[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4391 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 4391

   To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance for the 
  repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of a privately-
  owned power transmission facility damaged or destroyed by Hurricane 
                       Katrina or Hurricane Rita.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           November 18, 2005

Mr. Young of Alaska (for himself, Mr. Shuster, Mr. Baker, Mr. Boustany, 
Mr. Jindal, Mr. Jefferson, Mr. Melancon, and Mr. Pickering) introduced 
      the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on 
                   Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To authorize the President to provide disaster assistance for the 
  repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of a privately-
  owned power transmission facility damaged or destroyed by Hurricane 
                       Katrina or Hurricane Rita.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR PRIVATELY-OWNED POWER TRANSMISSION 
              FACILITIES DAMAGED OR DESTROYED BY HURRICANE KATRINA OR 
              HURRICANE RITA.

    (a) In General.--Subject to the requirements of this section, the 
President may make contributions under section 406 of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172) 
to a person that owns or operates a power transmission facility for the 
costs of repair, restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of those 
portions of the facility damaged or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina or 
Hurricane Rita and associated expenses incurred by such person.
    (b) Eligibility for Contributions.--A person that owns or operates 
a power transmission facility shall be eligible for contributions under 
this section if--
            (1) as a result of Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita the 
        facility suffered an outage during which the facility was not 
        able to provide service to more than 25 percent of the 
        customers of the facility or was not able to provide service 
        over more than 25 percent of the transmission miles of the 
        facility; and
            (2) the total of the costs of repair, restoration, 
        reconstruction, and replacement of all power transmission 
        facilities owned or operated by such person that were damaged 
        or destroyed by Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita and 
        associated expenses exceed $50,000,000.
    (c) Limitations on Contributions.--Repair, restoration, 
reconstruction, and replacement costs of a person that owns or operates 
one or more power transmission facilities and associated expenses shall 
be eligible for contributions under subsection (a) only to the extent 
that the total of such costs and expenses exceed $50,000,000 and such 
person does not receive funds from an insurer for such costs and 
expenses.
    (d) Federal Share.--The President shall credit toward the non-
Federal share of the costs of repair, restoration, reconstruction, or 
replacement of a power transmission facility and associated expenses 
under this section all amounts incurred in connection with such costs 
and expenses by the person that owns or operates the facility, 
including the first $50,000,000 of such costs and expenses.
    (e) Power Transmission Facility Defined.--In this section, the term 
``power transmission facility'' means a privately-owned electric 
transmission or distribution facility obligated under State law to 
provide electricity service to retail customers and a privately-owned 
natural gas transmission or distribution facility. Such term includes 
leased facilities.
    (f) Approval or Disapproval of Applications.--The President shall 
approve or disapprove an application for assistance submitted by a 
person under this section not later than 30 days after the date of 
receipt of the application.
    (g) Funding.--Amounts appropriated for providing disaster relief 
under the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance 
Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.) shall be available to carry out this 
section, including amounts appropriated before the date of enactment of 
this Act.
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