Prepared Testimony of Senator Wayne Allard (R-CO)

Hearing on S.621 - "The Public Utilities Holding Company Act on 1997"

April 29, 1997


Mr. Chairman. Thank you for holding this important hearing on the conditional repeal of the Public Utilities Holding Company Act. As you know, I am a cosponsor of this legislation. This legislation does what we need to do more, consolidate regulation and eliminate duplication. But it is also important to point out that this legislation retains many consumer protections.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the agency which enforces this act recommends that this legislation be approved. This is instructive, since it is so rare that a federal agency recommends that its regulatory authority be curtailed.

I mentioned that this legislation constitutes conditional repeal. Under the legislation much of the authority held by the SEC is transferred to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and to the state utility regulators. The SEC already defers to FERC for the key decisions under PUHCA.

I know there is opposition to this legislation. However, this opposition appears to focus on the timing and the context of repeal.

I am sure there may be ways to improve this legislation, and I took forward to working with the Chairman in this process.

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