Texas 2023 - 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB2419 Compare Versions

Version 1 (Old)

Version 2 (New)

Old	New	Differences
1	1	88R1358 TJB-F
2	2	By: Holland H.B. No. 2419
3	3
4	4
5	5	A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
6	6	AN ACT
7	7	relating to disclosure under the public information law of
8	8	information related to a competitive matter involving the provision
9	9	of cable, Internet, or broadband services by a public power
10	10	utility.
11	11	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
12	12	SECTION 1. Sections 552.133(a), (a-1), and (b-1),
13	13	Government Code, are amended to read as follows:
14	14	(a) In this section:
15	15	(1) "Broadband service" has the meaning assigned by
16	16	Section 181.048, Utilities Code.
17	17	(2) "Public [, "public] power utility" means an entity
18	18	providing electric or gas utility services that is subject to the
19	19	provisions of this chapter.
20	20	(a-1) For purposes of this section, "competitive matter"
21	21	means a utility-related matter, including a cable, Internet, or
22	22	broadband service matter, that is related to the public power
23	23	utility's competitive activity, including commercial information,
24	24	and would, if disclosed, give advantage to competitors or
25	25	prospective competitors. The term:
26	26	(1) means a matter that is reasonably related to the
27	27	following categories of information:
28	28	(A) generation unit specific and portfolio fixed
29	29	and variable costs, including forecasts of those costs, capital
30	30	improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit
31	31	operating characteristics and outage scheduling;
32	32	(B) bidding and pricing information for
33	33	purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability
34	34	Council of Texas bids, prices, offers, and related services and
35	35	strategies;
36	36	(C) effective fuel and purchased power
37	37	agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts;
38	38	(D) risk management information, contracts, and
39	39	strategies, including fuel hedging and storage;
40	40	(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for
41	41	system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission
42	42	and distribution system improvements inside the service area for
43	43	which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail
44	44	provider; and
45	45	(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
46	46	information, electric power pricing information, system load
47	47	characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and
48	48	strategies; [and]
49	49	(2) means a matter reasonably related to information
50	50	involving the provision of cable, Internet, or broadband services
51	51	by a public power utility, including:
52	52	(A) a capital improvement plan;
53	53	(B) an expense related to the installation of a
54	54	facility to provide those services;
55	55	(C) bidding and pricing information for
56	56	installation of the facility;
57	57	(D) risk management information, contracts, and
58	58	strategies;
59	59	(E) plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for:
60	60	(i) system improvements, additions, or
61	61	sales; or
62	62	(ii) establishing pricing for providing
63	63	those services; and
64	64	(F) customer billing, contract, and usage
65	65	information; and
66	66	(3) does not include the following categories of
67	67	information:
68	68	(A) information relating to the provision of
69	69	distribution access service, including the terms and conditions of
70	70	the service and the rates charged for the service but not including
71	71	information concerning utility-related services or products that
72	72	are competitive;
73	73	(B) information relating to the provision of
74	74	transmission service that is required to be filed with the Public
75	75	Utility Commission of Texas, subject to any confidentiality
76	76	provided for under the rules of the commission;
77	77	(C) information for the distribution system
78	78	pertaining to reliability and continuity of service, to the extent
79	79	not security-sensitive, that relates to emergency management,
80	80	identification of critical loads such as hospitals and police,
81	81	records of interruption, and distribution feeder standards;
82	82	(D) any substantive rule or tariff of general
83	83	applicability regarding rates, service offerings, service
84	84	regulation, customer protections, or customer service adopted by
85	85	the public power utility as authorized by law;
86	86	(E) aggregate information reflecting receipts or
87	87	expenditures of funds of the public power utility, of the type that
88	88	would be included in audited financial statements;
89	89	(F) information relating to equal employment
90	90	opportunities for minority groups, as filed with local, state, or
91	91	federal agencies;
92	92	(G) information relating to the public power
93	93	utility's performance in contracting with minority business
94	94	entities;
95	95	(H) information relating to nuclear
96	96	decommissioning trust agreements, of the type required to be
97	97	included in audited financial statements;
98	98	(I) information relating to the amount and timing
99	99	of any transfer to an owning city's general fund;
100	100	(J) information relating to environmental
101	101	compliance as required to be filed with any local, state, or
102	102	national environmental authority, subject to any confidentiality
103	103	provided under the rules of those authorities;
104	104	(K) names of public officers of the public power
105	105	utility and the voting records of those officers for all matters
106	106	other than those within the scope of a competitive resolution
107	107	provided for by this section;
108	108	(L) a description of the public power utility's
109	109	central and field organization, including the established places at
110	110	which the public may obtain information, submit information and
111	111	requests, or obtain decisions and the identification of employees
112	112	from whom the public may obtain information, submit information or
113	113	requests, or obtain decisions;
114	114	(M) information identifying the general course
115	115	and method by which the public power utility's functions are
116	116	channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of
117	117	all formal and informal policies and procedures;
118	118	(N) salaries and total compensation of all
119	119	employees of a public power utility;
120	120	(O) information publicly released by the
121	121	Electric Reliability Council of Texas in accordance with a law,
122	122	rule, or protocol generally applicable to similarly situated market
123	123	participants; or
124	124	(P) information related to a chilled water
125	125	program, as defined by Section 11.003, Utilities Code.
126	126	(b-1) Notwithstanding any contrary provision of Subsection
127	127	(b), information or records of a municipally owned utility or
128	128	municipality that operates a chilled water program are subject to
129	129	disclosure under this chapter if the information or records are
130	130	reasonably related to:
131	131	(1) a municipally owned utility's rate review process;
132	132	(2) the method a municipality or municipally owned
133	133	utility uses to set rates for retail electric service; or
134	134	(3) the method a municipality or municipally owned
135	135	utility uses to set rates for a chilled water program described by
136	136	Subsection (a-1)(3)(P) [(a-1)(2)(P)].
137	137	SECTION 2. Section 552.133, Government Code, as amended by
138	138	this Act, applies only to a request for public information received
139	139	by a governmental body or an officer for public information on or
140	140	after the effective date of this Act.
141	141	SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 2023.