State Commissions
Mike LaRosa is a Commissioner for the Florida Public Service Commission.
The Florida Commissioners these days are busy, grappling with the tough subjects of utility ratemaking in the public interest, but also population growth and ensuring all those residents, old and new, have reliable utility services. Enjoy these conversations with Florida Chair Andrew Fay, and Commissioners Art Graham, Gary Clark, Mike LaRosa, and Gabriella Passidomo.
PUF's Lori Burkhart: Talk about your career, how you got to the Commission, and whether working in the Florida legislature has helped you here.
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: My public service career started with my first election in 2012. I was an average person, operating our real estate development business in central Florida, south of Orlando.
I got this bug to get involved politically. I'd been through the hard times of the recession, and being in the real estate industry, saw it firsthand. My approach has always been to leave the community better than it was, for my kids and future generations.
There was not an opportunity to serve in early 2012, but that changed five weeks before the general elections. My predecessor dropped out of the race. With little knowledge of the special process, I petitioned the local Executive Committee to select me to fill the vacancy.
In the PSC hearing room, from left, Commissioners Mike LaRosa and Art Graham, Chair Andrew Fay seated, Commissioners Gary Clark and Gabriella Passidomo.
After an interview, I was selected to replace the candidate, but being so close to election day, I had to run under the previous candidate's name. Being naïve, I thought it would be easy to convince voters to vote for Mike LaRosa, having not realized the former candidate's name would remain on the ballot. The campaign became difficult, especially with the controversy surrounding the previous candidate's withdrawal.
I won that first election by a few hundred votes, closer than it should have been. That was my introduction to politics.
That race was for the Florida house in 2012, as the representative of district 42. I was humbled by the opportunity to serve four terms, eight years. My time in the house allowed me to navigate firsthand how our state government operates. I was term limited in 2020.
Everyone says, government should run like a business, and that's not one hundred percent true. There are business elements that could be brought in, and I tried to do that as much as I could.
Commissioner Mike LaRosa in front of Florida State flag.
Communicating with people is important and being able to dig into complex issues is useful.
It's also being able to lead and drive a discussion to get a priority done.
My time in the house revolved around the regulatory side. I was placed on a few regulatory committees and was Vice-Chair of the Energy Utilities Committee in my freshman year.
I got a front row seat to see what happens behind the scenes, how regulations work and affect people and businesses. I stuck to that. I used my business experience, and what I was learning from the regulatory side, as I moved up in the process and within leadership.
In my senior term, I chaired the Commerce Committee, which is the top, large committee that oversees all infrastructure, utilities, and regulations in the state from banking to gaming, to energy and communications.
We were in the middle of the pandemic in 2020. I was leaving session and realized how much I enjoyed helping people and I would miss it. I wanted to continue my service but didn't know how. I got this idea of the Public Service Commission.
Given my previous work with the PSC nominating council, I was familiar with how the process worked. In 2020, I applied to be on the Commission. I was excited to have been appointed by the Governor in the fall of 2020.
It's different from the legislative side, because you go from making laws and having no barriers to being in a regulatory side where you're looking at what the legislature has put forward and trying to stay within that box. At the same time, you're communicating and transitioning everything they've put in your lap.
We had an agenda meeting on my second day on the job. Before I was even sworn in, I had to get up to speed on all the items, which involved months of development and research by Staff.
PUF: Is the Commission political at all, and what's your relationship with the governor and the legislature?
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: We are very independent, maybe more independent than we get credit for. I would have thought the PSC, prior to me being here, was more like a cabinet agency where you take direction from the governor and executive branch, but we are independent.
I don't think we're political at all. We all bring different expertise and have a similar mindset of serving the State. All five of us work well together. That's evident in the decisions we make, how we communicate, and respect each other.
We are a collegial body, which is unique. That comes from the direction of where the leadership in the State of Florida is and how the governor appointed us. He's now appointed four of the five members. That's evidence of his good work of choosing the right folks that reflect the interest of the State. We're making the ship sail in the right direction without any hindrance.
PUF: What are some of the big issues the Florida Commission is dealing with?
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: Growth is number one. With growth, you get a lot of great things, economic development, diversity, and opportunity. Of course, keeping up with that growth and making sure you're ahead of the curve is a challenge we'll continue to have.
I like to say, look at the last ten years of where we've come from and let's try to predict where we're going to be in the next ten years. It's amazing to see how much we've transitioned in the last ten years.
That means accepting and understanding how technologies are going to be used in the utility world. How that's going to relate to generation, to efficiencies, how that's going to trickle down to the consumer and what their habits are and what they will become.
We've seen habits change with the dependence on the internet, emails, and smartphones. It's balancing that technological change in how utilities deliver services with what is efficient at the end of the day. What is effective?
What makes sense from a customer's perspective to be invested in, and what maybe hasn't necessarily proven itself just yet? That goes all the way from the generation side to the technologies we have in our hands.
PUF: How do you see the relationship with the Commission in keeping the economy strong?
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: Every state Commissioner you interview would say, we want diversification in our power generation. I say that, in the economies, we want as much diversification as possible.
We do well in agriculture in the State of Florida and in tourism. We do well in the growth sector. Those are the three big pillars. Look at what's changing in the U.S., and unfortunately now, we're seeing how we cannot be dependent on what happens outside of the fifty states.
We have to be more focused on what happens within and how we develop. I see that through manufacturing. Many times, we think manufacturing means industrial zoning or industrial designations in cities or counties. That may have had a negative connotation previously. We need to embrace the new era of advanced manufacturing and bring jobs, opportunities, and economic diversity to our communities.
That will never happen unless there's the right infrastructure in the ground. Whether it's having three-phased power to certain manufacturing plants or having transmission lines to branch out to supply the power, it can be a huge economic driver.
Many times, that gets missed because that's behind the scenes, underground, not visual. As we look toward economic development, that's a major factor. Of course, Florida has the ability to export a tremendous number of products.
Being able to generate and attract companies to come to the State of Florida, to have access to a port every seventy-five or a hundred miles from any major city in the state is important. It's continuing to realize that as our state grows, so will jobs. How do we track technologies and new sectors that are sprouting up here in the U.S.?
PUF: Talk about what your typical day is like and how Staff helps you with that.
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: Staff does a tremendous amount. It doesn't matter what you ask for, they are there to back me up. Many times, we're making decisions on different rate cases. For example, this past year we went through three major rate cases.
Year one for me on the Commission was, here's the rate case process. I learned that quickly and then realized that doesn't happen every year, so it was a busy year.
There's a preparation process in a rate case. I like to make comparisons. I like to step outside the box and ask, how does this compare historically? What's typical in Florida? What's typical maybe in Georgia or other nearby states that are similar?
I would ask these questions and literally within hours, boom, the information was right there in front of me. Staff was there to back me up and prepare me for each case.
Staff is there all the way to the janitorial Staff. You walk these hallways, and this place is clean, as there is not an ounce of dust anywhere. Security downstairs, it's truly the full spectrum workplace.
It's a great place to work, and I always heard that about the PSC. I understand why people don't leave when they come here.
PUF: What do you think about the energy future in Florida? Are you optimistic? Do you have any concerns?
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: I'm an optimistic person in general, so I'm always looking for the brighter side of things. I mentioned before, we look at the last ten years and where we're going to be in the next ten years, and it'll be very different.
A lot of that is technological advances. Florida is a great place to test, and to interact with companies. The opportunities here are unique. I'm optimistic of where our energy production will go in the next few years here in Florida.
There's no element that we can't provide, other than hydroelectricity or something that doesn't relate to our natural resources, that we couldn't do here in Florida.
PUF: In what direction do you see the energy and utilities industry in Florida going?
Commissioner Mike LaRosa: We all look at natural gas and where the volatility has been. Maybe we'd like to see a little less of that long-term.
The introduction of small nuclear sites maybe has potential. Industry wise, I don't know necessarily that Florida's the right environment for it just yet. I'd love to investigate, to understand more about that technology.
What do we do with former coal plants? How do we transition them into something else? With infrastructure and elements already there, shutting them down and letting them go away isn't good for communities.
It's not good for economic development. If there's a useful life to introduce something else, I'd like to see it. That goes back to optimism. I look at how you find the positive in every opportunity.
Florida has that. We're not a very old state, but we're old enough to where we are starting to see transitions. At the same time, we can have the ability to introduce new elements and technologies with the introduction of new infrastructure.
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