83R10457 JJT-D
By: Menendez H.B. No. 2391
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to electric utility bill payment assistance programs for
certain veterans burned in combat.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 1502.056, Government Code, is amended by
amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) to
read as follows:
(a) If the revenue of a utility system, park, or swimming
pool secures the payment of public securities issued or obligations
incurred under this chapter, each expense of operation and
maintenance, including all salaries, labor, materials, interest,
repairs and extensions necessary to provide efficient service, and
each proper item of expense, is a first lien against that revenue.
(a-1) For a municipality with a population of more than one
million but less than two million, the first lien against the
revenue of a municipally owned utility system that secures the
payment of public securities issued or obligations incurred under
this chapter also applies to funding, as a necessary operations
expense, for a bill payment assistance program for utility system
customers who[:
[(1)] have been threatened with disconnection from
service for nonpayment of bills and who have been determined by the
municipality to be low-income customers.
(a-2) The first lien against the revenue of a municipally
owned electric utility system, including a system to which
Subsection (a-1) applies, that secures the payment of public
securities issued or obligations incurred under this chapter also
applies to funding, as a necessary operations expense, for a bill
payment assistance program for the electric utility system's
customers who[; or
[(2)] are military veterans who have significantly
decreased abilities to regulate their bodies' core temperatures
because of severe burns received in combat.
SECTION 2. Section 36.061, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
(c) An electric utility located in a portion of this state
not subject to retail competition may establish a bill payment
assistance program for a customer who is a military veteran who a
medical doctor certifies has a significantly decreased ability to
regulate the individual's body temperature because of severe burns
received in combat. A regulatory authority shall allow as a cost or
expense a cost or expense of the bill payment assistance program.
The electric utility is entitled to:
(1) fully recover all costs and expenses related to
the bill payment assistance program;
(2) defer each cost or expense related to the bill
payment assistance program not explicitly included in base rates;
and
(3) apply carrying charges at the utility's weighted
average cost of capital to the extent related to the bill payment
assistance program.
SECTION 3. Subchapter H, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
amended by adding Section 39.359 to read as follows:
Sec. 39.359. BILL PAYMENT ASSISTANCE FOR BURNED VETERANS.
(a) A retail electric provider may establish a bill payment
assistance program for a customer who is a military veteran who a
medical doctor certifies has a significantly decreased ability to
regulate the individual's body temperature because of severe burns
received in combat.
(b) The commission shall compile a list of programs
described by Subsection (a) that are available from retail electric
providers. The commission shall publish the list on the
commission's Internet website and the office shall provide on the
office's Internet website a link to the list.
(c) A retail electric provider shall provide to the
commission information necessary to compile the list in the form,
manner, and frequency the commission by rule requires.
SECTION 4. Chapter 182, Utilities Code, is amended by
adding Subchapter D to read as follows:
SUBCHAPTER D. BILL PAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR BURNED VETERANS
Sec. 182.201. DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter, "electric
cooperative" and "municipally owned utility" have the meanings
assigned by Section 11.003.
Sec. 182.202. BURNED VETERANS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. (a) The
board of directors of an electric cooperative or the governing body
of a municipally owned utility may establish a bill payment
assistance program for a customer who is a military veteran who a
medical doctor certifies has a significantly decreased ability to
regulate the individual's body temperature because of severe burns
received in combat.
(b) The costs of a bill payment assistance program
established under Subsection (a) are considered a necessary
operations expense.
(c) The board of directors of an electric cooperative or the
governing body of a municipally owned utility may determine the
method to fund a bill payment assistance program established under
Subsection (a).
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, 2013.