By Jones of Lubbock H.B. No. 2332
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
1-1 AN ACT
1-2 relating to the service and rates of a gas utility.
1-3 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
1-4 SECTION 1. Article 6050, Revised Statutes, is amended to
1-5 read as follows:
1-6 Sec. 1. Definitions. In this article, "person" means an
1-7 individual, company, or private corporation, or their lessees,
1-8 trustees, and receivers. In Articles 6050-6066, Revised Civil
1-9 Statutes of Texas, 1925, as amended, "gas utility," "public
1-10 utility," or "utility" means a person owning, managing, operating,
1-11 leasing or controlling within this State any pipe lines, plant,
1-12 property, equipment, facility, franchise, license, or permit for
1-13 either one or more of the following kinds of business:
1-14 (a) Transporting, conveying, distributing or delivering
1-15 natural gas: (1) for public use or service for compensation; (2)
1-16 for sale to municipalities or persons or companies, in those cases
1-17 referred to in Subsection (c) hereof, engaged in distributing or
1-18 selling natural gas to the public; (3) for sale or delivery of
1-19 natural gas to any person operating under franchise or a contract
1-20 with any municipality or other legal subdivision of this State; or,
1-21 (4) for sale or delivery of natural gas to the public for domestic
1-22 or other use.
1-23 (b) Owning or operating or managing a pipe line for the
2-1 transportation or carriage of natural gas, whether for public hire
2-2 or not, if any part of the right of way for said line has been
2-3 acquired, or is hereafter acquired by the exercise of the right of
2-4 eminent domain.
2-5 (c) Producing or purchasing natural gas and transporting or
2-6 causing the same to be transported by pipe lines to or near the
2-7 limits of any municipality in which said gas is received and
2-8 distributed or sold to the public by another public utility or by
2-9 said municipality, in all cases where such business is in fact the
2-10 only or practically exclusive agency of supply of natural gas to
2-11 such utility or municipality, is hereby declared to be virtual
2-12 monopoly and a business and calling affected with a public
2-13 interest, and the said business and property employed therein
2-14 within this State shall be subject to the provisions of this law
2-15 and to the jurisdiction and regulation of the Commission as a gas
2-16 utility.
2-17 (d) No person shall be deemed to be a "gas utility," "public
2-18 utility," or "utility" solely because such person is an affiliate
2-19 of such an entity. <The term "gas utility," "public utility," or
2-20 "utility," does not include a person not otherwise a gas utility
2-21 that transports gas on behalf of the state or a state agency or
2-22 institution.>
2-23 (e) Every such gas utility is hereby declared to be affected
2-24 with a public interest and subject to the jurisdiction, control and
2-25 regulation of the Commission as provided herein.
3-1 Sec. 2. Transportation, delivery or sale for agricultural
3-2 purposes. Provided, however, that the act or acts of transporting,
3-3 delivering, selling or otherwise making available natural gas for
3-4 fuel, either directly or indirectly, to the owners of irrigation
3-5 wells or the sale, transportation or delivery of natural gas for
3-6 any other direct use in agricultural activities shall not be
3-7 construed within the terms of this law as constituting any person
3-8 as a "gas utility," "public utility," or "utility" as hereinabove
3-9 defined so as to make such person subject to the jurisdiction,
3-10 control and regulation of the Commission as a gas utility.
3-11 Sec. 3. Gas used for pumping water; agricultural exemption.
3-12 The natural gas made available under the provisions of this Act
3-13 shall be used exclusively for pumping water for farm and other
3-14 agricultural purposes in order for the person furnishing such
3-15 natural gas to qualify for the exemption provided by Section 2 of
3-16 this article. The provisions of this Act shall be considered only
3-17 as cumulative of other laws and shall not have the effect of
3-18 repealing or amending any substantive or statutory law except as
3-19 herein specifically provided.
3-20 Sec. 4. Transportation to processing plants or treating
3-21 facilities; interstate transportation; delivery or sale for lease
3-22 use, etc. (a) Except as provided by Section 1(b) of this article,
3-23 the terms "gas utility," "public utility," and "utility" do not
3-24 include a person who certifies to the Commission that the person
3-25 transports natural or synthetic gas, whether for sale, for hire, or
4-1 otherwise, solely from in or within the vicinity of the field or
4-2 fields where produced:
4-3 (1) to a gas processing plant or treating facility, or
4-4 from the outlet of such plant or treating facility to:
4-5 (A) a person at or within the vicinity of such
4-6 plant or treating facility; or
4-7 (B) anyone described in (2) or (3);
4-8 (2) to another person for transportation or sale in
4-9 interstate commerce; or
4-10 (3) to another person in or within the vicinity of the
4-11 field or fields where produced for transportation or sale in
4-12 intrastate commerce.
4-13 (b) A person who makes deliveries or sales for lease use,
4-14 compressor fuel, processing plant fuel, or similar uses; deliveries
4-15 or sales pursuant to lease or right-of-way agreements; or
4-16 deliveries or sales in or within the vicinity of the field where
4-17 produced or at a processing plant outlet does not become a "gas
4-18 utility," "public utility," or "utility" by virtue of such
4-19 transaction. However, the terms "gas utility," "public utility,"
4-20 and "utility" include a pipeline which transmits or distributes to
4-21 other end users of gas, or which makes city-gate deliveries for
4-22 local distribution, but does not include a person that qualifies
4-23 for the exemption provided by Section 2 of this article.
4-24 Sec. 5. Sale for use as vehicle fuel. The terms "gas
4-25 utility," "public utility," and "utility" do not include a person
5-1 to the extent the person sells natural gas for use as vehicle fuel,
5-2 sells natural gas to a person who later sells the natural gas for
5-3 use as vehicle fuel, or owns or operates equipment or facilities to
5-4 sell or transport the natural gas for ultimate use as vehicle fuel.
5-5 <Sec. 6. (a) A gas utility may not refuse to provide
5-6 service to the state or a state agency or institution if pipeline
5-7 capacity is available.>
5-8 <(b) In this section, "gas utility" includes a municipally
5-9 owned utility as that term is defined by Section 1.03, Gas Utility
5-10 Regulatory Act (Article 1446e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and
5-11 its subsequent amendments.>
5-12 SECTION 2. Section 1, Article 6053, Revised Statutes, is
5-13 amended to read as follows:
5-14 Sec. 1. Rates; rules and regulations; reduction or cessation
5-15 of purchases by large-volume customers. (a) The Commission after
5-16 due notice shall fix and establish and enforce the adequate and
5-17 reasonable price of gas and fair and reasonable rates of charges
5-18 and regulations for transporting, producing, distributing, buying,
5-19 selling, and delivering gas by such pipe lines in this State; and
5-20 shall establish fair and equitable rules and regulations for the
5-21 full control and supervision of said gas pipe lines and all their
5-22 holdings pertaining to the gas business in all their relations to
5-23 the public, as the Commission may from time to time deem proper;
5-24 and establish a fair and equitable division of the proceeds of the
5-25 sale of gas between the companies transporting or producing the gas
6-1 and the companies distributing or selling it; and prescribe and
6-2 enforce rules and regulations for the government and control of
6-3 such pipe lines in respect to their gas pipe lines and producing,
6-4 receiving, transporting, and distributing facilities; and regulate
6-5 and apportion the supply of gas between towns, cities, and
6-6 corporations, and when the supply of gas controlled by any gas pipe
6-7 line shall be inadequate, the Commission shall prescribe fair and
6-8 reasonable rules and regulations requiring such gas pipe lines to
6-9 augment their supply of gas, when in the judgment of the Commission
6-10 it is practicable to do so; and it shall exercise its power,
6-11 whether upon its own motion or upon petition by any person,
6-12 corporation, municipal corporation, county, or Commissioners
6-13 precinct showing a substantial interest in the subject, or upon
6-14 petition of the Attorney General, or of any County or District
6-15 Attorney in any county wherein such business or any part thereof
6-16 may be carried on.
6-17 <(b) Notwithstanding Subsection (a) of this section, the
6-18 Commission shall approve rates established under a contract between
6-19 a gas utility or gas supplier and a State agency or institution.
6-20 Absent a contract between a gas utility or gas supplier and a State
6-21 agency or institution, the Commission shall, not later than the
6-22 120th day after the date either party files a request to set rates,
6-23 establish rates not to exceed the gas utility's or gas supplier's
6-24 cost-based transportation rate. The Commission shall base its
6-25 determination of a cost-based transportation rate on the entire
7-1 distribution system of the gas utility or gas supplier in this
7-2 State. The Commission has exclusive original jurisdiction to
7-3 establish rates under this subsection. In this subsection, the
7-4 term "gas utility" or "gas supplier" includes a municipally owned
7-5 utility as that term is defined by Section 1.03, Gas Utility
7-6 Regulatory Act (Article 1446e, Vernon's Texas Civil Statutes), and
7-7 its subsequent amendments.>
7-8 <(c)> (b) If any transportation, industrial, or other
7-9 similar large-volume contract customer who is an end-use customer
7-10 of a gas utility (i) reduces or ceases purchases of natural gas or
7-11 of natural gas service from the gas utility and (ii) purchases
7-12 natural gas or natural gas service from another supplier or
7-13 purchases an alternate form of energy, then the gas utility
7-14 thereafter shall have no obligation to serve or to maintain the gas
7-15 supply or the physical capacity to serve such customer, except to
7-16 the extent that such customer continues to purchase natural gas or
7-17 natural gas service of any class from the gas utility or to the
7-18 extent the gas utility has a written contract to provide natural
7-19 gas or natural gas service of any class to the customer. Nothing
7-20 herein shall prevent the Railroad Commission from requiring that
7-21 utilities comply with all orders of the Railroad Commission in
7-22 apportioning gas under curtailment plans and orders.
7-23 SECTION 3. This Act takes effect September 1, 1995 or
7-24 immediately.
7-25 SECTION 4. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. The importance of this
8-1 legislation and the crowded condition of the calendars in both
8-2 houses create an emergency and an imperative public necessity that
8-3 the constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
8-4 days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended,
8-5 and that this Act take effect and be in force from and after its
8-6 passage, and it is so enacted.