RALEIGH ó Gov. Mike Easley has nominated Salisbury native Bryan E. Beatty for appointment to the N.C. Utilities Commission. State law requires the confirmation of the appointment by the General Assembly.
“Bryan Beatty’s dedication and integrity is unmatched in government,” Easley said in a news release. “No matter what job he has held, he has always put the best interests of the state of North Carolina and her people first. I know he will continue to do so as a member of this commission.”
Beatty, now of Raleigh, has served as secretary of the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety since January 2001, where he oversees North Carolina’s primary law enforcement and emergency response agencies and coordinates the state’s homeland security preparedness. Prior to his appointment as secretary, Beatty served as director of the State Bureau of Investigation from October 1999 to January 2001.
During his tenure at the Department of Justice, he also served as an SBI agent, an associate attorney general representing the UNC Hospital System, an assistant attorney general in the Motor Vehicles section, the state’s first inspector general, and deputy attorney general for policy and planning.
Beatty received his law degree in 1987 from the UNC School of Law and is a 1981 graduate of the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation Academy at Salemburg. A graduate of Salisbury High School, he earned his B.A. in Political Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1980.
The Utilities Commission regulates the rates and services of all public utilities in North Carolina including electric, telephone, natural gas, water, wastewater, water resale, household goods transportation, buses, brokers and ferryboats. The commission is the oldest regulatory body in state government. It has seven members, each serving an eight-year term. The governor appoints all the members, who must be confirmed by the General Assembly.