[Congressional Bills 103th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2332 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

103d CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2332

To amend the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                July 28 (legislative day, July 20), 1994

  Mr. Hatfield (for himself and Mrs. Murray) introduced the following 
bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act 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 
Refinancing Act''.

SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

    Section 3 of the Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act (16 
U.S.C. 838a) is amended--
            (1) by redesignating paragraphs (b) and (c) as paragraphs 
        (c) and (d), respectively;
            (2) by inserting after paragraph (a) the following new 
        paragraph (b):
            ``(b) The term `capital investment' means a capitalized 
        cost funded by Federal appropriations that--
                    ``(1) is for a project, facility, or separable unit 
                or feature, of a project or facility;
                    ``(2) 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;
                    ``(3) excludes a Federal irrigation investment; and
                    ``(4) 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 this Act.''; 
                and
            (3) by adding after paragraph (d), as redesignated by 
        paragraph (1), the following:
            ``(e) The term `old capital investment' means a capital 
        investment whose capitalized cost--
                    ``(1) was incurred, but not repaid, before October 
                1, 1995; and
                    ``(2) was for a project, facility, or separable 
                unit or feature, of a project or facility placed in 
                service before October 1, 1995.
            ``(f) The term `repayment date' means the end of the period 
        within which the Administrator's rates are to ensure the 
        repayment of the principal amount of a capital investment.
            ``(g) The term `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 1 percent, the 
        rate is the multiple of one-eighth of 1 percent nearest to the 
        average yield.''.

SEC. 3. RECONSTITUTION OF OUTSTANDING PAYMENT OBLIGATIONS.

    The Federal Columbia River Transmission System Act (16 U.S.C. 838 
et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:

                        ``new principal amounts

    ``Sec. 14. (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 the 
approval of 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 section 14 and 15 of this 
Act.
    ``(c) For the purposes of this section, the term `old payment 
amounts', in the case of an old capital investment, means the annual 
interest and principal that the Administrator would have paid to the 
United States Treasury from October 1, 1995, if the Bonneville Power 
Administration Refinancing 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) in the case of 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) in the case of 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.

               ``interest rate for new principal amounts

    ``Sec. 15. As of October 1, 1995, the unpaid balance on the new 
principal amount established for an old capital investment under 
section 14 of this Act 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.

                           ``repayment dates

    ``Sec. 16. As of October 1, 1995, the repayment date for the new 
principal amount established for an old capital investment under 
section 14 of this Act is no earlier than the repayment date for the 
old capital investment provided for under section 14(b)(1) of this Act.

                        ``prepayment limitations

    ``Sec. 17. During the period beginning on October 1, 1995, and 
ending on September 30, 2000, the total new principal amounts of old 
capital investments, as established under section 14 of this Act, that 
the Administrator may pay before their respective repayment dates shall 
not exceed $100,000,000.

    ``interest rates for new capital investments during construction

    ``Sec. 18. (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 of the project, facility, or 
separable unit or feature the capital investment concerns at a rate 
equal to the 1-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, the term `1-year rate', for 
a fiscal year, means the 1-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 1 year.

              ``interest rates for new capital investments

    ``Sec. 19. 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 the project, facility, or severable 
        unit or feature the investment concerns 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; 
        and
            ``(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 project, facility, 
        or separable unit or feature the new capital investment 
        concerns 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.

  ``credits to administrator's payments to the united states treasury

    ``Sec. 20. (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 and for a fiscal year as 
follows:
            ``(1) $15,250,000 in fiscal year 1996.
            ``(2) $15,860,000 in fiscal year 1997.
            ``(3) $16,490,000 in fiscal year 1998.
            ``(4) $17,150,000 in fiscal year 1999.
            ``(5) $17,840,000 in fiscal year 2000.
            ``(6) $4,100,000 in each succeeding fiscal year so long as 
        the Administrator makes annual payments to the tribes under the 
        settlement agreement.
    ``(b) For purposes of this section:
            ``(1) The term `settlement agreement' means the 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 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.
            ``(2) The term `tribes' means the Confederated Tribes of 
        the Colville Reservation, a federally recognized Indian tribe.

                         ``contract provisions

    ``Sec. 21. 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 shall offer to amend to 
include, as the case may be, 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 14 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 15 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 14 of this Act and to pay the interest on the 
        principal amount under section 15 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 sections 14 through 21 
        of this Act; and
            ``(4) the contract provisions specified in sections 14 
        through 21 of 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.

                          ``savings provisions

    ``Sec. 22. (a) Sections 14 through 21 of this Act do 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 
this Act.
    ``(b) Sections 14 through 21 of this Act do 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>