May Public Service Commission Calculate Gross Profits ?

In General Telephone Co. of Florida v. Marks, 500 So. 2d 142 (Fla. 1986) the petitioner argued that the Florida Public Service Commission (PSC) was prohibited from including certain expenses in calculating the company's profits because the statute did not specially authorize the PSC to include the expenses in calculating the gross profit. This Court disagreed: The legislature cannot be expected to foresee and make provision for every possible type of expense that might be associated with the gross profit of a particular type of operation. Some discretion must be given to regulatory bodies to promulgate the detailed rules that expand upon and implement legislative directives. In this case the legislature provided that the commission shall calculate gross profits. Unless there is something else directly contrary in the statute itself, we must assume the legislature intended to grant to the commission the discretion to determine what factors should be used in calculating gross profits . . . .Id. at 145.