fee.
Barve, who has served in Annapolis since 1991 and been the chair of the Home Setting and Transportation Committee since 2015, will carry his experience on local weather and expertise to an essential if obscure regulatory physique that can play an more and more outstanding position within the state’s efforts to fight local weather change. In a press release, Moore known as Barve “the perfect candidate for this position.”
“I’m assured in Delegate Barve’s capability to bolster my administration’s dedication to environmental stewardship whereas guaranteeing ratepayers are protected,” he stated.
The Public Service Fee regulates most electrical and fuel utilities within the state and sure passenger transportation corporations, together with taxi cabs working in Baltimore Metropolis, Baltimore County, Cumberland and Hagerstown.
Moore has set about recasting the five-member fee, rescinding two recess appointments that former Gov. Larry Hogan (R) made to the fee final 12 months and nominating Fred Hoover, a former director of the Maryland Power Administration, to be the brand new chair to interchange one other Hogan appointee. Hoover’s nomination was heard by the Senate Government Nominations Committee on Monday and he’s anticipated to be confirmed by the complete Senate on Friday.
A second Moore nominee to the PSC, Juan Alvarado, an official with the American Fuel Affiliation, withdrew on Feb. 28 amid criticism from environmental teams and questions on Alvarado’s position earlier than and after a deadly fuel explosion at an house advanced in Silver Spring when he was a staffer on the fee. Moore nonetheless has yet another seat on the PSC to fill.
Barve is a trailblazing determine within the Maryland Basic Meeting. He was the primary Indian-American and the primary Hindu elected to a state legislature within the nation. Representing Gaithersburg and Rockville within the Home, Barve shortly rose to develop into a long-serving chair of the Montgomery County Home delegation, and served as Home majority chief below the late Speaker Michael E. Busch (D), who later appointed Barve to chair the newly-reconstituted Setting and Transportation panel.
Barve was additionally a number one wit within the Basic Meeting, showing for years as “Kumar the Magnificent” within the annual however now-defunct Legislative Follies, a skit that was based mostly on Johnny Carson’s “Carnac the Magnificent” position on “The Tonight Present.”
Throughout his 33 years within the legislature, Barve labored on financial improvement, environmental regulation, power era and conservation, greenhouse fuel discount and tax coverage, and he was an early champion of the state’s fledgling high-tech business.
“He has been on the heart of Maryland’s battle in opposition to local weather change,” Home Speaker Adrienne A. Jones (D-Baltimore County) stated earlier this week.
In his day job, Barve, an accountant by commerce, has been the chief monetary officer of Environmental Administration Companies, Inc., a Rockville firm, for 30 years.
Barve contemplated looking for increased workplace a number of occasions throughout his profession, and twice eyed runs for Congress earlier than pulling again. He ultimately did make a congressional bid in 2016, however completed far out of the cash within the Democratic major. However at any time when he suffered a political setback he would all the time take consolation that he might return to the Basic Meeting.
“Fortunately, I like my job,” he would ceaselessly say.
Barve endorsed Moore pretty early within the Democratic major for governor final 12 months and often touted the candidate’s environmental platform. Barve was reportedly a runner-up to be appointed Setting secretary when Moore took workplace, however will now have the ability to form power and environmental coverage in different methods on the PSC.
Whether or not coincidence or not, Jones on Tuesday bestowed the Casper R. Taylor Jr. Award, named after considered one of her predecessors and given to a present Home member for “steadfast public service,” on Barve. His colleagues gave him an extended, lusty ovation, in a ceremony that felt like a farewell tribute to Barve’s lengthy legislative profession.
Barve will stay within the Basic Meeting via the tip of the present session, which concludes on Monday. It’s extremely unlikely that the Senate Government Nominations Committee will take up his nomination earlier than Sine Die — that means he’ll take workplace on the PSC later this spring however gained’t undergo the affirmation course of till subsequent 12 months. Barve would develop into the second former Home member to serve on the fee: Tony O’Donnell, a former Home minority chief, has been on the PSC since 2016.
Barve’s departure creates a emptiness on the prime of the Setting and Transportation Committee, a plum place for Jones to fill. Early hypothesis for the job focuses on Home Majority Chief Marc Korman (D-Montgomery), who can be chair of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and the Setting. However there could possibly be extra motion within the Home in months forward.
The Home has already seen three new members appointed because the begin of the 12 months, and there’s one other emptiness to be stuffed in Montgomery County’s District 39, the place Del. Kirill Reznik (D) not too long ago resigned to develop into assistant secretary for interdepartmental knowledge on the Maryland Division of Human Companies. The Montgomery County Democratic Central Committee will ahead names to Moore for Reznik’s and Barve’s replacements.