On Thursday, Alicia Johnson will turn out to be the primary Black lady to carry statewide workplace in Georgia when she joins the state Public Service Commission.
According to AP, Alicia Johnson was sworn in to the position on Monday throughout a ceremony within the fee chambers. Johnson known as her election a “historic milestone” through the ceremony. “You stand with me on the intersection of historical past and accountability. This oath connects me to an extended arc of progress in Georgia — one formed by residents who dared and expanded the promise of democracy by way of braveness, sacrifice, and persistence,” Johnson stated in ready remarks.
The influence of her election was not misplaced on Alicia Johnson throughout her swearing-in ceremony. “I feel that anyone who does one thing for the primary time has a — it may very well be an awesome sense of accountability,” Johnson informed reporters after the ceremony. “It’s a disgrace {that a} fee that has over a 100-year historical past, that I’m the primary something on it. But the truth is, that’s who we’re.”
According to CBS News, the Georgia Public Service Commission regulates the charges charged by the Georgia Power Co. With 2.7 million clients, the unit of Atlanta-based Southern Co. is Georgia’s solely non-public electrical utility. Until the November election, the Georgia Public Service Commission was solely managed by Republicans. Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard received in landslide victories in opposition to Republican incumbents Tim Echols and Fitz Johnson. The two turned the primary Democrats to be elected to statewide workplace in almost 20 years.
Their victories had been largely pushed by discontent over rising utility costs, which have coincided with elevated improvement of AI knowledge facilities in Georgia. “I settle for this accountability totally conscious that the selections made on this room and on this position impacts households’ month-to-month payments, their group well being, their financial alternative, and our shared future,” Johnson stated through the ceremony.
Johnson campaigned on making the fee’s web site compliant with 508 accessibility requirements and on making a shopper advisory group for District 2, which incorporates central Georgia. One of her most notable pledges is to pursue legislative and regulatory guardrails that guarantee knowledge facilities are accountable for the power they devour, quite than passing the price on to ratepayers.
“I don’t wish to pay for any individual else’s server farm,” Johnson stated. “And I don’t assume any Georgian needs to tackle that price.”
While Alicia Johnson and Peter Hubbard beat the 2 Republican incumbents, Georgia’s Public Service Commission nonetheless has a three-person Republican majority. Despite that, Johnson says she believes utility insurance policies needs to be nonpartisan. “Good coverage is just not purple coverage or blue coverage — it’s people-centered coverage,” Johnson informed reporters. “We’ve all taken the identical oath.”
While governors have appointed quite a few Black ladies to nonpartisan statewide positions, resembling judgeships, Johnson is the primary Black lady to be elected to a partisan statewide place. I want I might say I’m stunned by that reality, however as Alicia Johnson so eloquently put it, that’s who we’re.
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