By: Farabee (Senate Sponsor - Averitt) H.B. No. 3346
(In the Senate - Received from the House May 1, 2009;
May 4, 2009, read first time and referred to Committee on Natural
Resources; May 18, 2009, reported adversely, with favorable
Committee Substitute by the following vote: Yeas 10, Nays 0;
May 18, 2009, sent to printer.)
COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE FOR H.B. No. 3346 By: Averitt
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the definition of a gas utility.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 121.001(a), Utilities Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(a) In this chapter, "gas utility" means a person who owns,
manages, operates, leases, or controls in this state property or
equipment or a pipeline, plant, facility, franchise, license, or
permit for a business that:
(1) transports, conveys, distributes, or delivers
natural gas:
(A) for public use or service for compensation;
(B) for sale to municipalities or persons engaged
in distributing or selling natural gas to the public, in a situation
described by Subdivision (3);
(C) for sale or delivery to a person operating
under a franchise or contract with a political subdivision of this
state; or
(D) for sale or delivery to the public for
domestic or other use;
(2) owns, operates, or manages a pipeline:
(A) that is for transporting or carrying natural
gas, whether for public hire or not; and
(B) for which the right-of-way has been or is
hereafter acquired by exercising the right of eminent domain, or by
representing to a property owner that the person has the right to
acquire right-of-way by the use of eminent domain; or
(3) produces or purchases natural gas and transports
or causes the transportation of natural gas by a pipeline to or near
the limits of a municipality in which the gas is received and
distributed or sold to the public by another gas utility or by the
municipality in a situation in which the business is the only or
practically the only agency of supply of natural gas to the gas
utility or municipality.
SECTION 2. Section 181.021(2), Utilities Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(2) "Gas utility" means a person, firm, or corporation
subject to the jurisdiction of the Railroad Commission of Texas, or
a municipality, engaged in the business of transporting or
distributing gas [for public consumption].
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2009.
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