Texas 2021 - 87th Regular

Texas House Bill HB3615 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New		Differences
1		-	H.B. No. 3615
	1	+	By: King of Parker, Hernandez H.B. No. 3615
	2	+	(Senate Sponsor - Buckingham)
	3	+	(In the Senate - Received from the House May 10, 2021;
	4	+	May 10, 2021, read first time and referred to Committee on Business &
	5	+	Commerce; May 13, 2021, reported favorably by the following vote:
	6	+	Yeas 8, Nays 0; May 13, 2021, sent to printer.)
	7	+	Click here to see the committee vote
2	8
3	9
	10	+	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
4	11		AN ACT
5	12		relating to certain rates charged by and programs offered by
6	13		municipally owned utilities.
7	14		BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
8	15		SECTION 1. Section 552.133, Government Code, is amended by
9	16		amending Subsection (a-1) and adding Subsection (b-1) to read as
10	17		follows:
11	18		(a-1) For purposes of this section, "competitive matter"
12	19		means a utility-related matter that is related to the public power
13	20		utility's competitive activity, including commercial information,
14	21		and would, if disclosed, give advantage to competitors or
15	22		prospective competitors. The term:
16	23		(1) means a matter that is reasonably related to the
17	24		following categories of information:
18	25		(A) generation unit specific and portfolio fixed
19	26		and variable costs, including forecasts of those costs, capital
20	27		improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit
21	28		operating characteristics and outage scheduling;
22	29		(B) bidding and pricing information for
23	30		purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability
24	31		Council of Texas bids, prices, offers, and related services and
25	32		strategies;
26	33		(C) effective fuel and purchased power
27	34		agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts;
28	35		(D) risk management information, contracts, and
29	36		strategies, including fuel hedging and storage;
30	37		(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for
31	38		system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission
32	39		and distribution system improvements inside the service area for
33	40		which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail
34	41		provider; and
35	42		(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
36	43		information, electric power pricing information, system load
37	44		characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and
38	45		strategies; and
39	46		(2) does not include the following categories of
40	47		information:
41	48		(A) information relating to the provision of
42	49		distribution access service, including the terms and conditions of
43	50		the service and the rates charged for the service but not including
44	51		information concerning utility-related services or products that
45	52		are competitive;
46	53		(B) information relating to the provision of
47	54		transmission service that is required to be filed with the Public
48	55		Utility Commission of Texas, subject to any confidentiality
49	56		provided for under the rules of the commission;
50	57		(C) information for the distribution system
51	58		pertaining to reliability and continuity of service, to the extent
52	59		not security-sensitive, that relates to emergency management,
53	60		identification of critical loads such as hospitals and police,
54	61		records of interruption, and distribution feeder standards;
55	62		(D) any substantive rule or tariff of general
56	63		applicability regarding rates, service offerings, service
57	64		regulation, customer protections, or customer service adopted by
58	65		the public power utility as authorized by law;
59	66		(E) aggregate information reflecting receipts or
60	67		expenditures of funds of the public power utility, of the type that
61	68		would be included in audited financial statements;
62	69		(F) information relating to equal employment
63	70		opportunities for minority groups, as filed with local, state, or
64	71		federal agencies;
65	72		(G) information relating to the public power
66	73		utility's performance in contracting with minority business
67	74		entities;
68	75		(H) information relating to nuclear
69	76		decommissioning trust agreements, of the type required to be
70	77		included in audited financial statements;
71	78		(I) information relating to the amount and timing
72	79		of any transfer to an owning city's general fund;
73	80		(J) information relating to environmental
74	81		compliance as required to be filed with any local, state, or
75	82		national environmental authority, subject to any confidentiality
76	83		provided under the rules of those authorities;
77	84		(K) names of public officers of the public power
78	85		utility and the voting records of those officers for all matters
79	86		other than those within the scope of a competitive resolution
80	87		provided for by this section;
81	88		(L) a description of the public power utility's
82	89		central and field organization, including the established places at
83	90		which the public may obtain information, submit information and
84	91		requests, or obtain decisions and the identification of employees
85	92		from whom the public may obtain information, submit information or
86	93		requests, or obtain decisions;
87	94		(M) information identifying the general course
88	95		and method by which the public power utility's functions are
89	96		channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of
90	97		all formal and informal policies and procedures;
91	98		(N) salaries and total compensation of all
92	99		employees of a public power utility; [or]
93	100		(O) information publicly released by the
94	101		Electric Reliability Council of Texas in accordance with a law,
95	102		rule, or protocol generally applicable to similarly situated market
96	103		participants; or
97	104		(P) information related to a chilled water
98	105		program, as defined by Section 11.003, Utilities Code.
99	106		(b-1) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of Subsection
100	107		(b), information or records of a municipally owned utility or
101	108		municipality that operates a chilled water program are subject to
102	109		disclosure under this chapter if the information or records are
103	110		reasonably related to:
104	111		(1) a municipally owned utility's rate review process;
105	112		(2) the method a municipality or municipally owned
106	113		utility uses to set rates for retail electric service; or
107	114		(3) the method a municipality or municipally owned
108	115		utility uses to set rates for a chilled water program described by
109	116		Subsection (a-1)(2)(P).
110	117		SECTION 2. Section 11.003, Utilities Code, is amended by
111	118		adding Subdivision (3-a) and amending Subdivision (11) to read as
112	119		follows:
113	120		(3-a) "Chilled water program" means:
114	121		(A) a program to produce chilled water at a
115	122		central plant and pipe that water to buildings for air
116	123		conditioning, including a district cooling system or chilled water
117	124		service; or
118	125		(B) any other program designed to used chilled
119	126		water to provide air conditioning, reduce peak electric demand, or
120	127		shift electric load.
121	128		(11) "Municipally owned utility" means a utility
122	129		owned, operated, and controlled by a municipality or by a nonprofit
123	130		corporation the directors of which are appointed by one or more
124	131		municipalities and includes any chilled water program operated by
125	132		the utility.
126	133		SECTION 3. Section 552.133, Government Code, as amended by
127	134		this Act, applies only to a request for public information made on
128	135		or after the effective date of this Act. A request for public
129	136		information made before the effective date of this Act is governed
130	137		by the law in effect on the date of the request, and the former law
131	138		is continued in effect for that purpose.
132	139		SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2021.
133		-	______________________________ ______________________________
134		-	President of the Senate Speaker of the House
135		-	I certify that H.B. No. 3615 was passed by the House on May 6,
136		-	2021, by the following vote: Yeas 105, Nays 27, 2 present, not
137		-	voting.
138		-	______________________________
139		-	Chief Clerk of the House
140		-	I certify that H.B. No. 3615 was passed by the Senate on May
141		-	18, 2021, by the following vote: Yeas 29, Nays 2.
142		-	______________________________
143		-	Secretary of the Senate
144		-	APPROVED: _____________________
145		-	Date
146		-	_____________________
147		-	Governor
	140	+	* * * * *