386.710. Powers of public counsel.

MISSOURI STATUTES AND CODES

386.710. Powers of public counsel.

Powers of public counsel.

386.710. 1. The public counsel shall have the followingpowers and duties:

(1) He shall employ a staff or hire on a contract basis suchemployees and experts as are necessary to carry out the purposesand responsibilities of his office, and shall set theircompensation within the appropriation made for that purpose;

(2) He may represent and protect the interests of the publicin any proceeding before or appeal from the public servicecommission;

(3) He shall have discretion to represent or refrain fromrepresenting the public in any proceeding. He shall consider inexercising his discretion the importance and the extent of thepublic interest involved and whether that interest would beadequately represented without the action of his office. If thepublic counsel determines that there are conflicting publicinterests involved in a particular matter, he may choose torepresent one such interest based upon the considerations of thissection, to represent no interest in that matter, or to representone interest and certify to the director of the department ofeconomic development that there is a significant public interestwhich he cannot represent without creating a conflict of interestand which will not be protected by any party to the proceeding.The director of the department shall select an attorney, to bepaid from funds appropriated for this purpose, to represent thatsegment of the public certified to him by the public counsel asunrepresented. Nothing in this section shall be construed tolimit the right of any person, firm or corporation specified insubsection 1 of section 386.390 to petition or make complaint tothe commission or otherwise intervene in proceedings or othermatters before the commission.

2. The public counsel shall be served with all proposedtariffs, initial pleadings, and applications, in all proceedingsbefore the public service commission, and shall be served with acopy of all orders of the commission.

3. Nothing in sections 386.071, 386.150, 386.155, 386.170,386.200, 386.330, 386.360, 386.390, 386.400, 386.410, 386.420,386.440, 386.450, 386.480, 386.500, 386.530, 386.540, 386.600,386.700 and 386.710, shall be construed or interpreted to meanthat the public counsel shall not have the right to appeal anyand all orders of the public service commission to the courtswhich right of appeal exists and has existed since the time oftransfer as provided in section 386.500.

4. He shall have all powers necessary or proper to carry outthe duties specified in this section.