By: Chisum H.B. No. 4107
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to exempting electric cooperatives and their subsidiaries
that store natural gas underground and offer or provide gas storage
services to the public for hire from status as a gas utility, public
utility, common carrier, or common purchaser.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 101.003(7), Utilities Code, is amended
to read as follows:
(7) "Gas utility" includes a person or river authority
that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or
facilities to transmit or distribute combustible hydrocarbon
natural gas or synthetic natural gas for sale or resale in a manner
not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission under the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. Section 717 et
seq.). The term includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of a gas
utility. The term does not include:
(A) a municipal corporation;
(B) a person or river authority to the extent the
person or river authority:
(i) produces, gathers, transports, or sells
natural gas or synthetic natural gas under Section 121.004 or
121.005;
(ii) distributes or sells liquefied
petroleum gas; or
(iii) transports, delivers, or sells
natural gas for fuel for irrigation wells or any other direct
agricultural use;
(C) a person to the extent the person:
(i) sells natural gas for use as vehicle
fuel;
(ii) sells natural gas to a person who later
sells the natural gas for use as vehicle fuel; or
(iii) owns or operates equipment or
facilities to sell or transport natural gas for ultimate use as
vehicle fuel;
(D) a person not otherwise a gas utility who
furnishes gas or gas service only to itself, its employees, or its
tenants as an incident of employment or tenancy, if the gas or gas
service is not resold to or used by others; [or]
(E) a person excluded from being considered a gas
utility under Section 121.007; or
(F) an electric cooperative, or a subsidiary of
an electric cooperative, excluded from being considered a gas
utility under Section 121.008.
SECTION 2. Subchapter A, Chapter 121, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 121.008 to read as follows:
Sec. 121.008. UNDERGROUND STORAGE FACILITY OWNED OR
OPERATED BY ELECTRIC COOPERATIVE OR SUBSIDIARY EXCLUDED. The act
of offering or providing gas storage services to the public for hire
does not make an electric cooperative organized under Chapter 161,
or a subsidiary of the electric cooperative, a gas utility or make
the electric cooperative or the subsidiary subject to the
jurisdiction, control, and regulation of the railroad commission as
a gas utility.
SECTION 3. Section 111.001(2), Natural Resources Code, is
amended by adding Subdivision (3) to read as follows:
(3) "Storage facility" does not include an underground gas
storage facility that offers or provides gas storage services to
the public for hire, if the facility is owned or operated by an
electric cooperative organized under Chapter 161, or a subsidiary
of the electric cooperative.
SECTION 4. Subchapter A, Chapter 111, Natural Resources
Code, is amended by adding Section 111.005 to read as follows:
Sec. 111.005. NONAPPLICABILITY TO ELECTRIC COOPERATIVES
AND SUBSIDIARIES. The act of offering or providing gas storage
services to the public for hire does not:
(1) make an electric cooperative organized under
Chapter 161, or a subsidiary of the electric cooperative, a public
utility, common carrier, or common purchaser, as those terms are
defined by this chapter;
(2) make an electric cooperative or a subsidiary of
the electric cooperative described by Subdivision (1) a common
carrier under the common law; or
(3) subject an electric cooperative or a subsidiary of
the electric cooperative described by Subdivision (1) to the
provisions of this chapter.
SECTION 5. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this
Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
Act takes effect September 1, 2009.