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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES - FLOOR VERSION
STATE OF OKLAHOMA
1st Session of the 60th Legislature (2025)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
HOUSE BILL NO. 2756 By: Caldwell (Trey) of the
House
and
Green of the Senate
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
An Act relating to electric transmission facilities;
providing definitions; providing for certain
exemptions; creating applications for specific
certificates; requiring certain information for
applications; determining when certain updated
information is to be f iled; requiring certain actions
before certain hearings; requiring different types of
notice; requiring public meetings; determining
insurance requirements; requiring a public safety
plan; requiring notice of public b enefit; determining
decommission plans; providing for additional
information; providing for approval of certificates;
determining alternative approval of certificates;
allowing for assessment of application; requiring the
promulgation of rules; providing for codification;
and declaring an emerg ency.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA:
SECTION 1. NEW LAW A new section of law to be codified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 850 of Title 17, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, r eads as follows:
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1. "Certificate of Authority" means authorization for a
transmission developer by an order of the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission through filing a case with an application, notice, and
hearing. The Commission shall establish a specific e lectric
transmission facility docket for the filing of such cases;
2. "Electric transmission facility" means a high -voltage
transmission line or high -voltage associated transmission facility
with a rating of greater than three hundred (300) kilovolts;
3. "FERC" means the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission;
4. "Transfer" means any sale, assignment, or change in
ownership of the electric transmission facility by a transmission
developer; and
5. "Transmission developer" means any person, firm,
corporation, or entity that develops, owns, operates, controls,
manages, or maintains an electric transmission facility within the
State of Oklahoma and is licensed to do business in Oklahoma.
SECTION 2. NEW LAW A new section of law to be cod ified
in the Oklahoma Statutes as Section 851 of Title 17, unless there is
created a duplication in numbering, reads as follows:
A. This section shall not be construed to require any Oklahoma
retail electric supplier or rural electric cooperative to secur e a
Certificate of Authority for any extension, rebuild, or upgrade of
an existing electric transmission facility within or through any
territory already served by it or to facilities owned by it.
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B. A transmission developer shall file an application to o btain
a Certificate of Authority from the Oklahoma Corporation Commission
for each electric transmission facility. No electric transmission
facility shall be commenced without obtaining a Certificate of
Authority. Said application shall contain, but is n ot limited to,
the following:
1. The name, address, and contact information, of a named
representative or representatives of the transmission developer and
a telephone number and electronic email address for each such
representative;
2. A description and a map or plat of the proposed routes or
alternative routes for any electric transmission facility regardless
of whether a transmission developer has made a submission or
received approval from the Southwest Power Pool or any other
applicable regional plan ning entity or other federal authority;
3. Identification of any and all such counties within the
electric transmission facility's routes or alternative routes;
4. Identification of any energy resource or resources to which
the electric transmission faci lity is to be directly connected or,
to the extent known, resources to which the electric transmission
facility could be connected to integrate existing natural gas or
other resource generation; and
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5. Estimate of the costs, including potential costs or s avings
impacts, to any Oklahoma electric customer and the estimated time
frame for the electric transmission facility being developed.
C. If the transmission developer is required to file subsequent
forms with the FERC or any other agency or organization due to
changing routes or height of individual structures from the
locations or heights originally proposed, the transmission developer
shall, within ten (10) days of filing with the FERC or other agency
or organization, file such subsequent forms with the Commission. A
transmission developer shall not be required to start the
notification process over unless the subsequent FERC or other agency
or organization application expands the project beyond the original
boundaries in the application filed with the Commission.
D. Prior to or at the time of the hearing on the Certificate of
Authority, the transmission developer shall provide:
1. Within thirty (30) days after filing an application with the
Commission as provided for in subsection B of this section, p roof of
publication that the transmission developer published notice of the
application in a newspaper of general circulation in the county or
counties in which all or a portion of the electric transmission
facility is to be located;
2. Within sixty (60) days after filing an application with the
Commission as provided in subsection B of this section, proof of
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service that the transmission developer published notice to be sent,
by certified mail to:
a. the board of county commissioners of every county in
which all or a portion of the electric transmission
facility is to be located and, if all or a portion of
the electric transmission facility is to be located
within the incorporated area of a municipality, the
governing body of the municipality,
b. all surface landowners, as reflected in the public
land records of the county clerk's office, upon which
all or any part of the surface estate is located
within the electric transmission facility routes or
alternative routes,
c. any operator, as reflected in the re cords of the
Commission, who is conducting oil and gas operations
upon all or any part of the surface estate as to which
the transmission developer intends the construction of
the electric transmission facility, and
d. any operator, as reflected in the rec ords of the
Commission, of an unspaced unit, or a unit created by
order of the Commission, who is conducting oil and gas
operations for the unit where all or any part of the
unit area is within the geographical boundaries of the
surface estate as to which the transmission developer
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intends the construction of the electric transmission
facility.
If the transmission developer makes a search with reasonable
diligence and the whereabouts of any party entitled to any notice
described in paragraph 2 of this subse ction cannot be ascertained or
such notice cannot be delivered, then an affidavit attesting to such
diligent search for the parties shall be filed with the Commission;
3. An attestation that the transmission developer has
sufficient insurance coverage to cover any and all aspects of the
electric transmission facility from the commencement of the electric
transmission facility through operation and maintenance;
4. Documents stating impacts to the environment and public
safety will be addressed by the trans mission developer;
5. A safety plan is in place and will be updated for the
electric transmission facility and will be provided to the
Commission upon request;
6. The electric transmission facility is beneficial to the
public interest;
7. A decommission plan that identifies the methodology used to
mitigate potential impacts resulting from the cessation of operation
at the end of the electric transmission facility's useful life,
which includes, but is not limited to:
a. identification of specific project components that
will be removed,
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b. a description of the decommission process in the event
of abandonment during construction and abandonment
during operation,
c. a description of the process used for land and road
restoration, and
d. the financial capabil ity, including a financial surety
guarantee, the form and amount to be determined by the
Commission, which shall remain in effect until release
is authorized by the Commission; and
Any additional information required by the Commission shall be
requested from the transmission developer prior to or during the
hearing, including, but not limited to, information related to
potential impacts to ad valorem taxes to surface owners.
E. Within ninety (90) days of publishing the notice in a
newspaper as provided for in paragraph 1 of this subsection, the
transmission developer shall hold a public meeting in the county or
counties in which all or a portion of the electric transmission
facility is to be located. Notice of the public meeting shall be
published in a newspaper of general circulation and submitted to the
board of county commissioners in the county or counties in which all
or a portion of the electric transmission facility is to be located.
The notice shall contain the place, date, and time of the public
meeting. Proof of the publication of the notice shall be submitted
to the Commission.
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F. Approval through an order of the Commission is required
prior to the effectiveness of any transfer.
G. Within two hundred (200) days of filing the original
application or any amended application with the Commission, if the
transmission developer has met the aforementioned requirements, the
Commission shall issue an order granting a Certificate of Authority.
Failure to issue an order on a completed application by the
Commission shall result in the Certificate of Authority being deemed
granted.
H. The Commission is authorized to assess a filing fee for any
Certificate of Authority, not to exceed One Thousand Dollars
($1,000.00). The Commission shall promulgate rules t o effect this
section.
SECTION 3. It being immediately necessary for the preservation
of the public peace, health or safety, an emergency is hereby
declared to exist, by reason whereof this act shall take effect and
be in full force from a nd after its passage and approval.
COMMITTEE REPORT BY: COMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND NATURAL RESOURCES
OVERSIGHT, dated 02/26/2025 - DO PASS, As Amended and Coauthored.