Georgia bars former regulators from lobbying for a year. It doesn’t bar them from joining the industry.

When Tricia Pridemore left the Georgia Public Service Commission on Sept. 4 and joined data-center company DC BLOX 10 days later, the timing raised an obvious question: How quickly can a state regulator go to work for a company operating in a sector affected by the agency she just left?

In Georgia, the answer is immediately — at least when it comes to taking the job.

State law bars certain former public officers from registering as lobbyists or engaging in lobbying for one year after leaving office. It does not prohibit them from accepting a job with a company connected to an industry affected by their former agency.

That distinction is at the heart of Georgia’s revolving-door rules.

Pridemore, who served on the PSC for more than eight years, is now DC BLOX’s executive vice president of energy, regulatory and policy. The company says her job includes engagement with energy providers, policymakers, regulatory bodies and industry stakeholders, as well as work on power-purchase agreements and the company’s broader energy strategy.

But DC BLOX says she will steer clear of Georgia lobbying during the one-year restriction.

“Ms. Pridemore will not be lobbying before the Georgia Public Service Commission in her role at DC BLOX, and she will fully abide by Georgia state ethics laws and statutory prohibitions regarding former public officials,” a company spokesperson told PeachPol.

The company said Pridemore will focus during that period on “company operations, strategic growth, and power purchase initiatives outside Georgia to avoid any potential conflict of interest.”

DC BLOX declined to disclose when recruitment discussions with Pridemore began or whether the company sought formal legal or ethics advice before she accepted the job, saying her role was structured to comply with state law.

A lobbying ban, not an employment ban

Haley Barrett, a spokesperson for the Georgia State Ethics Commission, told PeachPol that state law “only prohibits registering as a lobbyist or engaging in lobbying” for one year after leaving office.

The state’s definition of lobbying covers several categories, including paid efforts to influence legislation, agency rules and regulations, state vendor selection and certain local government actions.

But Barrett said some activities that might look like regulatory work from the outside would not, by themselves, meet that definition.

A former commissioner could advise colleagues internally about Georgia PSC strategy without violating the Campaign Finance Act’s lobbying provisions, Barrett said. She said the same would be true of communicating with Georgia Power or another private utility about matters that could later come before the PSC.

Whether a former official could meet with state lawmakers about data-center or energy policy would depend on the facts, Barrett said.

And when it comes to communicating directly with the PSC, Barrett said lobbying can include trying to influence vendor selection or the passage of an agency rule or regulation. “Matters outside of these contours would not meet the statutory definition of lobbying,” she said.

That makes Georgia’s one-year restriction narrower than a general ban on working in the same field.

The PSC does not add another cooling-off period

The Public Service Commission itself does not appear to impose a broader post-employment rule on former commissioners.

Tom Krause, the PSC’s public information officer, told PeachPol that agency-specific ethics provisions generally govern commissioners while they are serving — including restrictions on certain financial interests — but not after they leave office.

“The law seems to be fairly silent on after they’re gone,” Krause said.

He said the commission had not received any ethics inquiries related to Pridemore’s move to DC BLOX.

The PSC does not regulate data centers directly. It does, however, regulate companies such as Georgia Power and has authority over how the utility serves and charges data centers and other customers.

That distinction has become increasingly important as data-center demand reshapes Georgia’s electricity system.

In January 2025, while Pridemore was still serving, the commission unanimously approved a rule allowing Georgia Power to impose special contract and billing terms on new customers using more than 100 megawatts of electricity. The PSC said the rule was intended to prevent costs associated with large-load customers, including data centers, from being shifted to residential and other customers.

The rule grew out of the commission’s 2024 interim Integrated Resource Plan decision, which added additional grid capacity amid rapid load growth.

DC BLOX also had telecommunications-related matters before the PSC during Pridemore’s tenure, though those proceedings were separate from data-center siting. The PSC does not decide where data centers may be built.

Other states draw a tighter line

Georgia’s approach is not the only model.

South Carolina, for example, bars former public officials for one year from representing clients before their former agency on matters in which they directly and substantially participated. Its law can also prohibit a former official from taking a job with an entity regulated by the former agency when the new work involves a matter the official directly and substantially handled while in government.

Georgia’s statute does not contain a comparable employment restriction. Its one-year prohibition centers on lobbying activity.

That means the phrase “cooling-off period” can overstate what Georgia law actually requires. A former regulator may be barred from lobbying for a year, but the law does not necessarily bar that person from immediately joining an industry company, advising colleagues internally or performing work that falls outside the statutory definition of lobbying.

In Pridemore’s case, DC BLOX says it plans to go further than the minimum required by keeping her focused on work outside Georgia during that period.

Her move offers a window into where Georgia draws its revolving-door line: not at the moment a regulator joins the private sector, but at the point where that work becomes lobbying.

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