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Rate Payer Recovery Act of 2007
To provide for disaster assistance for power transmission and distribution facilities, and for other purposes.
Summary
This bill would amend the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act to make private or investor-owned power transmission and distribution facilities eligible for Federal disaster assistance when damaged or destroyed by a major disaster. Eligibility would be conditioned on the owner having experienced a previous major disaster within the past 10 years with costs exceeding $2,500 per retail customer served and $500 million total, and 25 percent or more of the population in the affected area having income below the Federal poverty level. Federal assistance would only cover costs exceeding $10 million incurred directly by the facility owner. Owners could alternatively receive 75 percent of the Federal share in in-lieu contributions to use for repairing other power facilities, constructing new ones, or funding hazard mitigation measures. The Department of Homeland Security would be required to issue implementing regulations within 180 days, with the law taking effect 60 days after enactment.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
Actions (6)
- Oct 19, 2007 Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs referred to Subcommittee on Disaster Recovery. · senate
- Sep 17, 2007 Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. · senate
- Sep 17, 2007 Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works discharged by Unanimous Consent. (consideration: CR S11577, S11614) · senate
- Sep 17, 2007 Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works discharged by Unanimous Consent.(consideration: CR S11577, S11614)
- Aug 3, 2007 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works. · senate
- Aug 3, 2007 Introduced in Senate
Similar bills (6)
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Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
August 3, 2007
Ms. Landrieu introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
September 17, 2007
Committee discharged; referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
A BILL
To provide for disaster assistance for power transmission and distribution facilities, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the “Rate Payer Recovery Act of 2007”.
SEC. 2. DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION FACILITIES.
(a) Private or Investor-Owned Power Facility Defined.—Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(11) Private or investor-owned power facility.—The term ‘private or investor-owned power facility’—
“(A) means a privately-owned or investor-owned transmission or distribution facility that provides electric or natural gas service to retail customers under State or local jurisdiction; and
“(B) includes leased facilities.”.
(b) Conditions for Contributions.—Section 406(a) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(a)) is amended—
(1) in paragraph (1)—
(A) in subparagraph (A), by striking “and” at the end;
(B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period and inserting “; and”; and
(C) by adding at the end the following:
“(C) subject to paragraph (4), to a person that owns a private or investor-owned power facility damaged or destroyed by a major disaster for the repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of the facility and for associated expenses incurred by the person.”;
(2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
(3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
“(4) Conditions for assistance to private or investor- owned power facilities.—
“(A) Definition.—In this paragraph, the term ‘previous major disaster’ means a major disaster—
“(i) occurring before the disaster for which Federal assistance is sought under this subsection; and
“(ii) the declaration of which was not more than 10 years before the date of the declaration of the major disaster for which Federal assistance is sought under this subsection.
“(B) Conditioned on previous event.—The President may make contributions to the owner of a private or investor-owned power facility under paragraph (1)(C), only if—
“(i) the cost of repairing, restoring, or replacing the private or investor-owned power facilities damaged or destroyed by the previous major disaster exceeded $2,500 for each retail customer receiving electrical or natural gas service from the owner on the day before the date of the previous disaster;
“(ii) the total costs of repair, restoration, or replacement of all private or investor-owned power facilities owned by such person and associated expenses as a result of the previous major disaster exceeded $500,000,000; and
“(iii) 25 percent or more of the population, as determined by the Bureau of the Census, of each geographic area of each local government in which the private or investor- owned power facility is located, had taxable income in the year preceding the previous major disaster below the Federal poverty level on the date of the previous major disaster.
“(C) Application for funds.—A person that owns a private or investor-owned power facility that meets the requirements under subparagraph (B) may apply for Federal assistance not later than the earlier of—
“(i) 30 days after declaration of a major disaster; or
“(ii) the date upon which the owner of the private or investor-owned power facility has contributed $10,000,000 towards the total costs of repair, restoration, or replacement of the private or investor-owned power facility damaged or destroyed as a result of the major disaster for which it requests Federal assistance.
“(D) Limit on federal assistance for disaster relief.—Federal assistance under this section to the owner of a private or investor-owned power facility shall only apply to eligible costs and expenses directly incurred by the owner exceeding $10,000,000.
“(E) Aggregation for purposes of determining costs.—For purposes of determining the costs of a previous major disaster under this paragraph, the costs of all previous major disasters during any 12-month period shall be aggregated.
“(F) Approval or disapproval of applications.—The President shall approve or disapprove an application for assistance submitted by a person under this paragraph not later than 30 days after the date of receipt of the application.”.
(c) Federal Share.—Section 406(b)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(b)(2)) is amended by striking “public facility or private nonprofit facility” and inserting “public facility, private nonprofit facility, or private or investor-owned power facility”.
(d) Large In-Lieu Contributions.—Section 406(c) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“(3) For private or investor-owned power facilities.—
“(A) In general.—In any case in which a person that owns a private or investor-owned power facility determines that the public welfare would not best be served by repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or replacing the facility, the person may elect to receive, in lieu of a contribution under subsection
(a)(1)(C), a contribution in an amount equal to 75 percent of the Federal share of the Federal estimate of the cost of repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or replacing the facility and of management expenses, under the conditions described in subsection (a)(4).
“(B) Use of funds.—Funds contributed to a person under this paragraph may be used to—
“(i) repair, restore, or expand other private or investor-owned power facilities owned by the person;
“(ii) construct a new private or investor- owned power facility owned by the person; or
“(iii) fund hazard mitigation measures that the person determines to be necessary to meet a need for the services and functions of the person in the area affected by the major disaster.”.
(e) Eligible Cost.—Section 406(e)(1)(A) of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(1)(A)) is amended by striking “public facility or private nonprofit facility” and inserting “public facility, private nonprofit facility, or private or investor-owned power facility”.
SEC. 3. REGULATIONS.
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall promulgate regulations necessary to implement this Act and the amendments made by this Act.
SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.
(a) In General.—Except as provided under subsection (b), this Act and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act.
(b) Regulations.—Section 3 shall take effect on the date of enactment of this Act. <all>
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