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Public Service Companies

Passed

P HB1021

Local telecommunications services. Provides that any certificate for local exchange service or interexchange service granted by the SCC after July 1, 2002, shall be for service throughout the Commonwealth. Each local exchange carrier that was certificated before July 1, 2002, to provide service in part of the Commonwealth shall be certificated to provide local exchange service throughout the Commonwealth beginning September 1, 2002. The bill authorizes any county, city or town that operates an electric distribution system to provide telephone services within any locality in which it has electric distribution system facilities as of March 1, 2002, if the locality obtains a certificate for such service from the SCC and complies with all applicable laws and regulations for the provision of competitive telecommunications services. A county, city or town that does not obtain a certificate to provide telephone services may offer qualifying telecommunications services, including high-speed data service and Internet access service, upon application to the SCC. The SCC shall approve such a petition if it is in the public interest, and if the proposed services are not available in quantity, quality, and price from three or more providers in the proposed geographic area. This bill is identical to SB 245.
Patron - Marshall, D.W.

P HB1373

Public-Private Transportation Act. Authorizes the operator to impose tolls for the use of Interstate 81 by vehicles other than passenger cars, pickup or panel trucks, and motorcycles, in connection with a facility operated under the Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA) of 1995. The bill also allows a responsible public entity to enter into a comprehensive agreement in accordance with procedures consistent with procurement through "competitive sealed bidding" as defined in the Public Procurement Act (PPA). Currently, a responsible public entity may enter into a comprehensive agreement only in accordance with procedures that are consistent with the procurement of "other than professional services" through competitive negotiation. The bill also supplies definitions of "asset management" and "maintenance" as used in the PPTA.
Patron - Thomas

P SB122

Local tax on mobile telecommunications services. Incorporates uniform federal sourcing laws that determine which jurisdictions may impose taxes on local mobile telecommunications services. Beginning August 1, 2002, federal law provides that taxes on mobile telecommunications services may be imposed by a jurisdiction only if the customer's place of primary use is within the jurisdiction. The "place of primary use" is defined as the street address representative of where the customer's use of the mobile telecommunications service primarily occurs, which must be the residential street address or the primary business street address of the customer and within the licensed service area of the provider of the telecommunications service.
Patron - Stosch

P SB156

Telecommunications services; state agencies. Eliminates State Corporation Commission jurisdiction over rates for services provided pursuant to any contract for telecommunications service provided to the public by virtue of a contract between a public utility and the Commonwealth or a state agency.
Patron - Norment

P SB245

P SB257

Electric utility restructuring; electric energy emergencies. Authorizes the Governor to declare an electric energy emergency upon finding that an unplanned interruption in the generation or transmission of electricity, resulting from a hurricane, ice storm, windstorm, earthquake or similar natural phenomena, or from a criminal act affecting generation or transmission, act of war or act of terrorism, so imminently and substantially threatens the health, safety or welfare of residents of this Commonwealth that immediate action of state government is necessary to prevent loss of life, protect the public health or safety, and prevent unnecessary or avoidable damage to property. Upon declaring an emergency, the Governor may require a generator or municipal electric utility to generate, dispatch or sell to the Commonwealth electricity from a facility that it operates within the Commonwealth, for distribution within the areas of the Commonwealth designated in the declaration. The Commonwealth shall compensate generators, dispatchers or sellers of electricity. The Governor is also authorized to request the Secretary of the United States Department of Energy to invoke section 202(C) of the Federal Power Act.
Patron - Watkins

P SB259

Public service corporation taxation; electric suppliers. Exempts all persons who own or operate facilities for the generation, transmission or distribution of electricity for sale that have a capacity of 25 megawatts or less from the definition of an "electric supplier." Currently, a person who owns or operates a solar, wind or hydroelectric facility with a capacity of 25 megawatts or less is not included in the definition of an electric supplier. The measure also clarifies that electric suppliers whose facilities have a capacity of 25 megawatts or less are not required to report their property to the State Corporation Commission, but shall be assessed and taxed by the local assessing officer. The bill contains an emergency clause.
Patron - Watkins

P SB433

Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act. Creates a procedure for excavators to request a special project notice from the notification center for the purpose of notifying the operators of the excavator's desire to enter into an agreement for locating and protecting the operator's underground utility lines for a specific, unique or long-term project. The measure also exempts hand digging performed by an operator to locate the operator's utility lines in response to a notice of excavation from the notification center, if all reasonable precaution has been taken to protect the underground utility lines, from the provisions of the Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act. The 48-hour waiting period required before an excavator may commence work starts at 7:00 a.m. on the next working day following notice to the notification center, rather than 48 hours after giving notice to the notification center. The extent of an excavator's proposed work is limited to an area that can be excavated within 15 working days beginning 7:00 a.m. on the next working day following notice to the notification center, and the area covered under each notice is limited to one mile. Additional provisions (i) authorize designers who prepare drawings and plans for projects requiring excavation or demolition work to provide the notification center with underground utility line information; (ii) require project owners to provide copies of those portions of the drawings that affect the respective operator to all operators with underground utility lines in the project area who receive notification from a designer; (iii) establish standards for line locator training; (iv) require operators to make a reasonable attempt to keep records of certain abandoned utility lines; (v) require operators to respond to an emergency notice as soon as possible but no later than three hours from the excavator's call to the notification center; (vi) require plastic or other nonmetallic utility lines to be installed so they can be locatable by the operator; (vii) adopt the American Public Works Association color codes for marking the approximate location of underground utility lines or proposed excavation; (viii) require the notification center to notify excavators of any responses placed on the excavator-operator information exchange system by a locator by use of facsimile or other mutually acceptable means of automatically transmitting and receiving this information; (ix) requiring excavators who cannot provide the notification center with an acceptable means of automatically transmitting and receiving this information to contact the excavator-operator information exchange system in order to determine if any responses to the notice have been recorded; (x) establish procedures for meetings between excavators and operators to discuss the marking of lines; (xi) establish examples of reasonable steps that may be taken by persons making excavations not parallel to an existing underground utility line; (xii) require persons performing excavation or demolition to give the operator or the appropriate regulatory authority, upon request, the number issued by the notification center for that site; (xiii) prohibit excavators from removing an abandoned line without first receiving authorization to do so by the operator; (xiv) prohibits persons, other than designers requesting marking of a site, to request marking of a site through a notification center unless excavation commences within 30 days from the date of the original notification to the center; and (xv) require operators to install underground utility lines at depths required by accepted industry standards. Finally, the State Corporation Commission is required to convene a task force to study the operation and effectiveness of certain amendments to the act. The Commission shall report the results of the task force's study to the 2005 Session of the General Assembly.
Patron - Williams

P SB554

Permits for power plants. Provides that any valid permit or approval required for an electric generating plant and associated facilities issued or granted by federal, state, and local governmental entities charged by law with responsibility for issuing permits or approvals regulating environmental impact and mitigation of adverse environmental impact or for other specific public interest issues such as building codes, transportation plans and public safety, shall be deemed to satisfy requirements for SCC consideration of the effect of the facility on the environment with respect to matters that are governed by the permit or approval or are within the authority of and were considered in the issuance of the permit or approval. The measure also grants to the DEQ and the Air Pollution Control Board the authority to consider the cumulative impact of new and proposed electric generating facilities on attainment of national ambient air quality standards. The SCC and DEQ are also required to enter into a memorandum of agreement to govern their coordination of reviews of the environmental impacts of such facilities.
Patron - Norment

P SB681

The Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002. Authorizes private entities to acquire, design, construct, improve, renovate, expand, equip, maintain or operate qualifying projects after obtaining approval of a public entity that has the power to take such actions with respect to such projects. A "qualifying project" is (i) any facility that is operated as part of the public school system or as an institution of higher education; (ii) any building for principal use by any public entity; (iii) any equipment or improvements necessary to enhance public safety and security of buildings to be principally used by a public entity; (iv) utility and telecommunications and other communications infrastructure; or (v) a recreational facility. A responsible public entity may approve such a facility if it determines that (i) there is a public need for or benefit derived from the qualifying project of the type proposed by the private entity; (ii) the estimated cost of the qualifying project is reasonable in relation to similar facilities; (iii) the private entity's plans will result in the timely acquisition, design, construction, improvement, renovation, expansion, equipping, maintenance, or operation of the qualifying project. Prior to commencing the qualifying project, the private entity shall enter into a comprehensive agreement with the responsible public entity. The bill exempts such projects from the Virginia Public Procurement Act. The provisions for the approval and operation of such projects are similar to those in the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995.
Patron - Stosch

P SB682

Companies providing sewage services. Provides that any governmental entity established pursuant to the laws of another state or other entity that owns, manages or controls any plant or equipment located within the Commonwealth that is used to provide sewage treatment services to a Virginia public service authority shall be subject to regulation as a public utility.
Patron - Puckett

P SB684

Virginia's energy infrastructure. Requests the State Corporation Commission to convene a work group to study the feasibility, effectiveness, and value of collecting, for the period commencing January 1, 1996, and ending December 31, 2001, and for periods subsequent to December 31, 2001, certain data pertaining to Virginia's energy infrastructure. The work group shall consist of representatives of electricity generators, incumbent electric utilities, gas transmission companies, gas local distribution companies, State Corporation Commission staff, and other appropriate persons. The Commission shall report the results of the work group's study, not later than December 1, 2002, to the Legislative Transition Task Force.
Patron - Watkins

Failed

F HB240

Railroads; utility crossings. Limits the amount that a railroad company can charge a county, city, town, or other political subdivision for allowing its water or sewer utility facilities to cross the railroad's facilities to $500 per crossing. The measure also prohibits a railroad company from thereafter charging an annual or other periodic payment for the crossing.
Patron - Kilgore

F HB429

Electric utility restructuring; service territories. Allows an electric utility owned or operated by a municipality to remain exempt from the provisions of the Electric Utility Restructuring Act if it commences providing service to areas outside its service area as of July 1, 1999, that were (i) not part of an exclusive service territory established by the State Corporation Commission as of such date and (ii) were served by a company that allows the municipal electric utility to acquire its distribution facilities and to distribute electric energy within the area. Currently, a municipal electric utility that sells electricity to retail customers outside the boundary of the municipality or other area that it was serving on July 1, 1999, will be subject to the provisions of the Restructuring Act.
Patron - Hurt

F HB709

F HB866

Consumer protection; personal information. Adds to prohibited practices in the Consumer Protection Act the selling, exchanging or disclosing of personal information. "Personal information" includes name, address, phone number, and any other information identifying an individual.
Patron - Phillips

F HB1098

Telephonic reading services. Requires the State Corporation Commission to collect an assessment from each local telephone company in the Commonwealth for operation of telephonic reading services, similar to the current assessment for operation of telecommunications relay service for the deaf and hard of hearing. "Telephonic reading services" means audio information provided by telephone to the blind and visually impaired through a nationally available, multi-state service center to registered readers in all parts of the Commonwealth, including the interstate acquisition and distribution of daily newspapers and other information. The Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired is the state agency responsible for the administration and operation of telephonic reading services.
Patron - Brink

F HB1302

Public-Private Transportation Act; tolls. Eliminates the prohibition on the imposition of tolls or user fees by an operator on any existing interstate highway in connection with a project under the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995. An operator cannot impose tolls or user fees on an interstate highway unless it is reconstructed to provide for increased capacity. This bill is incorporated into HB 1373.
Patron - Griffith

F SB354

Interstate natural gas pipeline companies; powers. Deprives any public service corporation that is organized to acquire, develop, or operate an interstate natural gas pipeline that is or will be subject to federal regulation under the Natural Gas Act of the power to enter upon property to make examinations and surveys for a proposed line.
Patron - Reynolds

F SB356

F SB640

Carried Over

C HB436

Overhead High Voltage Line Safety Act. Establishes the Overhead High Voltage Line Safety Special Fund to be used by the Commissioner of Labor and Industry for public awareness programs about overhead high voltage line safety, training programs, and incentives. The Special Fund shall be composed of civil penalties collected from enforcement of the Overhead High Voltage Line Safety Act.
Patron - Hull

C HB551

Public Rights-of-Way Use Fee. Provides that the Public Rights-of-Way Use Fee does not preempt cities, those towns where public streets and roads are not maintained by the Virginia Department of Transportation, and counties that have withdrawn or elect to withdraw from the secondary system of state highways from assessing street opening permit fees. The measure also allows such municipalities to impose a locally-negotiated franchise fee on any telecommunications provider that maintains no or a nominal number of access lines in the municipality. The amount of the locally negotiated franchise fee shall not exceed the statewide Public Rights-of-Way Use Fee multiplied by 25 percent of the average number of access lines of each certificated provider of telecommunications service maintained in the municipality.
Patron - Rust

C HB697

Arbitration of telecommunications billing disputes. Prohibits telecommunications service contracts from requiring arbitration of billing disputes unless the customer is given written notice of such requirement, printed in bold type and at least in 10-point type, prior to or at the time of formation of the contract. The Uniform Arbitration Act shall apply to such proceedings.
Patron - Tata

C HB732

Electric utility restructuring; generation facilities of default service providers. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission to require a distributor that becomes obligated to provide default service, or an affiliate formed by the distributor, to (i) purchase, through nondiscriminatory competitive procurement, generation services or (ii) acquire or build electric energy production facilities as the Commission deems will satisfy all or a portion of the distributor's obligation to provide generation services.
Patron - Woodrum

C HB746

Grants using clean and efficient energy. Provides grants to individuals and corporations equal to 15 percent of the cost incurred in installing photovoltaic property, up to a maximum of $2,000, or solar water heating property, up to a maximum of $1,000. The eligible equipment must be placed in service between January 1, 2002, and December 31, 2006. The measure will become effective only if the Department of Mines, Minerals, and Energy is appropriated funding in the 2002-2004 appropriations act for the administrative costs incurred in implementing the program.
Patron - Plum

C HB859

Railroads; utility crossings. Limits the amount that a railroad company can charge a county, city, town, or other political subdivision for allowing its water or sewer utility facilities to cross the railroad's facilities to $1,000 per crossing. The measure also prohibits a railroad company from thereafter charging an annual or other periodic payment for the crossing.
Patron - Phillips

C HB929

Public-Private Transportation Act; imposition of tolls on certain facilities. Limits the number of Public-Private Transportation Act facilities that may be tolled by defining "reconstructed to provide for increased capacity."
Patron - Joannou

C HB989

Coin-operated telephones; removal when nuisance. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission to order the removal of, or cessation of dial tone for, any outdoor coin-operated telephone equipment that has been found by a circuit court to constitute a public or common nuisance. Failure to remove the equipment or terminate dial tone to such telephone equipment within 10 days following the Commission's order shall subject the public service corporation to a fine of not less than $100 and not more than $500.
Patron - Hall

C HB1042

Underground utility damage prevention; utility easements on state property. Requires any state department, agency or institution responsible for the construction, maintenance or operation of public roads, streets or highways to maintain current and accurate maps or plats depicting the location of the right-of-way easement and of any buried wires, pipes, conduits, and similar facilities. Copies of the maps or plats shall be given to Underground Utility Damage Prevention Act notification centers. The notification centers shall provide maps or plats to persons intending any excavation or demolition, and to all operators whose underground lines are located, in the relevant area.
Patron - Scott

C HB1300

Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995; General Assembly approval; utility crossings. Provides that General Assembly approval shall not be required for qualifying transportation facilities that will be financed directly or indirectly by state appropriations where such financing is conditioned upon future appropriations. Such financing shall not constitute a debt or obligation of the Commonwealth Transportation Board or the Commonwealth of Virginia. Further, the costs of moving or relocating facilities owned by public service companies, public utilities, railroads, or cable television providers shall be paid for in accordance with policies of the public entity that has entered into a contract for the building of the transportation facility. Current law provides that the costs of moving or relocating such facilities shall be paid for by the private operator responsible for the acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance and/or operation of the qualifying transportation facility.
Patron - Armstrong

C SB118

Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995; financing of and costs incurred in the implementation of transportation facilities. Provides that debt obligations and other financing instruments issued by tax-exempt corporations or public authorities to finance transportation facilities shall not constitute a debt or obligation of the Commonwealth and, therefore, are not subject to review by the Department of the Treasury. The bill also provides that the costs involved in moving or relocating facilities owned by public service companies, public utilities, railroads, or cable television providers shall be paid for in accordance with policies of the public entity that has entered into a contract for the building of the transportation facility. Current law provides that the costs of moving or relocating such facilities shall be paid for by the private entity responsible for the acquisition, construction, improvement, maintenance and/or operation of the qualifying transportation facility.
Patron - Stosch

C SB612

Unsolicited facsimile transmissions. Makes the unsolicited transmission of advertising materials by facsimile a prohibited practice under the Consumer Protection Act. The bill eliminates the requirement that the unsolicited facsimile be advertising goods or services for sale or lease. Enforcement provisions under the Consumer Protection Act (i) permit the Attorney General to issue civil investigative demands and assurances of voluntary compliance, (ii) create an individual action for damages, and (iii) permit aggrieved parties or the Attorney General to seek injunctive relief to prevent further violations.
Patron - Trumbo

C SB637

Electricity utility restructuring; functional separation. Provides that following the separation of its generation, retail transmission and distribution functions, an incumbent electric utility shall continue to be deemed an electric utility that purchases fuel for the generation of electricity for purposes of fuel cost recovery. The measure further provides that an incumbent electric utility shall continue to be deemed an incumbent electric utility for purposes of payment of wires charges, and that the incumbent electric utility is authorized to pay wires charges to a generation affiliate of such incumbent electric utility created to accomplish functional separation.
Patron - Stolle

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2002 SUMMARY HOME | DLS | GENERAL ASSEMBLY