[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6013 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6013

     To provide for disaster assistance for power transmission and 
            distribution facilities, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                              May 8, 2008

 Mr. Melancon (for himself, Mr. McCrery, Mr. Alexander, Mr. Boustany, 
and Mr. Jefferson) introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
           the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
     To provide for disaster assistance for power transmission and 
            distribution facilities, and for other purposes.

    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 ``Ratepayer Recovery Act of 2007''.

SEC. 2. DISASTER ASSISTANCE FOR POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION 
              FACILITIES.

    (a) Definitions.--Section 102 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster 
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5122) is amended by 
adding at the end the following:
            ``(11) Private or investor-owned power facility.--The term 
        `private or investor-owned power facility'--
                    ``(A) means a privately-owned or investor-owned 
                transmission or distribution facility that provides 
                electric or natural gas service to retail customers 
                under State or local jurisdiction; and
                    ``(B) includes leased facilities.''.
    (b) Conditions for Contributions.--Section 406(a) of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5172(a)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``and'' at the 
                end;
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking the period and 
                inserting ``; and''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following:
                    ``(C) subject to paragraph (4), to a person that 
                owns a private or investor-owned power facility damaged 
                or destroyed by a major disaster for the repair, 
                restoration, reconstruction, or replacement of the 
                facility and for associated expenses incurred by the 
                person.'';
            (2) by redesignating paragraph (4) as paragraph (5); and
            (3) by inserting after paragraph (3) the following:
            ``(4) Conditions for assistance to private or investor-
        owned power facilities.--
                    ``(A) Definition.--In this paragraph, the term 
                `previous major disaster' means a major disaster--
                            ``(i) occurring before the disaster for 
                        which Federal assistance is sought under this 
                        subsection; and
                            ``(ii) the declaration of which was not 
                        more than 10 years before the date of the 
                        declaration of the major disaster for which 
                        Federal assistance is sought under this 
                        subsection.
                    ``(B) Conditioned on previous event.--The President 
                may make contributions to the owner of a private or 
                investor-owned power facility under paragraph (1)(C) 
                for repair, restoration and replacement of any facility 
                damaged or destroyed as a result of the major disaster 
                for which it requests Federal assistance, only if--
                            ``(i) the cost of repairing, restoring, or 
                        replacing the private or investor-owned power 
                        facilities damaged or destroyed by the previous 
                        major disaster exceeded $2,500 for each retail 
                        customer receiving electrical or natural gas 
                        service from the owner on the day before the 
                        date of the previous disaster;
                            ``(ii) the total costs of repair, 
                        restoration, or replacement of all private or 
                        investor-owned power facilities owned by such 
                        person and associated expenses incurred by the 
                        person as a result of the previous major 
                        disaster exceeded $500,000,000; and
                            ``(iii) 20 percent or more of the 
                        population, as estimated by the Bureau of the 
                        Census, of each geographic area of each local 
                        government in which the private or investor-
                        owned power facility is located, was below the 
                        official Federal poverty level, as determined 
                        by the Bureau of Census, during the year before 
                        the previous major disaster.
                    ``(C) Application for funds.--A person that owns a 
                private or investor-owned power facility that meets the 
                requirements under subparagraph (B) may apply for 
                Federal assistance on or before the earlier of--
                            ``(i) the 30th day after declaration of a 
                        major disaster; or
                            ``(ii) the date upon which the owner of the 
                        private or investor-owned power facility has 
                        incurred costs of $10,000,000 or two-thirds of 
                        its average annual net income for the previous 
                        three fiscal years, whichever is higher, 
                        towards the total costs of repair, restoration, 
                        or replacement of all private or investor-owned 
                        power facilities damaged or destroyed as a 
                        result of the major disaster for which it 
                        requests Federal assistance.
                    ``(D) Limit on federal assistance for disaster 
                relief.--Federal assistance under this section to the 
                owner of a private or investor-owned power facility 
                shall only apply to the costs of repair, restoration, 
                reconstruction or replacement of the facility and for 
                associated expenses incurred by the person that exceed 
                $10,000,000 or two-thirds of its average annual net 
                income for the previous three fiscal years, whichever 
                is higher.
                    ``(E) Aggregation for purposes of determining 
                costs.--For purposes of determining the costs of a 
                previous major disaster under this paragraph, the owner 
                of the private or investor-owned power facility may 
                aggregate the costs of all previous major disasters 
                during any 12-month period.
                    ``(F) Approval or disapproval of applications.--The 
                President shall approve or disapprove an application 
                for assistance submitted by a person under this 
                paragraph for a private or investor-owned power 
                facility not later than 30 days after the date of 
                receipt of the application.''.
    (c) Federal Share.--Section 406(b)(2) of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(b)(2)) is 
amended by striking ``public facility or private nonprofit facility'' 
and inserting ``public facility, private nonprofit facility, or private 
or investor-owned power facility''.
    (d) Large In-Lieu Contributions.--Section 406(c) of the Robert T. 
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 
5172(c)) is amended by adding at the end the following:
            ``(3) For private or investor-owned power facilities.--
                    ``(A) In general.--In any case in which a person 
                that owns a private or investor-owned power facility 
                determines that the public welfare would not best be 
                served by repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or 
                replacing the facility, the person may elect to 
                receive, in lieu of a contribution under subsection 
                (a)(1)(C), a contribution in an amount equal to 75 
                percent of the Federal share of the Federal estimate of 
                the cost of repairing, restoring, reconstructing, or 
                replacing the facility and of management expenses, 
                under the conditions described in subsection (a)(4).
                    ``(B) Use of funds.--Funds contributed to a person 
                under this paragraph may be used only within the area 
                affected as a result of the major disaster for which it 
                requests Federal assistance to--
                            ``(i) repair, restore, or expand other 
                        private or investor-owned power facilities 
                        owned by the person;
                            ``(ii) construct a new private or investor-
                        owned power facility owned by the person; or
                            ``(iii) fund hazard mitigation measures 
                        that the person determines to be necessary to 
                        meet a need for the services and functions of 
                        the person in the area affected by the major 
                        disaster.''.
    (e) Eligible Cost.--Section 406(e)(1)(A) of the Robert T. Stafford 
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5172(e)(1)(A)) 
is amended by striking ``public facility or private nonprofit 
facility'' and inserting ``public facility, private nonprofit facility, 
or private or investor-owned power facility''.

SEC. 3. REGULATIONS.

    Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, 
the Secretary of Homeland Security shall promulgate regulations 
necessary to implement this Act and the amendments made by this Act.

SEC. 4. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    (a) In General.--Except as provided under subsection (b), this Act 
and the amendments made by this Act shall take effect upon the date of 
enactment of this Act.
    (b) Regulations.--Section 3 shall take effect on the date of 
enactment of this Act.
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