Public Service Companies

Passed

P HB1590

Submetering of water and sewer equipment in rented buildings. Clarifies that submetering equipment for water and sewer service may be used in commercial and residential buildings if clearly stated in the rental agreement or lease for the leased premises or dwelling unit. Water and sewer submetering equipment measures the actual water or sewer usage in a dwelling unit or nonresidential unit when the equipment is not owned by the utility that provides service to the building. With respect to water and sewer usage, landlords are currently authorized to use ratio billing systems, which do not measure actual usage. Water and sewer submetering equipment will not be subject to regulation by the State Corporation Commission.
Patron - Reese

P HB1945

Public-Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002; definition of qualifying project. Expands the definition of "qualifying project" to include any improvements necessary or desirable to any unimproved state or locally owned real estate.
Patron - Saxman

P HB2053

Underground utility damage prevention; abandoned lines. Requires an operator to respond to the excavator-operator information exchange system when the operator has knowledge that its abandoned utility lines may be present within the area of a proposed excavation. Such information shall be for informational purposes only, and shall not make the operator liable to any person, or subject to civil penalties, if the information is incorrect.
Patron - Nixon

P HB2666

Public-Private Transportation Act. Makes several revisions to the Public Private Transportation Act (PPTA). The bill authorizes the establishment of an interim agreement to provide for partial planning and development activities while other aspects of a qualifying transportation project are being negotiated and analyzed. The bill also (i) authorizes a private entity to request approval of multiple responsible public entities (RPEs) in proposed projects involving multimodal transportation facilities, (ii) authorizes RPEs to enter into comprehensive agreements with multiple private entities, (iii) requires the RPE to protect confidential information submitted by a private entity, and (iv) adds factors that an RPE may consider when selecting proposals. The bill requires the Secretary of Transportation to revise existing state guidelines pertaining to the PPTA by October 1, 2005, and includes a provision allowing application of the revisions made by the legislation to certain existing qualifying transportation facilities. This bill is identical to SB 1108 and incorporates HB 2442 and HB 2443.
Patron - McDonnell

P SB783

Electrical transmission lines; analysis of implications of condition requiring location underground. Requires the State Corporation Commission to analyze the implications of a requirement that, when considering a request for approval of the construction of an electrical transmission line in a city or county with a population of over 225,000, the Commission consider imposing a condition that the line be located underground, if requested by the governing board of the locality.
Patron - Mims

P SB798

Public utilities; landfill gas. Increases, from one to three, the number of commercial or industrial customers to which a company may sell or deliver landfill gas, or electricity generated from landfill gas, without being subject to regulation as a public utility.
Patron - Watkins

P SB959

Telecommunication and cable television service by localities; release of information. Exempts from the mandatory disclosure requirements of the Freedom of Information Act any public record of a local government that contains confidential proprietary information or trade secrets pertaining to its provision of telecommunication services and cable television service. Public bodies may discuss such records in closed meetings.
Patron - Wampler

P SB987

Gas pipeline safety. Authorizes the State Corporation Commission to act for the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to conduct safety inspections pursuant to federal pipeline safety laws with respect to municipal gas systems. Such authority shall be exercised in a manner that is not inconsistent with federal law. An exit interview will be conducted after each inspection. The Commission is not authorized to impose civil penalties or fines on any locality, or to regulate the rates, charges, services, facilities, or service territory of any locality providing gas service, except as otherwise provided. As the Commission's pipeline safety program currently covers investor-owned and master-metered systems and intrastate hazardous liquid pipelines, this measure gives the Commission safety jurisdiction over all intrastate gas and hazardous liquid pipeline facilities. The measure also relocates provisions currently located in other Code sections, that address violations of pipeline safety codes and pipelines that transport landfill gas, into one Code section.
Patron - Watkins

P SB1107

Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002. Makes several revisions to the Public Private Education Facilities and Infrastructure Act of 2002 (PPEA). The bill authorizes the establishment of an interim agreement to provide for partial planning and development activities while other aspects of a qualifying project are being negotiated and analyzed. The bill also (i) requires the adoption of formal timelines for the review of proposals and the process for review, (ii) provides for accelerated review for priority projects, and (iii) adds factors that a responsible public entity may consider when selecting proposals. In addition, the bill provides for the Chairs of the Senate and House General Laws Committees to convene a work group to revise the current model guidelines by September 30, 2005.
Patron - Stosch

P SB1108

P SB1159

Wireless E-911 Services Board. Clarifies that the Wireless E-911 Services Board's obligation to make payments to PSAP operators and CMRS providers is subject to the extent of appropriated funds. The bill also removes the exemptions to E-911 deployment, excludes governments from the surcharge collection, and establishes July 1 as the deadline for late funding requests. In addition, the bill clarifies the appeals process and expands the Board's responsibilities to include development of a single, statewide electronic addressing database.
Patron - Stolle

Failed

F HB1804

Voice-over-Internet protocol service. Eliminates any jurisdiction of the State Corporation Commission to regulate voice-over-Internet protocol service. Voice-over-Internet protocol service is excluded from the scope of the definitions of telephone service, telecommunications service, local exchange telephone service, and interexchange telephone service. Voice-over-Internet protocol service includes any Internet protocol enabled service utilizing a broadband connection.
Patron - Marshall, R.G.

F HB2442

Transportation District Act of 1964; powers of district commissions. Allows a district commission established under the Transportation District Act of 1964 to act as a "responsible public entity" as provided in the Public-Private Transportation Act of 1995; exercise the power of eminent domain; issue revenue bonds for the purpose of constructing, maintaining, and/or operating transportation projects; establish and collect tolls; lease all or any portion of any transportation facility under its control for construction and/or operation of lodging facilities, vehicle fueling stations, vehicle storage and repair facilities, railroad tracks, restaurants, and other businesses. Such a commission is also allowed to acquire, construct, operate, maintain, expand, or extend a transportation facility or project in a local jurisdiction that is not embraced within the district if the facility or project in the affected locality is a continuation of the commission's facility or project extended from a locality embraced within the district. The commission may additionally lease, sell, or convey a transportation facility or project within its control to another governmental entity. The commission may also promote the use of any facility or project within its control through advertising or marketing campaigns and shall establish and meet goals for participation by disadvantaged businesses. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2666.
Patron - Saxman

F HB2443

Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA). Explicitly allows local governments to act as "responsible public entities" under the PPTA and to accept unsolicited proposals involving the construction, reconstruction, and/or maintenance of locally controlled highways. This bill has been incorporated into HB 2666.
Patron - Saxman

F HB2713

Telecommunications relay service. Allows money in the state Telecommunications Relay Service fund to be used to purchase specific end-user equipment, limited to text telephones, captioned telephones, hearing carryover telephones, and voice carryover telephones, for use by hearing-impaired persons using the relay service. The Department for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing, with the assistance of the State Corporation Commission, administers the telecommunications relay service for text telephones.
Patron - Morgan

F HB2812

PPTA. Establishes a schedule of deadlines for consideration of solicited or unsolicited proposals made to the Department of Transportation under the Public-Private Transportation Act (PPTA).
Patron - McDonnell

F HB2913

Virginia Hydrogen Energy Plan. Directs the Secretary of Technology to develop the Virginia Hydrogen Energy Plan, which is to identify clear and specific actions, to be implemented over a period not to exceed five years, by state and local governmental agencies, individuals, and business entities, that are necessary or appropriate to make the Commonwealth a leading state in the production and use of hydrogen as an energy resource.
Patron - Welch

F SB960

Telecommunications services provided by localities; cost allocations. Removes State Corporation Commission jurisdiction to reconsider, amend or disapprove a locality's manual or methodology for allocating costs in connection with its provision of telecommunications services, if within the preceding 10 years the Commission approved the locality's cost allocation manual or methodology, and the manual or methodology and its application by the locality have not substantively changed. The measure also provides that if a for-profit competitor of a locality providing telecommunications services unsuccessfully asserts in a proceeding that the locality is improperly subsidizing its telecommunications services, then the Commission may require the provider to pay the locality's expenses, including attorney's fees, incurred in defending the assertion.
Patron - Wampler

F SB975

Pay-Per-Call Services Act. Prohibits the provider of a pay-per-call service, through which material harmful to juveniles is provided or is accessible, from accepting telephone calls from a telephone number, assessing pay-per-call charges to a telephone number, or initiating calls to a telephone number, if the individual with that telephone number requests the provider not to accept telephone calls from that telephone number.
Patron - O'Brien

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