| |
| |
|
|
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. |