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SCS/HCS/HB 2279 - This act modifies various provisions relating to utilities and sales of scrap metal. NATURAL GAS SAFETY The act sets the maximum penalty for a single violation of any order by the Public Service Commission (PSC) relating to federal natural gas safety standards at $15,000 per violation. The maximum penalty for a continuing violation or a multiple series of such violations is $150,000. The maximum penalties increase by increments described in the act in the years 2015, 2025, 2035, and 2040. The PSC may determine the amount of the penalty based on several variables as described in the act. Each violation shall be considered a separate and distinct offense. Retroactive Approval for Construction of Electric Plants The PSC may give its approval for the construction of an electric plant in a county of the first classification after any such electric plant has been constructed or acquired. No such approval, nor any locally-issued special use permit for such an electric plant, shall impair any private suits or claims for damages made against such an electric plant. The PSC's authority under this section expires August 28, 2009. NATURAL GAS SERVICE BAD DEBT Under current law, rate adjustments in the purchase price of natural gas that are approved by the PSC shall be exempt from certain provisions relating to business license taxation. The act adds a qualifying provision that any such purchased gas adjustment rates shall include the gas cost portion of net write-offs incurred by the gas company in providing service to system sales customers. Any such net write-offs may only be recovered once through purchased gas adjustment rates, the act requires an annual true-up of the net write-offs, and the PSC shall annually review gas companies debt collection efforts. SCRAP METAL The act modifies the current record-keeping requirements for purchases of copper scrap metal and also applies such record-keeping requirements to purchases of brass, bronze, and certain aluminum scrap metal. The act requires that a separate record be maintained in either written or electronic form for each transaction of copper, brass, bronze, or applicable aluminum scrap metal. Records must be kept for two years after the date the scrap metal was purchased and shall be available for inspection by any law enforcement officer. The act modifies the penalty for violating the record-keeping requirements by removing the specified fine and jail term ranges, and instead making a violation a Class A misdemeanor. The act exempts certain scrap metal transactions from the record-keeping requirements: when the total sale amount is not more than $50; when the seller has an existing business relationship with the purchaser and is reasonably expected to generate scrap metal; and when the metal is a minor part of a larger item being sold, except for electrical power generation or telecommunications equipment. Scrap metal dealers are prohibited from knowingly purchasing or possessing a whole or partial metal beer keg on premises used by the dealer to alter scrap metal, unless the keg is purchased from a brewer or brewer's representative. A violation of this provision is a Class A misdemeanor with a penalty of only a fine. Scrap yards are prohibited from purchasing metal identified as belonging to a political subdivision, electrical cooperative, or any utility, except when purchasing it directly from the metal owner or from a person authorized in writing by the owner to sell such metal. A violation of this provision is a Class B misdemeanor. Payments by scrap metal dealers larger than $500 shall be made only by check or other traceable method, except in transactions where the seller has an existing business relationship with the dealer and the seller is an established business that generates scrap metal. TREE TRIMMING The act authorizes any rural electric cooperative and certain electrical corporations that operate on the not-for-profit cooperative business plan to trim trees and control vegetation within the legal description in a recorded easement, or when no easement exists, within the following areas: 1) within 10 feet of electric lines located in a city and potentially energized at or below 34.5 kilovolts; 2) within 30 feet of electric lines located outside of a city and potentially energized at or below 34.5 kilovolts; 3) within 50 feet of electric lines potentially energized between 34.5 and 100 kilovolts; and 4) within 75 feet or within a federally required clearance for electric lines potentially energized at 100 kilovolts or more. In claims for property damage, there shall be a rebuttable presumption that the electric utility acted with reasonable care and within its rights when controlling vegetation in these areas. Electric cooperatives may control vegetation in excess of these areas if needed to maintain safe and reliable electric service. If an electric cooperative must remove certain trees outside of the authorized areas, it must notify the owner of the trees at least fourteen days prior to their removal, except in emergency situations. Owners of trees that die within three months of being trimmed by an electric cooperative may request the cooperative to remove any such tree, and the cooperative must respond to any such request within 90 days. METAL THEFT The act makes it a Class C felony to steal or appropriate, without the owner's consent, any wire, electrical transformer, metallic wire for telecommunications, or device or pipe used to conduct electricity or transport fuels. It shall be a Class D felony to steal or appropriate without consent any property located on the premises of an electrical cooperative, municipal utility, or investor-owned utility. ERIKA JAQUES
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