MINUTES
SENATE INTERIM COMMITTEE ON ELECTRIC UTILITY RESTRUCTURING
Tuesday, September 29, 1998
9:30 am
College Station, Texas
*****
Pursuant to a notice posted in accordance with Senate Rule
11.11, a public hearing of the Senate Interim Committee on
Electric Utility Restructuring was held on Tuesday, September
29, 1998 in the Presidential Conference Center, Bush
Presidential Library, College Station, Texas.
*****
MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT:
Senator David Sibley, Chairman Senator Gonzalo
Barrientos
Senator Kenneth Armbrister Senator David Cain
Senator Teel Bivins
Senator Troy Fraser
Senator Jane Nelson
*****
The Chairman called the meeting to order at 9:35 am. There
being a quorum present, the following business was transacted.
Chairman Sibley thanked Senator Steve Ogden for hosting the
Committee hearing in College Station. Senator Ogden welcomed
the Committee and thanked the Chairman and members for holding
the hearing in College Station.
The Chairman advised that no further hearings are planned to
take testimony, although a Committee meeting may be held later
for discussion purposes only.
Chairman Sibley then advised that the Committee would hear
some hold-over testimony on Stranded Costs from the May 28
hearing. Several invited witnesses were unable to testify at
the May 28 hearing. These witnesses were:
Mark White, Alliance for Consumer Choice of Energy Supply
(ACCESS)
Bob Bolen, Texas Utilities Shareholders Alliance
The following witnesses also testified on Stranded Costs:
Mike Williams, Texas Electric Cooperatives
Robert W. Bryant, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative
Tom "Smitty" Smith, representing Texas Public Citizen
members
Upon completion of Stranded Costs testimony and the witnesses'
response to Committee members' questions, the Chairman called
Panel 1 on Governmental Units. The panelists were:
Tobin Harvey, General Services Commission
Tom Merka, Texas Department of Criminal Justice
Charles Sippial, Texas A&M University
Ed White, Texas Youth Commission
Ray Werth, School Business Administrator, Brenham School
Districts
The following persons registered as resource witnesses on
Governmental Units but did not wish to testify:
Charles W. Richards, Texas Youth Commission, Austin,
Texas
Art Hinojosa, Texas Youth Commission, Austin, Texas
Following the panelists' testimony and response to members'
questions, at 11:55 a.m. the Chairman recessed the hearing
until 12:45 p.m.
At 12:55 p.m. the Committee reconvened, and Chairman Sibley
called Panel 2 to testify on System Reliability. These
panelists were:
Sam Jones, Electric Reliability Council of Texas
Judy Walsh, Commissioner, Texas Public Utilities
Commission
Dan Wilkerson, Bryan Utilities
Tom Baker, Texas Utilities
Upon completion of the panelists' testimony and response to
Committee members' questions, the Chairman called Panel 3 on
Property Tax Issues. The members of Panel 3 were:
Dennis Deegear, Capitol Appraisal Group, Inc.
B. Tab Weaver, Deloitte & Touche Property Tax Services
Marc Moseley, Texas Utilities
Following testimony from Panel 3 and response to Committee
members' questions, the Chairman advised that public testimony
would commence and called the first witness. All witnesses,
including invited witnesses, are listed in the order of
appearance.
Phillip Johnson, Assistant Professor, Texas Tech
University, Lubbock, Texas
Kathleen Magruder, representing Enron Corp., Houston,
Texas
Stephanie Kroger, representing Texas Coalition for
Competitive Electricity, Midland, Texas
Tom "Smitty" Smith, representing Texas Public Citizen
members, Austin, Texas
The following witnesses registered to testify but were unable
to remain at the hearing until called:
Erbin Keith, representing National Association of Energy
Service Companies, Houston, Texas
A. D. Patton, Professor/Consultant, representing himself,
College Station, Texas
Monte Akers, representing Texas Municipal League, Austin,
Texas
Rick Levy, representing Texas AFL-CIO, Austin, Texas
Robert L. Wright, representing Texas Industrial Energy
Consumers, Victoria, Texas, and Steve Schaeffer, representing
Houston Lighting & Power, Houston, Texas, registered as
resource witnesses but did not wish to testify.
There being no further business, at 4:40 p.m. Chairman Sibley
moved that the Committee stand recessed subject to the call of
the Chairman. Without objection, it was so ordered.
_________________________
Senator David Sibley, Chairman
_________________________
Barbara Henderson, Clerk