The Kansas Corporation Commission (KCC) is the
public utilities commission of the state of
Kansas
Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...
run by three Commissioners appointed by the Governor with the approval of the Senate. The Commission has the responsibility of ensuring that natural gas, electricity, telephone, and transportation vendors provide safe, adequate, and reliable services at reasonable rates. Notwithstanding the commission's name, it does ''not'' charter corporations; that function is performed by the office of the
Secretary of State.
The authority of the KCC is derived from KSA 74-601 to 74-631. The current Corporation Commissioners are Dwight Keen (who is the current chair), Shari Feist Albrecht, and Susan Duffy.
History
The Kansas Commission was one of the first state
regulatory
Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. Fo ...
bodies in the nation, established as the Railroad Commission in 1883 by the
Kansas Legislature
The Kansas Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kansas. It is a bicameral assembly, composed of the lower Kansas House of Representatives, with 125 state representatives, and the upper Kansas Senate, with 40 state senators. ...
. The Railroad Commission had power and authority to regulate steam-operated railroads, express companies, sleeping car companies, and inter-company electric lines. The members were elected by a
popular vote
Popularity or social status is the quality of being well liked, admired or well known to a particular group.
Popular may also refer to:
In sociology
* Popular culture
* Popular fiction
* Popular music
* Popular science
* Populace, the total ...
.
In 1911, the Kansas Legislature created a three-member Public Utilities Commission to regulate telegraph and telephone companies, pipeline companies, common carriers, water, electric, gas, and all power companies with the exception of those owned by municipalities. Members of this
commission were appointed by the Governor.
The present regulatory body, The State Corporation Commission of the State of Kansas was established by the Legislature in 1933. Its
jurisdiction
Jurisdiction (from Latin 'law' + 'declaration') is the legal term for the legal authority granted to a legal entity to enact justice. In federations like the United States, areas of jurisdiction apply to local, state, and federal levels.
J ...
was extended to include the regulation of motor carriers, gas conservation, and supervision of plugging
abandoned wells
Orphan, orphaned or abandoned wells are oil or gas wells that have been abandoned by fossil fuel extraction industries. These wells may have been deactivated because of economic viability, failure to transfer ownerships (especially at bankruptcy o ...
to protect fresh and usable water from pollution.
References
External links
* http://www.kcc.state.ks.us Kansas Corporation Commission website
* https://web.archive.org/web/20170126072121/http://www.kansas.gov/ State of Kansas website
Publications by Kansas Corporation Commissionat State Library of Kansas' KGI Online Library
{{Kansas Executive Offices
Government of Kansas