Colette D. Honorable was sworn in on Monday as a Commissioner at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Honorable, who has served on the Arkansas Public Service Commission since 2007 — and as its chairman since 2011 — was confirmed to FERC by the U.S. Senate last month (see Daily GPI,Dec. 17, 2014). Honorable, who also is a past president of theNational Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, received bipartisan support during vetting by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee (see Daily GPI, Dec. 4, 2014). Before going to the PSC, Honorable served as executive director of the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board in 2007 and worked for Arkansas’ then-Attorney General Mike Beebe in various roles, including as his chief of staff. She received a bachelor’s degree from Memphis State University and a law degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. President Obama nominated Honorable in August to serve the remainder of former Commissioner John Norris‘ term, which expires June 30, 2017 (see Daily GPI, Aug. 29, 2014).

Ryan Sitton was sworn-in Monday as the 49th commissioner of the state’s oldest regulatory agency — the Railroad Commission of Texas (see Daily GPI, Nov. 5, 2014). “I look forward to working with Chairman Christi Craddick and Commissioner David Porter as we draw on our unique and diverse experiences to provide a stable regulatory environment that will protect our citizens and our natural resources, while allowing our energy industry to thrive,” Sitton said. “We want to be communicating with you in the language of science, technology and data. We want to make sure when there are questions about how energy is developed, that we are quick to respond and that we provide the applicable resources to answer those questions. We are going to be a service-oriented group, and we want the citizens of Texas to feel confident in that.”

Robert Weisenmiller, 66, has been reappointed as a member and chair of theCalifornia Energy Commission (CEC) by Gov. Jerry Brown. A one-time CEC staff member during Brown’s earlier governorship (1977-82), Weisenmiller has been on the CEC since 2011. He also co-founded Oakland, CA-based energy consulting firm MRW and Associates. Also reappointed was Richard Maullin, 74, to the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) Board of Governors, which he has chaired since 2014. Maullin has been a partner since 1981 in Santa Monica, CA-based public affairs consulting firm Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz and Associates. The reappointments require state Senate confirmation.