CHAPTER 164
SB 376 - FINAL VERSION
4may00.....4049h
5/11/00.....4511eba
2000 SESSION
03/01
SENATE BILL 376
AN ACT relative to the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission to determine consequential damages, and authorizing municipalities to jointly issue municipal revenue bonds for the purchase of hydro-electric generation facilities.
COMMITTEE: Energy and Economic Development
This bill authorizes municipalities to jointly issue municipal revenue bonds for the purchase of hydro-electric generation facilities. This bill clarifies the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's authority to determine consequential damages in matters over which the commission does not have jurisdiction or has chosen to grant jurisdiction to the state.
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Explanation: Matter added to current law appears in bold italics.
Matter removed from current law appears [in brackets and struckthrough.]
Matter which is either (a) all new or (b) repealed and reenacted appears in regular type.
4may00.....4049h
5/11/00.....4511eba
00-2627
03/01
STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE
In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand
AN ACT relative to the jurisdiction of the public utilities commission to determine consequential damages, and authorizing municipalities to jointly issue municipal revenue bonds for the purchase of hydro-electric generation facilities.
Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:
164:1 Findings. The general court finds that when a municipality acquires utility property, the utility should not be allowed to seek determination of consequential damages before both federal and state regulatory agencies, but instead shall be allowed to have consequential damages determined by exactly one regulatory agency, either federal or state, as provided by the federal regulatory agency.
164:2 New Section; Aggregate Municipal Revenue Bonds. Amend RSA 38 by inserting after section 13 the following new section:
38:13-a Aggregate Municipal Revenue Bonds. If the commission orders divestiture of generation facilities in the implementation of electric utility restructuring under RSA 374-F, any municipality which has voted to acquire a hydro-electric facility as provided in RSA 38 may jointly issue with any other municipality which has also voted to acquire a hydro-electric facility as provided in RSA 38 municipal revenue bonds and notes pursuant to RSA 33-B as may be necessary and expedient for the purpose of defraying the cost of purchasing or taking such hydro-electric generation facilities. Such municipal revenue bonds or notes may be in the aggregate of the total cost of purchasing or taking such generation facilities as set forth in RSA 33-B:3 and may be issued in the joint names of any such municipalities in accordance with their respective interests therein. In all other respects, the provisions of RSA 33-B shall apply to the issuance of such municipal revenue bonds and notes.
164:3 Municipal Electric, Gas, or Water Systems; Authority to Determine Consequential Damages. Amend RSA 38:33 to read as follows:
38:33 Consequential Damages. [To the extent that] In matters over which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission does not have jurisdiction, or has jurisdiction but chooses to grant jurisdiction to the state, the commission shall determine, to a just and reasonable extent, the consequential damages such as stranded investment in generation, storage, or supply arrangements resulting from the purchase of plant and property from a utility and shall establish an appropriate recovery mechanism for such damages. The commission need not make such a determination when the municipality and utility agree upon the sale of utility plant and property.
164:4 Effective Date. This act shall take effect upon its passage.
(Approved: May 23, 2000)
(Effective Date: May 23, 2000)