Texas 2023 88th Regular

Texas House Bill HB4952 House Committee Report / Bill

Filed 05/07/2023

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                    88R21993 ANG-F
 By: Slawson H.B. No. 4952
 Substitute the following for H.B. No. 4952:
 By:  Spiller C.S.H.B. No. 4952


 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 AN ACT
 relating to the security of the electricity supply chain.
 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 SECTION 1.  Subchapter F, Chapter 38, Utilities Code, is
 amended by adding Section 38.205 to read as follows:
 Sec. 38.205.  PHYSICAL SECURITY OF CRITICAL FACILITIES. (a)
 In this section, "critical facility" means a transmission
 substation and any associated control center the inoperability of
 which could result in widespread instability, uncontrolled
 separation, or cascading outages within an interconnection.
 (b)  The commission shall require each electric utility,
 electric cooperative, municipally owned utility, river authority
 that owns electric transmission assets, and transmission and
 distribution utility to provide to the chair of the committee the
 following information:
 (1)  the location of any critical facility owned or
 operated by the utility, cooperative, or authority;
 (2)  security measures in place to protect each
 critical facility against physical attack; and
 (3)  contact information for the applicable utility,
 cooperative, or authority.
 (c)  The chair of the committee may share information
 provided to the chair under Subsection (b) related to a physical
 attack or a threat of a physical attack on a critical facility with
 a law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction over the critical
 facility.
 (d)  The chair of the committee shall provide the Department
 of Public Safety with access to the information provided to the
 chair of the committee under Subsection (b).
 (e)  Information provided to the chair of the committee or
 the Department of Public Safety under this section is confidential
 under Section 418.181, Government Code, and not subject to
 disclosure under Chapter 552, Government Code.
 SECTION 2.  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, 2023.