LEGISLATIVE BUDGET BOARD
                          Austin, Texas

                           FISCAL NOTE

                       74th Regular Session

                          April 4, 1995



 TO:     Honorable Curtis Seidlits, Chair       IN RE:  House Bill No. 1484
         Committee on State Affairs                     By: Oliveira
         House of Representatives
         Austin, Texas






FROM: John Keel, Director

In response to your request for a Fiscal Note on House Bill No.
1484 (Relating to authority of an electric cooperative
corporation to form and participate in a joint powers agency with
a public entity.) this office has determined the following:

The bill would authorize a municipal power agency to be composed
of municipalities and electric cooperatives.

Implementation of the bill would have no fiscal implications for
state costs or revenues.  Municipal power agencies are not
directly regulated by the Public Utility Commission, although the
rates of a city member would be subject to the Commission's
appellate rate authority.  Creation of a new power agency with a
cooperative member would not remove the cooperative from
Commission regulation.  Additionally, since the bill would affect
only public entities, no impact on the gross receipts tax for
utility companies is anticipated.

The bill would have minimal impacts on municipalities since most
do not own an electric utility.  Although the bill would probably
improve operating efficiencies in some regions of the state to
the extent that local electric service costs may be reduced, data
for estimating potential improvements are unavailable.


No fiscal implication to the State is anticipated.

The fiscal implication to  units of local government cannot be
determined.    




 
Source:   Public Utility Commission
          LBB Staff: JK, RM, DF