By Uher                                               H.B. No. 2552
         77R8773 T                           
                                A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 1-1                                   AN ACT
 1-2     relating to the electric utility that operates a nuclear safety
 1-3     asset and the payment of the nuclear safety fee.
 1-4           BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
 1-5           SECTION 1.  Section 39.9016, Subchapter Z, Chapter 39,
 1-6     Utilities Code, is amended to read as follows:
 1-7           Sec. 39.9016.  Nuclear Safety Fee.  An electric utility that
 1-8     operates a nuclear safety asset located in a county on the coast of
 1-9     the Gulf of Mexico shall pay a nuclear safety fee for the year 2002
1-10     [2000] and the year 2003 [2001] to each taxing unit in which the
1-11     nuclear asset is located, other than a school district, in an
1-12     amount equal to the difference between the ad valorem taxes imposed
1-13     by the taxing unit in 2001 [1999] and the amount of ad valorem
1-14     taxes imposed by the unit in the year for which the fee is due,
1-15     except that the amount of the fee may not exceed one-half the taxes
1-16     imposed on the asset by the unit in 2001 [1999].  The nuclear
1-17     safety fee shall be considered a tax or fee under Section
1-18     39.258(5).
1-19           SECTION 2. This Act takes effect September 1, 2001.