§37-1-3. Election or appointment of commissioners; terms of office; filling of vacancies.

(a) The terms of office of the commissioners shall be for four years; at the election to be held in the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1940, and every four years thereafter, a president of the commission shall be elected by the qualified electors of this state; and at the election to be held in the state on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in November, 1942, and every four years thereafter, two associates, who, with the president, shall constitute the commission, shall be elected by the qualified electors of the state. The result of such election shall be ascertained and declared by the same authority and in the same manner as are the results of election for Chief Justice and associate justices of the Supreme Court.

(b) The persons elected to fill the offices shall enter upon the discharge of their respective duties on the day after the general election at which they are elected and expire on the day after the general election held in the fourth year after their election.

(c) If any vacancy should occur in any one of the offices, caused by death, resignation or otherwise, the same shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, the appointee holding for the balance of the unexpired term. If any person elected to the office of public service commissioner shall fail or refuse for 30 days to qualify, such failure or refusal shall be held to create a vacancy in the office, which vacancy shall be filled by appointment by the Governor, the appointee to hold for the term for which the person so failing or refusing to qualify was elected.

(d) The provisions of this section shall not diminish the current term of any member elected to the Public Service Commission.

(Code 1886, §§1120, 1122; Code 1896, §§3481, 3483; Code 1907, §§5633-5636; Code 1923, §§9606-9609; Code 1940, T. 48, §§2-5; Acts 1961, No. 669, p. 916; Acts 1979, No. 79-767, p. 1368; Act 2013-375, p. 1377, §1.)