79R8690 T
By: Chisum H.B. No. 2083
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to regulation of gas gathering by utilities.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 101.003(7) of Utilities Code is amended
by changing the following:
(7) "Gas utility" includes a person or river authority
that owns or operates for compensation in this state equipment or
facilities to transmit or distribute combustible hydrocarbon
natural gas or synthetic natural gas for sale or resale in a manner
not subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission under the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. Section 717 et
seq.). The term includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of a gas
utility. The term does not include:
(A) a municipal corporation;
(B) a person or river authority to the extent the
person or river authority:
(i) produces[,] and gathers, transports, or
sells natural gas or synthetic natural gas exempt as a gas utility
under Section 121.004 or 121.005;
(ii) distributes or sells liquefied
petroleum gas; or
(iii) transports, delivers, or sells
natural gas for fuel for irrigation wells or any other direct
agricultural use;
(C) a person to the extent the person:
(i) sells natural gas for use as vehicle
fuel;
(ii) sells natural gas to a person who later
sells the natural gas for use as vehicle fuel; or
(iii) owns or operates equipment or
facilities to sell or transport natural gas for ultimate use as
vehicle fuel; or
(D) a person not otherwise a gas utility who
furnishes gas or gas service only to itself, its employees, or its
tenants as an incident of employment or tenancy, if the gas or gas
service is not resold to or used by others.
SECTION 2. Section 121.001 of the Utilities Code is amended
by changing the following:
Sec. 121.001. DEFINITION OF GAS UTILITY. (a) In this
chapter, "gas utility" means a person who owns, manages, operates,
leases, or controls in this state property or equipment or a
pipeline, plant, facility, franchise, license, or permit for a
business that:
(1) gathers, transports, conveys, distributes, or
delivers natural gas:
(A) for public use or [service for compensation]
on behalf of others for sale, for hire, or otherwise;
(B) for sale to municipalities or persons engaged
in distributing or selling natural gas to the public, in a situation
described by Subdivision (3);
(C) for sale or delivery to a person operating
under a franchise or contract with a political subdivision of this
state; or
(D) for sale or delivery to the public for
domestic or other use;
(2) owns, operates, or manages a pipeline:
(A) that is for transporting or carrying natural
gas, whether for public hire or not; and
(B) for which the right-of-way has been or is
hereafter acquired by exercising the right of eminent domain; or
(3) produces or purchases natural gas and transports
or causes the transportation of natural gas by a pipeline to or near
the limits of a municipality in which the gas is received and
distributed or sold to the public by another gas utility or by the
municipality in a situation in which the business is the only or
practically the only agency of supply of natural gas to the gas
utility or municipality.
(b) In this subchapter, "person" means an individual,
company, limited liability company, or private corporation and
includes a lessee, trustee, or receiver of an individual, company,
limited liability company, or private corporation.
SECTION 3. Section 121.005 of the Utilities Code is amended
by changing the following and adding a new subparagraph (d):
Sec. 121.005. TRANSPORTATION OF GAS IN VICINITY OF PLACE OF
PRODUCTION EXCLUDED. (a) Except as provided by Section
121.001(a)(2), a person is not a gas utility if the person certifies
to the railroad commission that the person is engaged primarily in
the production of natural gas but gathers [transports] natural or
synthetic gas, for sale, for hire, or otherwise, solely:
(1) in, or in the vicinity of, the field or fields
where the gas is produced to a gas processing plant or treating
facility;
(2) from the outlet of a gas processing plant or
treating facility described by Subdivision (1) to a person:
(A) at, or in the vicinity of, the plant or
treating facility; or
(B) described by Subdivision (3) or Section
121.004; or
(3) to another person in, or in the vicinity of, the
field or fields where the gas is produced, gathered and transported
or sold [for transportation or sale] in intrastate commerce.
(b) A person is not a gas utility because the person
gathers, delivers or sells its own gas:
(1) for lease use, compressor fuel, processing plant
fuel, or a similar use;
(2) under a lease or right-of-way agreement;
(3) in, or in the vicinity of, the field or fields
where the gas is produced; or
(4) at a processing plant outlet.
(c) Subsection (b) does not exclude as a gas utility a
pipeline that:
(1) transmits or distributes to end users of gas,
other than:
(A) those described by Subsection (b); or
(B) a person who qualifies for the exemption
provided by Section 121.003; or
(2) makes city-gate deliveries for local
distribution.
(d) the railroad commission shall promulgate rules
requiring:
(1) tariffs covering gathering and transportation of
natural gas subject to the jurisdiction of the railroad commission,
including all services, bundled or unbundled, and rates offered in
connection with gathering and transportation of natural gas in a
field or in the vicinity of a field or fields;
(2) identification of delivery points on each pipeline
facility used for gathering and transportation of natural gas; and
(3) filing of maps showing each pipeline gathering
facility, all delivery points located, identification of
applicable tariffs for each pipeline facility, all connections to
existing wells from which natural or casinghead gas is gathered and
transported.