[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4847 Introduced in House (IH)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 4847

To provide for the reconstitution of outstanding repayment obligations 
  of the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration for the 
 appropriated capital investments in the Federal Columbia River Power 
                                System.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 28, 1994

   Mr. DeFazio (for himself, Mr. Swift, Mr. Dicks, Mr. Kopetski, Ms. 
  Furse, Mr. Kreidler, Mr. McDermott, Ms. Cantwell, Mrs. Unsoeld, Mr. 
    Wyden, and Mr. Inslee) introduced the following bill; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To provide for the reconstitution of outstanding repayment obligations 
  of the Administrator of the Bonneville Power Administration for the 
 appropriated capital investments in the Federal Columbia River Power 
                                System.

    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 ``Bonneville Power Administration 
Appropriations Refinancing Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    For the purpose of this Act--
            (1) ``Administrator'' means the Administrator of the 
        Bonneville Power Administration;
            (2) ``capital investment'' means a capitalized cost funded 
        by Federal appropriations that--
                    (A) is for a project, facility, or separable unit 
                or feature of a project or facility;
                    (B) is a cost for which the Administrator is 
                required by law to establish rates to repay to the 
                United States Treasury through the sale of electric 
                power, transmission, or other services;
                    (C) excludes a Federal irrigation investment; and
                    (D) excludes an investment financed by the current 
                revenues of the Administrator or by bonds issued and 
                sold, or authorized to be issued and sold, by the 
                Administrator under section 13 of the Federal Columbia 
                River Transmission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838(k));
            (3) ``old capital investment'' means a capital investment 
        whose capitalized cost--
                    (A) was incurred, but not repaid, before October 1, 
                1995, and
                    (B) was for a project, facility, or separable unit 
                or feature of a project or facility, placed in service 
                before October 1, 1995;
            (4) ``repayment date'' means the end of the period within 
        which the Administrator's rates are to assure the repayment of 
        the principal amount of a capital investment; and
            (5) ``Treasury rate'' for a fiscal year means a rate that 
        the Secretary of the Treasury determines as soon as practicable 
        after the beginning of the fiscal year and that is equal to the 
        average prevailing market yield during the preceding fiscal 
        year on interest-bearing marketable securities of the United 
        States which, at the time the computation is made, have terms 
        of 15 years or more remaining to maturity. The average yield is 
        computed as the average during the preceding fiscal year using 
        the daily bid prices. When the average yield so computed is not 
        a multiple of one-eighth of one percent, the rate is the 
        multiple of one-eighth of one percent nearest to the average 
        yield.

SEC. 3. NEW PRINCIPAL AMOUNTS.

    (a) Effective October 1, 1995, an old capital investment has a new 
principal amount that is the sum of--
            (1) the present value, calculated using a discount rate 
        equal to the Treasury rate for fiscal year 1996, of the old 
        payment amounts for the old capital investment; and
            (2) an amount equal to $100,000,000 multiplied by a 
        fraction whose numerator is the principal amount of the old 
        payment amounts for the old capital investment and whose 
        denominator is the sum of the principal amounts of the old 
        payment amounts for all old capital investments.
    (b) The Administrator shall determine the new principal; amounts 
for old capital investments. The Administrator shall obtain approval by 
the Secretary of the Treasury of the Administrator's determination of 
the new principal amounts and the Administrator's assignment of the 
interest rate to the new principal amounts, on the basis of consistency 
with the provisions of this Act.
    (c) For the purposes of this section, ``old payment amounts'' 
means, for an old capital investment, the annual interest and principal 
that the Administrator would have paid to the United States Treasury 
from October 1, 1995, if this Act were not enacted, assuming that--
            (1) the principal were repaid--
                    (A) on the repayment date the Administrator 
                assigned before October 1, 1993, to the old capital 
                investment, or
                    (B) with respect to an old capital investment for 
                which the Administrator has not assigned a repayment 
                date before October 1, 1993, on a repayment date the 
                Administrator shall assign to the old capital 
                investment in accordance with paragraph 10(d)(1) of the 
                version of Department of Energy Order RA 6120.2 in 
                effect on October 1, 1993; and
            (2) interest were paid--
                    (A) at the interest rate the Administrator assigned 
                before October 1, 1993, to the old capital investment, 
                or
                    (B) with respect to an old capital investment for 
                which the Administrator has not assigned an interest 
                rate before October 1, 1993, at the Treasury rate for 
                the fiscal year in which construction is initiated on 
                the project, facility, or separable unit or feature the 
                old capital investment concerns.

SEC. 4. INTEREST RATE FOR NEW PRINCIPAL AMOUNTS.

    As of October 1, 1995, the unpaid balance on the new principal 
amount established for an old capital investment under section 3 bears 
interest annually at the Treasury rate for fiscal year 1996 until the 
earlier of the date that the new principal amount is repaid or the 
repayment date for the new principal amount.

SEC. 5. REPAYMENT DATES.

    As of October 1, 1995, the repayment date for the new principal 
amount established for an old capital investment under section 3 is no 
earlier than the repayment date for the old capital investment assumed 
in section 3(c)(1).

SEC. 6. PREPAYMENT LIMITATIONS.

    During the period October 1, 1995, through September 30, 2000, the 
total new principal amounts of old capital investments, as established 
under section 3, that the Administrator may pay before their respective 
repayment dates shall not exceed $100,000,000.

SEC. 7. INTEREST RATES FOR NEW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS DURING CONSTRUCTION.

    (a) The principal amount of a capital investment for a project, 
facility, or separable unit or feature of a project or facility, placed 
in service after September 30, 1995, includes interest in each fiscal 
year of construction at a rate equal to the one-year rate for the 
fiscal year on the sum of--
            (1) construction expenditures that were made from the date 
        construction commenced through the end of the fiscal year, and
            (2) accrued interest during construction.
    (b) The Administrator is not required to pay, during construction 
of the project, facility, or separable unit or feature, the interest 
calculated, accrued, and capitalized under subsection (a).
    (c) For the purposes of this section, ``one-year rate'' for a 
fiscal year means the one-year Treasury agency borrowing rate as 
determined by the Secretary of the Treasury for use during the first 
month of the fiscal year taking into consideration the average of 
market yields on outstanding marketable interest-bearing obligations of 
the United States with approximate periods to maturity of one year.

SEC. 8. INTEREST RATES FOR NEW CAPITAL INVESTMENTS.

    The unpaid balance on the principal amount of a capital investment 
for a project, facility, or separable unit or feature of a project or 
facility, placed in service after September 30, 1995, bears interest--
            (1) from the date it is placed in service until the earlier 
        of the date the capital investment is repaid or the end of the 
        repayment period for the capital investment,
            (2) at a rate determined by the Secretary of the Treasury 
        for use in assigning interest rates to new capital investments 
        during the month that includes the date the new capital 
        investment is placed in service, taking into consideration the 
        average of market yields on outstanding marketable interest-
        bearing obligations of the United States with periods to 
        maturity comparable to the repayment period of the capital 
        investment.

SEC. 9. CREDITS TO THE ADMINISTRATOR'S PAYMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES 
              TREASURY.

    (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the Administrator shall apply 
against amounts payable by the Administrator to the United States 
Treasury a credit in the amount of $15.25 million in fiscal year 1996, 
$15.86 million in fiscal year 1997, $16.49 million in fiscal year 1998, 
$17.15 million in fiscal year 1999, $17.84 million in fiscal year 2000, 
and $4.10 million in each succeeding fiscal year so long as the 
Administrator makes annual payments to the Tribes under the settlement 
agreement.
    (b) For the purposes of this section, ``settlement agreement'' 
means that settlement agreement between the United States of America 
and the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation signed by the 
Tribes on April 16, 1994, and by the United States of America on April 
21, 1994, which settlement agreement resolves claims of the Tribes in 
Docket 181-D of the Indian Claims Commission, which docket has been 
transferred to the United States Court of Federal Claims; and, 
``Tribes'' means the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, a 
federally-recognized Indian Tribe.

SEC. 10. CONTRACT PROVISIONS.

    In each contract of the Administrator that provides for the 
Administrator to sell electric power, transmission, or related 
services, and that is in effect after September 30, 1995, the 
Administrator shall offer to include, or as the case may be, shall 
offer to amend to include, provisions specifying that after September 
30, 1995--
            (1) the Administrator shall establish rates and charges on 
        the basis that--
                    (A) the principal amount of an old capital 
                investment shall be no greater than the new principal 
                amount established under section 3 of this Act;
                    (B) the interest rate applicable to the unpaid 
                balance of the new principal amount of an old capital 
                investment shall be no greater than the interest rate 
                established under section 4 of this Act;
                    (C) any payment of principal of an old capital 
                investment shall reduce the outstanding principal 
                balance of the old capital investment in the amount of 
                the payment at the time the payment is tendered; and,
                    (D) any payment of interest on the unpaid balance 
                of the new principal amount of an old capital 
                investment shall be a credit against the appropriate 
                interest account in the amount of the payment at the 
                time the payment is tendered;
            (2) apart from charges necessary to repay the new principal 
        amount of an old capital investment as established under 
        section 3 of this Act and to pay the interest on the principal 
        amount under section 4 of this Act, no amount may be charged 
        for return to the United States Treasury as repayment for or 
        return on an old capital investment, whether by way of rate, 
        rent, lease payment, assessment, user charge, or any other fee;
            (3) amounts provided under section 1304 of title 31, United 
        States Code, shall be available to pay, and shall be the sole 
        source for payment of, a judgment against or settlement by the 
        Administrator or the United States on a claim for a breach of 
        the contract provisions required by this Act; and
            (4) the contract provisions specified in this Act do not--
                    (A) preclude the Administrator from recovering, 
                through rates or other means, any tax that is generally 
                imposed on electric utilities in the United States, or
                    (B) affect the Administrator's authority under 
                applicable law, including section 7(g) of the Pacific 
                Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act 
                (16 U.S.C. 839e(g)), to--
                            (i) allocate costs and benefits, including 
                        but not limited to fish and wildlife costs, to 
                        rates or resources; or
                            (ii) design rates.

SEC. 11. SAVINGS PROVISIONS.

    (a) This Act does not affect the obligation of the Administrator to 
repay the principal associated with each capital investment, and to pay 
interest on the principal, only from the ``Administrator's net 
proceeds,'' as defined in section 13 of the Federal Columbia River 
Transmission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838k(b)).
    (b) Except as provided in section 6 of this Act, this Act does not 
affect the authority of the Administrator to pay all or a portion of 
the principal amount associated with a capital investment before the 
repayment date for the principal amount.
                                 <all>