[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 68 (Wednesday, May 12, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5154-S5155]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       PO-111. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of the 
     State of Nebraska; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
     Resources.

                       Legislative Resolution 69

       Whereas, until 1993, the federal Natural Gas Policy Act of 
     1978 established the maximum lawful price that a natural gas 
     producer could charge its pipeline customers for natural gas, 
     providing under section 110 of the act that the producer 
     could adjust the maximum price upward in order to recover 
     from pipeline customers any state severance tax payments made 
     by the producer; and
       Whereas, in 1988, in the case of Colorado Interstate Gas 
     Co. v. the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 850 F. 2d 
     769, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of 
     Columbia Circuit ruled that the ad valorem tax levied by the 
     State of Kansas was not a severance tax within the meaning of 
     section 110 of the Natural Gas Policy Act and ordered natural 
     gas producers to refund that portion of the payments received 
     from the pipelines attributable to the cost of the Kansas ad 
     valorem taxes paid plus interest; and
       Whereas, upon remand of the matter to the Federal Energy 
     Regulatory Commission, the commission ordered the refunds to 
     be made on that portion of all purchases which had included 
     Kansas ad valorem taxes which were charged after June 28, 
     1988, the date of the Appeals Court ruling in the Colorado 
     Interstate Gas Co. case; and
       Whereas, in 1996, in the case of Public Service Company of 
     Colorado v. the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 91 F. 
     3d 1478, the United States Court of Appeals for the District 
     of Columbia overruled the commission, holding that the 
     refunds should commence from October 1983, when notice was 
     filed in the Federal Register of the petition before the 
     commission challenging the propriety of including the Kansas 
     ad valorem taxes in the price charged for natural gas 
     produced in Kansas; and
       Whereas, as of November 1997, the consumers of natural gas 
     in twenty-three states were entitled, pursuant to this ruling 
     and the subsequent order of the Federal Energy Regulatory 
     Commission, to refunds and accrued interest from natural gas 
     producers for the period of October 1983 through June 1988, 
     amounting to more than $334,840,000, with Nebraska consumers 
     to receive approximately $34,360,000 (approximately ten 
     percent of the total); and
       Wheres, of those sums, over 60 percent of the total is 
     accrued interest as of that date with additional interest 
     being compounded quarterly on unpaid balances and on those 
     sums not placed in escrow accounts pursuant to commission 
     order; and
       Whereas, the United States Senate and the United States 
     House of Representatives in their indiviudal versions of the 
     Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 
     1999 (S. 544 and H.R. 1141) have provisions, added by 
     amendment, which would amend the Natural Gas Policy Act of 
     1978 to prohibit the commission or any court from ordering 
     the payment of any interest or penalties with respect to 
     ordered refunds of rates or charges made, demanded, or 
     received for reimbursement of State ad valorem taxes 
     in connection with the sale of natural gas before 1989; 
     and
       Whereas, both acts were adopted by their respective houses 
     of the Congress on March 25 of this year, immediately prior 
     to their Easter adjournment and are pending consideration by 
     a Joint Appropriations Conference Committee; and
       Whereas, legislation for the same purpose (S. 626 in the 
     Senate and H.R. 1117 in the House of Representatives) is 
     currently pending; and
       Whereas, the sole result of the final adoption of these 
     amendments or these bills will be to mitigate or reduce the 
     liability of natural gas producers for charges wrongfully 
     imposed on consumers in the period of 1983 to 1988 by denying 
     consumers interest on the amount of those charges and 
     relieving the producers of any liability for future penalties 
     flowing from the failure to make court-ordered payments in 
     the prescribed manner; and
       Whereas, the lost refunds to Nebraska natural gas consumers 
     will amount to more than 10 percent of the total reduction, 
     representing the fourth largest state loss of the twenty-four 
     states receiving court-ordered refunds; and
       Whereas, Nebraska has been urged to join with other states 
     in petitioning Congress to reconsider the adoption of these 
     ill-advised and possibly unconstitutional provisions and 
     avoid future litigation at the expense of all parties 
     involved.
       Now, Therefore, be it Resolved by the Members of the 
     Ninety-Sixth Legislature of Nebraska, First Session:
       1. That the Legislature hereby petitions the Congress of 
     the United States to oppose the enactment of S. 626 and H.R. 
     1117 or any version thereof which would have the effect of 
     waiving interest or penalties of any kind with regard to 
     natural gas producer refunds of state ad valorem taxes 
     charged to consumers on the sale of natural gas before 1989.
       2. That the Legislature hereby petitions the Congress of 
     the United States to reconsider its actions with regard to S. 
     544 and H.R. 1141 in the adoption of the amendments which 
     would have the effect of waiving interest or penalties of any 
     kind with regard to natural gas producer refunds of state ad 
     valorem taxes charged to consumers on the sale of natural gas 
     before 1989 and urges that the ultimate version of the 
     Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 
     1999 as reported by the conference committee and adopted by 
     the Congress not include any provision having this effect.
       3. That the Legislature urges the members of the Nebraska 
     House and Senate delegations to vote against and to take such 
     actions as necessary to prevent the passage of any amendments 
     or legislation which would have the effect of waving interest 
     or penalties of any kind with regard to natural gas producer 
     refunds of state ad valorem taxes charged to consumers on the 
     sale of natural gas before 1989.
       4. That the Clerk of the Legislature transmit copies of 
     this resolution to each member of the Nebraska Congressional 
     delegation and that copies be transmitted to the Speaker of 
     the United States House of Representatives and the President 
     of the United States

[[Page S5155]]

     Senate with the request that it be officially entered into 
     the Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the 
     United States.
                                  ____

       POM-112. A resolution adopted by the Council of the City of 
     Cincinnati, Ohio relative to the Social Security Act; to the 
     Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.

                          ____________________