JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. — The Public Service Commission tackled just one agenda item on Wednesday.
The commission approved an order regarding an application for a waiver to relieve high-cost eligible telecommunications carriers from the obligation of filing a copy of the federal annual report with the PSC for the 2019 filing year. The form is already required to be filed with the Federal Communications Commission, and the PSC can access it online.
This waiver is not applicable for eligible telecommunications carriers providing only life-line support, the commission said. The PSC noted the waiver is only for this reporting year because an open-ended one would need to go through a full rules-changing process.
Meanwhile, in the state legislature, lawmakers are set to decide whether to advance eminent domain legislation that would greatly impact the Grain Belt Express Clean Line project. The PSC has already approved a certificate of convenience and necessity for the project, giving it the green light to construct and manage a new transmission line in the state.
However, some legislators are concerned about the project’s impact on property rights in the state, and a House bill that would prohibit private entities from using eminent domain for the purposes of constructing above-ground merchant lines is expected to be voted on in a Senate committee early next week.
Kaitlyn Schallhorn was the editor in chief of The Missouri Times from 2020-2022. She joined the newspaper in early 2019 after working as a reporter for Fox News in New York City.
Throughout her career, Kaitlyn has covered political campaigns across the U.S., including the 2016 presidential election, and humanitarian aid efforts in Africa and the Middle East.
She is a native of Missouri who studied journalism at Winthrop University in South Carolina. She is also an alumna of the National Journalism Center in Washington, D.C.
Contact Kaitlyn at kaitlyn@themissouritimes.com.
