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H0286.....................................................by APPROPRIATIONS
PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION - Amends and repeals existing law to provide
that Public Utilities Commissioners' salaries shall be paid from fees
assessed against utilities regulated by the Public Utilities Commission;
and to provide that the Legislature shall determine expenditures of the
Public Utilities Commission.
02/22 House intro - 1st rdg - to printing
02/23 Rpt prt - to 2nd rdg
02/24 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
02/26 3rd rdg - PASSED - 62-0-8
AYES -- Alltus, Barraclough, Barrett, Bell, Bieter, Black, Bruneel,
Callister, Campbell, Chase, Clark, Crow, Cuddy, Deal, Denney,
Ellsworth, Field(13), Field(20), Gagner, Geddes, Gould, Hadley,
Hammond, Hansen(23), Henbest, Hornbeck, Jaquet, Judd, Kempton,
Kendell, Kunz, Lake, Limbaugh, Linford, Loertscher, Mader, Marley,
McKague, Meyer, Montgomery, Mortensen, Moyle, Pischner, Pomeroy,
Reynolds, Ridinger, Ringo, Robison, Sali, Schaefer, Sellman, Smith,
Smylie, Stevenson, Stone, Taylor(Taylor), Tilman, Tippets, Watson,
Williams, Wood, Zimmermann
NAYS -- None
Absent and excused -- Boe, Hansen(29), Jones, Kellogg, Stoicheff,
Trail, Wheeler, Mr Speaker
Floor Sponsor - Watson
Title apvd - to Senate
03/01 Senate intro - 1st rdg - to Fin
03/17 Rpt out - rec d/p - to 2nd rdg
03/18 2nd rdg - to 3rd rdg
Rules susp - PASSED - 31-2-2
AYES--Andreason, Boatright, Branch, Bunderson, Burtenshaw, Cameron,
Crow, Danielson, Darrington, Davis, Deide, Dunklin, Frasure, Geddes,
Hawkins, Ingram, Ipsen, Keough, King, Lee, McLaughlin, Noh,
Richardson, Riggs, Risch, Sandy, Schroeder, Sorensen, Thorne, Twiggs,
Wheeler
NAYS--Stennett, Whitworth
Absent and excused--Parry, Stegner
Floor Sponsor - Cameron
Title apvd - to House
03/19 To enrol - rpt enrol - Sp signed - Pres signed
03/23 To Governor
03/24 Governor signed
Session Law Chapter 289
Effective: 07/01/99
H0286|||| LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF IDAHO |||| Fifty-fifth Legislature First Regular Session - 1999IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES HOUSE BILL NO. 286 BY APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE 1 AN ACT 2 RELATING TO THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION; REPEALING SECTIONS 61-1002 AND 3 61-1009, IDAHO CODE; AMENDING SECTION 61-1001, IDAHO CODE, TO DELETE THE 4 EXCEPTION FOR PAYING SALARIES AND RELATED PAYROLL EXPENSES FOR PUBLIC 5 UTILITIES COMMISSIONERS; AMENDING SECTION 61-1004, IDAHO CODE, TO DELETE 6 THE PROHIBITION OF AN APPROPRIATION FROM THE GENERAL FUND, TO ALLOW THE 7 COMMISSIONERS SALARIES AND WAGES TO BE PAID FROM THE ASSESSMENTS ON UTILI- 8 TIES AND TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS; AND AMENDING SECTION 61-1008, 9 IDAHO CODE, TO PROVIDE THAT THE LEGISLATURE SHALL DETERMINE EXPENDITURES, 10 TO DELETE REDUNDANT CODE REFERENCES, AND TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS. 11 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Idaho: 12 SECTION 1. That Sections 61-1002 and 61-1009, Idaho Code, be, and the 13 same are hereby repealed. 14 SECTION 2. That Section 61-1001, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 15 amended to read as follows: 16 61-1001. ANNUAL FEES PAYABLE TO COMMISSION BY PUBLIC UTILITIES AND MOTOR 17 CARRIERS -- PURPOSE. Each public utility and each railroad corporation, sub- 18 ject to the jurisdiction of the commission, and subject to the provisions of 19 this act, shall pay to the commission in each year, a special regulatory fee 20 in such amount as the commission shall find and determine to be necessary, 21 together with the amount of all other fees paid or payable to the commission 22 by each such public utility and railroad corporation in the current calendar 23 year, together with the fees collected by the commission from motor carriers 24 under chapter 8, title 61, Idaho Code, to defray the amount to be expended by 25 the commission for expenses in supervising and regulating the public utili- 26 ties, railroad corporations and motor carriers subject to its 27 jurisdiction, except for salaries and related payroll expenses for the28commissioners. 29 SECTION 3. That Section 61-1004, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 30 amended to read as follows: 31 61-1004. DUTIES OF COMMISSION -- FEES -- DETERMINATION -- MAXIMUM AND 32 MINIMUM FEES. On or before April 15th of each year the commission shall deter- 33 mine the proportionate assessment that all railroad corporations, and all 34 other public utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the commission, shall 35 bear to the amountwhich will not be appropriated from the general fund36which will be required to defray the expense of the commission for 37 supervision and regulation of such railroad corporations and other public 38 utilities during the ensuing fiscal year; such determination shall be based 39 upon a consideration of the time and expense devoted to the supervision and 40 regulation of each such class of railroad corporations and other public utili- 2 1 ties during the preceding calendar year, including salaries and wages of the 2 commissioners and employees and all other necessary and lawful 3 expenditures of the commission. Thereupon the commission shall apportion the 4 assessment thus determined to be required of all railroad corporations and all 5 other public utilities, to each such class thereof, respectively, in propor- 6 tion to their respective gross operating revenues derived from intrastate 7 utility business in Idaho for the preceding calendar year, except that the 8 maximum fee payable shall not exceed: 9 (1) In the case of railroad corporations, oneper cent10 percent (1%) of the gross operating revenues derived from the intra- 11 state utility business of each railroad corporation ; and 12 (2) In the case of all other public utilities, three-tenths (3/10) of one 13per centpercent (1%) of the gross operating reve- 14 nues derived from the intrastate utility business of each such public utility. 15 (3) In no case shall the fee be less than fifty dollars ($50.00). 16 The commission shall make such assessment of the fees so determined by 17 orders duly made and entered on its minutes. 18 SECTION 4. That Section 61-1008, Idaho Code, be, and the same is hereby 19 amended to read as follows: 20 61-1008. EXPENDITURE -- PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION FUND -- 21 CREATION -- APPROPRIATION -- DISPOSITION OF SURPLUS. (1) At each regular 22 session, the legislature shall determine the amount of money that may be 23 expended by the public utilities commission during the next ensuing fiscal 24 year. 25 (2) The state treasurer shall be custodian ofa fund, which26is hereby created, to be known asthe "Pp 27 ublicUu tilitiesCc 28 ommissionFf und," into which shall be paid and 29 deposited all funds accruing or received under any and all provisions of this 30actchapter , and all fees, licenses, charges, 31 assessments, fines and penalties,including fees collected from motor32carriers under the provisions of title 61, chapter 8, Idaho Code,now 33 or hereafter payable to, collected or recovered by the commission under any 34 other law of this state, and all funds otherwise appropriated or made avail- 35 able to said fund. All moneys from whatever source accruing to and received 36 into said fund are hereby appropriated, within the limits of funds determined 37 therefor by the legislature, for the payment of the administrative and mainte- 38 nance expenses of the commission, including salaries and wages of the commis- 39 sioners and employees, travel, supplies, equipment, fixed charges, refunds of 40 fees and all other necessary expenses of the commission, not otherwise pro- 41 vided for;. Mmoneys shall be paid out 42 of thesaid "Pp ublicU43u tilitiesCc ommissionF44f und"by the state treasurer only upon claim 45 vouchers prepared and approved by the commission, certified by the president 46 of the commission to the state controller who, after audit as provided by law, 47 shall draw his warrant against thesaid "Pp 48 ublicUu tilitiesCc 49 ommissionFf und"for all such 50 claims. 51 (3) Any moneyscollected under this act52 remaining in thesaid "Pp ublic53Uu tilitiesCc ommissionF3 1f und"at the end of any fiscal year, shall be 2 retained in said fund for the use of the commission for the purposes specified 3 in thisact andchapter. Remaining funds shall be 4 credited ratably by the commission to the respective railroad 5 corporations,and other public utilitiessub-6ject to the provisions of this actaccording to the respective portions 7 of such fees determined hereunder to be assessable against each such railroad 8 corporation and other public utility, respectively, for the ensuing fiscal 9 year ., and tT he respective fee assessed 10 against eachof them, respectively,railroad corporation 11 and public utility for such ensuing fiscal year shall be correspond- 12 ingly reduced; provided that, only moneys paid under the provisions of this 13actchapter by railroad corporations and other pub- 14 lic utilities shall be considered in determining the surplus to be so credited 15 by the commission.
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE
RS 08894C1
This legislation allows public utilities commissioner salaries to be
paid from fees assessed against utilities and regulated carriers.
Before 1975, portions of the administrative costs of the commission
were paid by the general fund. From 1975 to 1984 only the
commissioners' salaries and benefits were paid from the general
fund. However, since 1984 the JFAC has set aside the language
requiring that commissioners be paid from the general fund so that
all costs of the commission have actually been paid by fees put into
the public utilities commission fund. This law change will eliminate
the need for the following section in the appropriation bill that
has been used since 1984: "Notwithstanding any other provisions of
law, there is hereby appropriated from the Public Utilities
Commission Fund and transferred to the General Fund an amount equal
to the General Fund expenditures of the Public Utilities Commission
for the Period July 1, 1999, through June 30, 2000."
FISCAL NOTE
There will be no net impact on the general fund because JFAC will
reduce general fund appropriations by an amount equal to the
decrease in the transfer to the general fund. JFAC will increase
the appropriation from the dedicated fund by the amount of the
commissioner salaries and benefits. Therefore, it will no longer be necessary to provide a general fund appropriation for the
commissioners' salaries then transfer the amount of the actual
expenditures from the public utilities commission fund to the general fund.
CONTACT: Representative Maxine Bell, 334-4734
Senator Dean Cameron, 332-1358
STATEMENT OF PURPOSE/ FISCAL NOTE Bill No. H 286