Why is Gov. McKee’s PUC nominee stuck in legislative limbo?

Noticeably absent from the novel-length legislative agendas of the General Assembly’s final days of session: confirmation, or even a preliminary vetting, of Gov. Dan McKee’s nominee to the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission.

That’s because the Rhode Island Senate does not intend to appoint Donna Sams to the three-member utility panel, at least not this year, Greg Paré, a spokesperson for Senate President Valarie Lawson, confirmed Wednesday. 

Sams, whose name was forwarded by McKee in late March, will have to wait until the legislature reconvenes in January to have a chance at the $140,000-a-year regulatory position. In the meantime, Commissioner Abigail Anthony, whose six-year term expired in 2023, can stay in her seat, as permitted by state law.

Sams did not know her nomination was not being considered until she was contacted by Rhode Island Current on Wednesday. She declined to comment on the Senate’s decision. 

The holdup comes amid senators’ concerns over Sams’ expertise, Paré said. 

Sams’ accolade-laden resume includes top roles at Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. The Cumberland resident also serves on the board of Rhode Island Commerce Corporation, which McKee, as governor, chairs. But her background does not appear to include any experience in energy policy, law or science.

“This position is not an entry-level position,” Sen. Dawn Euer, a Newport Democrat, said in an interview Wednesday. “It has very serious impacts on people’s wallets and we need very serious people.” 

The quasi-judicial tribunal regulates private and public utility suppliers — including Rhode Island Energy — helping to balance fiscal solvency, renovations and capital investments with protections for ratepayers. In recent years, the commission has also taken a more active role in the state’s climate change mandates, setting pricing and project caps for renewable energy projects like solar fields and offshore wind arrays.

“There is a large responsibility to be able to evaluate the things that come before them to protect ratepayers,” Sen. Alana DiMario, a Narragansett Democrat, said. 

It’s also one of few full-time, paid board positions in the state. 

Sams acknowledged she was “not an expert” in energy policy, but said she understood it “fairly well.”

“My position with them was I’m not coming on just to deal with energy,” Sams said in an interview Wednesday. “I’m coming on to deal with all the other factors, to deal with people who are affected by the decisions they make.”

McKee’s office did not immediately respond to comments regarding the Senate’s decision to hold back his nomination without even a preliminary hearing. 

The three current commissioners have relevant experience. Anthony, who Sams was intended to replace, has earned regional acclaim and national attention for her professional and educational expertise. Anthony earned a doctorate in environmental and natural resource economics from the University of Rhode Island and worked as the Rhode Island director for Acadia Center, leading grid modernization and utility reform, before she was appointed to the commission by then-Gov. Gina Raimondo in 2017.  

Chairman Ron Gerwatowski, also a Raimondo appointee, was a regulatory lawyer with three decades of experience working for utility and energy companies. Karen Bradbury, appointed by McKee in 2025, previously served as the legislation and programs administrator for the state Office of Energy Resources, among other positions in federal and state government. 

DiMario and Euer both said they raised concerns with Senate leaders about Sams’ nomination. 

“It’s not clear to me at all,” DiMario said when asked why she thought the governor forwarded Sams’ name for the job.

DiMario said she has noticed a concerning pattern with McKee’s recent nominations.  Two of McKee’s three picks for the Energy Efficiency Council were held for further study on June 2 by the Senate Committee on Environment and Agriculture due to concerns with the appointment process.

The nominees would have replaced two existing members — Priscilla de la Cruz and Sue AnderBois — who have significant expertise and respect among their environmental colleagues. AnderBois, who is also running for lieutenant governor, said in a video posted on Facebook that she believed the governor was trying to oust her from the energy board as “retribution” for her outspoken critique of his energy affordability plan. 

McKee’s fiscal 2027 budget plan included a controversial proposal to save ratepayers’ money by weakening state climate change and energy efficiency programs. The final budget approved by the Rhode Island General Assembly Tuesday eliminated most of these controversial changes.

McKee’s office has defended his choices — for the energy council and for the PUC — as products of his focus on affordability.

DiMario made clear she has “nothing against” Sams, who she does not know. 

“I am a person who values depth of expertise, especially in complicated areas like energy policy,” she said. Of Sams, she said, “It seems like she comes from the business world, which is not really what our decision is motivated by.”

Anthony has confirmed she will continue to serve, Todd Bianco, the commission’s chief economic and policy analyst, said Wednesday.  

She had already intended to stay on, at least in limited capacity, through the commission’s review of Rhode Island Energy’s proposed hike in customer service charges. The rate hike application, filed the day before Thanksgiving, marks the first time the company has been allowed to recoup distribution costs from customers since it bought the state gas and electric operations in 2022. 

The proposal, amended since its original submission, would raise average electric bills $9.02 per month for the first year, with a $391 average increase in natural gas bills. The PUC expects to continue its review of the rate hikes through August. A public hearing on the distribution rate increases is scheduled for 6 p.m. tonight at the commission’s office in Warwick.