83R10457 JJT-D
 
  By: Van de Putte S.B. No. 981
 
 
 
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
 
AN ACT
  relating to electric utility bill payment assistance programs for
  certain veterans burned in combat.
         BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
         SECTION 1.  Section 1502.056, Government Code, is amended by
  amending Subsection (a) and adding Subsections (a-1) and (a-2) to
  read as follows:
         (a)  If the revenue of a utility system, park, or swimming
  pool secures the payment of public securities issued or obligations
  incurred under this chapter, each expense of operation and
  maintenance, including all salaries, labor, materials, interest,
  repairs and extensions necessary to provide efficient service, and
  each proper item of expense, is a first lien against that revenue. 
         (a-1)  For a municipality with a population of more than one
  million but less than two million, the first lien against the
  revenue of a municipally owned utility system that secures the
  payment of public securities issued or obligations incurred under
  this chapter also applies to funding, as a necessary operations
  expense, for a bill payment assistance program for utility system
  customers who[:
               [(1)]  have been threatened with disconnection from
  service for nonpayment of bills and who have been determined by the
  municipality to be low-income customers.
         (a-2)  The first lien against the revenue of a municipally
  owned electric utility system, including a system to which
  Subsection (a-1) applies, that secures the payment of public
  securities issued or obligations incurred under this chapter also
  applies to funding, as a necessary operations expense, for a bill
  payment assistance program for the electric utility system's
  customers who[; or
               [(2)]  are military veterans who have significantly
  decreased abilities to regulate their bodies' core temperatures
  because of severe burns received in combat.
         SECTION 2.  Section 36.061, Utilities Code, is amended by
  adding Subsection (c) to read as follows:
         (c)  An electric utility located in a portion of this state
  not subject to retail competition may establish a bill payment
  assistance program for a customer who is a military veteran who a
  medical doctor certifies has a significantly decreased ability to
  regulate the individual's body temperature because of severe burns
  received in combat. A regulatory authority shall allow as a cost or
  expense a cost or expense of the bill payment assistance program.
  The electric utility is entitled to:
               (1)  fully recover all costs and expenses related to
  the bill payment assistance program;
               (2)  defer each cost or expense related to the bill
  payment assistance program not explicitly included in base rates;
  and
               (3)  apply carrying charges at the utility's weighted
  average cost of capital to the extent related to the bill payment
  assistance program.
         SECTION 3.  Subchapter H, Chapter 39, Utilities Code, is
  amended by adding Section 39.359 to read as follows:
         Sec. 39.359.  BILL PAYMENT ASSISTANCE FOR BURNED VETERANS.
  (a)  A retail electric provider may establish a bill payment
  assistance program for a customer who is a military veteran who a
  medical doctor certifies has a significantly decreased ability to
  regulate the individual's body temperature because of severe burns
  received in combat.
         (b)  The commission shall compile a list of programs
  described by Subsection (a) that are available from retail electric
  providers. The commission shall publish the list on the
  commission's Internet website and the office shall provide on the
  office's Internet website a link to the list.
         (c)  A retail electric provider shall provide to the
  commission information necessary to compile the list in the form,
  manner, and frequency the commission by rule requires.
         SECTION 4.  Chapter 182, Utilities Code, is amended by
  adding Subchapter D to read as follows:
  SUBCHAPTER D.  BILL PAYMENT ASSISTANCE PROGRAM FOR BURNED VETERANS
         Sec. 182.201.  DEFINITIONS. In this subchapter, "electric
  cooperative" and "municipally owned utility" have the meanings
  assigned by Section 11.003.
         Sec. 182.202.  BURNED VETERANS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM. (a)  The
  board of directors of an electric cooperative or the governing body
  of a municipally owned utility may establish a bill payment
  assistance program for a customer who is a military veteran who a
  medical doctor certifies has a significantly decreased ability to
  regulate the individual's body temperature because of severe burns
  received in combat.
         (b)  The costs of a bill payment assistance program
  established under Subsection (a) are considered a necessary
  operations expense.
         (c)  The board of directors of an electric cooperative or the
  governing body of a municipally owned utility may determine the
  method to fund a bill payment assistance program established under
  Subsection (a).
         SECTION 5.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
  a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
  provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
  Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
  Act takes effect September 1, 2013.