87R11877 JAM-D
By: Rodriguez H.B. No. 3020
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to increasing the administrative penalty for a violation
of certain reliability standards concerning electric utilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 15.023, Utilities Code, is amended by
amending Subsections (b), (c), and (d) and adding Subsections (b-1)
and (b-2) to read as follows:
(b) Except as provided by Subsection (b-1), the [The]
penalty for a violation may be in an amount not to exceed $25,000.
Each day a violation continues or occurs is a separate violation for
purposes of imposing a penalty.
(b-1) The penalty for a violation of a reliability standard
adopted by the independent organization certified under Section
39.151 or of a commission rule relating to reliability in the
wholesale electric market may be in an amount not to exceed
$100,000. Each day a violation continues or occurs is a separate
violation for purposes of imposing a penalty.
(b-2) If a person pays a penalty to a federal authority for a
violation of a reliability standard that is the same or
substantially the same as a reliability standard adopted by the
independent organization certified under Section 39.151:
(1) the commission may not assess an administrative
penalty for the same instance or circumstance for which the person
paid the federal penalty; and
(2) the commission shall refund the full amount of an
administrative penalty that the commission assessed against the
person before the date the person paid the federal penalty, if the
commission assessed the penalty for the same instance or
circumstance for which the person paid the federal penalty.
(c) The commission by rule shall establish a classification
system for violations described by Subsection (b) and a separate
classification system for violations described by Subsection
(b-1). Each system must include [that includes] a range of
administrative penalties that may be assessed for each class of
violation, based on:
(1) the seriousness of the violation, including:
(A) the nature, circumstances, extent, and
gravity of a prohibited act; and
(B) the hazard or potential hazard created to the
health, safety, or economic welfare of the public;
(2) the economic harm to property or the environment
caused by the violation;
(3) the history of previous violations;
(4) the amount necessary to deter future violations;
(5) efforts to correct the violation; and
(6) any other matter that justice may require.
(d) The classification system established under Subsection
(c) shall provide that a penalty in an amount that exceeds $5,000
may be assessed only if the violation is included in the highest
class of violations in the classification system. This subsection
does not apply to the classification system established under
Subsection (c) for a violation described by Subsection (b-1).
SECTION 2. The changes in law made by this Act to Section
15.023, Utilities Code, apply only to a violation that occurs on or
after the effective date of this Act. For purposes of this section,
a violation occurs before the effective date of this Act if any
element of the violation occurs before that date. A violation that
occurs before the effective date of this Act is covered by the law
in effect on the date the violation occurred, and the former law is
continued in effect for that purpose.
SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.