Electing a single North Dakota public service commissioner would make it clear that one person, rather than three, is accountable for utility rate decisions, coal mine land reclamation and other matters, a legislator believes.

Sen. Tim Mathern, D-Fargo, is sponsoring a state law and constitutional amendment that would eliminate the jobs of Public Service Commissioners Susan Wefald and Kevin Cramer when their terms expire in 2008 and 2010.

Commissioner Tony Clark, who was re-elected to a six-year term in 2006, would be the only person left. If the amendment were approved and Clark decided to run again in 2012, it would be for a four-year term, rather than the six-year term the commissioners now serve.

At a Senate Government and Veterans Affairs Committee hearing Thursday, Mathern said North Dakota government has larger and more diverse agencies that have only one top administrator.

Technology has made the PSC easier to oversee, deregulation has lessened its duties, and shrinking its membership will save money, Mathern said.

"I think responsibility gets shifted by the citizens, or the commissioners, between three people, so sometimes the responsibility gets lost, or gets a little mushy," Mathern said.

Clark said no other state gives a single person the final decision-making power in a regulatory agency. All state utility commissions have at least three members, as does the Federal Communications Commission and other regulatory agencies, he said.

"The commission makes critical decisions on (electricity) generation, pipeline and transmission siting, as well as issues related to the oversight of active coal mining," Clark said. "Unlike many agencies that are mainly ministerial or simply promotional in nature, the PSC is literally granted authority to stop or allow massive energy projects."

North Dakotans traditionally have been suspicious of concentrations of power, and Mathern's proposal would promote that, Clark said. A single commissioner would have authority to decide electric and natural gas rate cases, affecting the utility bills of thousands of North Dakotans.