[House Report 106-820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
106th Congress Rept. 106-820
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
2d Session Part 1
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SALES OF ELECTRICITY BY THE BONNEVILLE POWER ADMINISTRATION TO JOINT
OPERATING ENTITIES
_______
September 6, 2000.--Committed to the Committee of the Whole House on
the State of the Union and ordered to be printed
_______
Mr. Young of Alaska, from the Committee on Resources, submitted the
following
R E P O R T
[To accompany S. 1937]
[Including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office]
The Committee on Resources, to whom was referred the bill
(S. 1937) to amend the Pacific Northwest Electric Power
Planning and Conservation Act to provide for sales of
electricity by the Bonneville Power Administration to joint
operating entities, having considered the same, report
favorably thereon without amendment and recommend that the bill
do pass.
Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of S. 1937 is to amend the Pacific Northwest
Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act to provide for
sales of electricity by the Bonneville Power Administration to
joint operating entities.
Background and Need for Legislation
S. 1937 allows for consumer-owned utility systems in the
Northwest to aggregate their power contracts from the
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) into a single contract
through an entity referred to as a Joint Operating Entity. The
purpose is to provide administrative and operational
efficiencies for the power purchasers and for the BPA.
Under the bill a joint operating entity must be in
existence before the date of enactment of this Act and
comprised solely of public bodies and cooperatives of the
Pacific Northwest region that are qualified to purchase
requirements firm electric power service from BPA. Other
federal power marketing agencies currently make aggregated
power sales to such entities for public bodies and
cooperatives.
The bill does not expand any customer's rights to purchase
requirements firm power from BPA and does not allow resale by
the joint operating entity of such power to customers that are
not its members or participants. The public bodies and
cooperatives to which such an entity sells are prohibited from
resale of that power except to their own retail customers, to
another member or participant of the same joint operating
entity, or as otherwise permitted by law. The joint operating
entity cannot purchase from BPA more power than its members
could purchase if acting individually.
The House companion measure to S. 1937 is H.R. 3447,
introduced by Congressman Doc Hastings (R-WA).
Committee Action
S. 1937 was introduced on November 17, 1999, by Senator
Larry Craig (R-ID). On November 19, 1999, the Senate passed S.
1937 without an amendment by unanimous consent. The bill was
referred to the Committee on Resources, and additionally to the
Committee on Commerce. Within the Committee on Resources, the
bill was referred to the Subcommittee on Water and Power. On
July 19, 2000, the Full Resources Committee met to consider the
bill. The Subcommittee on Water and Power was discharged from
further consideration of the bill by unanimous consent. No
amendments were offered and the bill then ordered favorably
reported to the House of Representatives by unanimous consent.
Section-by-Section Analysis
Section 1
This section authorizes the Administrator of the Bonneville
Power Administration to sell at wholesale to a joint operating
entity, electric power solely for the purpose of meeting the
regional firm power consumer loads of regional public bodies
and cooperatives that are members of or participants in the
joint operating entity.
Committee Oversight Findings and Recommendations
Regarding clause 2(b)(1) of Rule X and clause 3(c)(1) of
Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, the
Committee on Resources' oversight findings and recommendations
are reflected in the body of this report.
Constitutional Authority Statement
Article I, section 8 of the Constitution of the United
States grants Congress the authority to enact this bill.
Compliance With House Rule XIII
1. Cost of Legislation. Clause 3(d)(2) of Rule XIII of the
Rules of the House of Representatives requires an estimate and
a comparison by the Committee of the costs which would be
incurred in carrying out this bill. However, clause 3(d)(3)(B)
of that Rule provides that this requirement does not apply when
the Committee has included in its report a timely submitted
cost estimate of the bill prepared by the Director of the
Congressional Budget Office under section 402 of the
Congressional Budget Act of 1974.
2. Congressional Budget Act. As required by clause 3(c)(2)
of Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives and
section 308(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, this
bill does not contain any new budget authority, spending
authority, credit authority, or an increase or decrease in
revenues or tax expenditures.
3. Government Reform Oversight Findings. Under clause
3(c)(4) of Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives, the Committee has received no report of
oversight findings and recommendations from the Committee on
Government Reform on this bill.
4. Congressional Budget Office Cost Estimate. Under clause
3(c)(3) of Rule XIII of the Rules of the House of
Representatives and section 403 of the Congressional Budget Act
of 1974, the Committee has received the following cost estimate
for this bill from the Director of the Congressional Budget
Office:
S. 1937--An act to amend the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning
and Conservation Act to provide for sales of electricity by the
Bonneville Power Administration to joint operating entities
S. 1937 would amend the Pacific Northwest Electric Power
Planning and Conservation Act to allow joint operating entities
to purchase electricity from the Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA). Under current law, BPA is obligated to
meet the power needs of its preference customers (public
utilities and cooperatives) before all other power sales. Under
this act, two or more entities that were preference customers
as of January 1, 1999, could form a new type of preference
customer, a joint operating entity, which could aggregate its
members' contracts for the purchase of power from BPA.
Utilities participating in a joint operating entity might
realize some operating efficiencies and reductions in overhead
costs, but BPA's receipts from the sale of power would not be
affected. Therefore, CBO estimates that S. 1937 would have no
impact on the federal budget. Because S. 1937 would not affect
direct spending or receipts, pay-as-you-go procedures would not
apply. The bill contains no intergovernmental or private-sector
mandates as defined in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act and
would impose no costs on state, local, or tribal governments.
The CBO staff contact for this estimate is Lisa Cash
Driskill. This estimate was approved by Robert A. Sunshine,
Assistant Director for Budget Analysis.
Compliance With Public Law 104-4
This bill contains no unfunded mandates.
Preemption of State, Local or Tribal Law
This bill is not intended to preempt any State, local or
tribal law.
Changes in Existing Law Made by the Bill, as Reported
In compliance with clause 3(e) of rule XIII of the Rules of
the House of Representatives, changes in existing law made by
the bill, as reported, are shown as follows (new matter is
printed in italic and existing law in which no change is
proposed is shown in roman):
SECTION 5 OF THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST ELECTRIC POWER PLANNING AND
CONSERVATION ACT
sale of power
Sec. 5. (a) * * *
(b)(1) * * *
* * * * * * *
(7) Required sale.--
(A) Definition of a joint operating entity.--In this
section, the term ``joint operating entity'' means an
entity that is lawfully organized under State law as a
public body or cooperative prior to the date of
enactment of this paragraph, and is formed by and whose
members or participants are two or more public bodies
or cooperatives, each of which was a customer of the
Bonneville Power Administration on or before January 1,
1999.
(B) Sale.--Pursuant to paragraph (1), the
Administrator shall sell, at wholesale to a joint
operating entity, electric power solely for the purpose
of meeting the regional firm power consumer loads of
regional public bodies and cooperatives that are
members of or participants in the joint operating
entity.
(C) No resale.--A public body or cooperative to which
a joint operating entity sells electric power under
subparagraph (B) shall not resell that power except to
retail customers of the public body or cooperative or
to another regional member or participant of the same
joint operating entity, or except as otherwise
permitted by law.
* * * * * * *
A P P E N D I X
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House of Representatives,
Committee on Resources,
Washington, DC, July 24, 2000.
Hon. Tom Bliley,
Chairman, Committee on Commerce,
Washington, DC.
Dear Mr. Chairman: On July 19, 2000, the Committee on
Resources ordered favorably reported without amendment S. 1937,
to amend the Pacific Northwest Electric Power Planning and
Conservation Act to provide for sales of electricity by the
Bonneville Power Administration to joint operating entities.
This bill was referred to the Committee on Resources and
additionally to the Committee on Commerce, where the
Subcommittee on Energy and Power has marked up and forwarded
the bill to the Full Commerce Committee.
Given the rapidly approaching adjournment date for the
106th Congress, and several of our Pacific Northwest
Congressional Members' wish to move this bill as quickly as
possible, I ask that you allow the Committee on Commerce to be
discharged from further consideration of the bill. We can then
schedule it for Floor consideration as soon as possible and
send it onto the President.
Of course, by allowing this to occur, the Committee on
Commerce does not waive its jurisdiction over S. 1937 or any
other similar matter. Although I have no reason to believe that
the bill would not be passed without amendment and signed into
law by the President, if a conference on the bill became
necessary, I would support the Committee on Commerce's request
to be named to the conference. Finally, this action should not
be seen as precedent for any other Senate bill which affects
the Committee on Commerce's jurisdiction. I would be pleased to
place this letter and your response in the Committee on
Resources' report on the bill to document this agreement.
As always, I appreciate your cooperation and that of your
staff in moving this bill.
Sincerely,
Don Young,
Chairman.
------
House of Representatives,
Committee on Commerce,
Washington, DC, July 24, 2000.
Hon. Don Young,
Chairman, Committee on Resources,
Washington, DC.
Dear Don: Thank you for your recent letter regarding your
committee's action on S. 1937, a bill to amend the Pacific
Northwest Electric Power Planning and Conservation Act to
provide for sales of electricity by the Bonneville Power
Administration to joint operating entities. As you know, Rule X
of the Rules of the House of Representatives grants the
Committee on Commerce jurisdiction over the generation and
marketing of power and the legislation was additionally
referred to the Committee on Commerce. As you also noted, the
Subcommittee on Energy and Power approved the bill for
consideration by the Full Committee on May 16, 2000.
Because of the importance of this legislation, I recognize
your desire to bring it before the House in an expeditious
manner, and I will not exercise the Committee's right to
further consideration of this legislation. By agreeing to waive
its consideration of the bill, however, the Committee on
Commerce does not waive its jurisdiction over S. 1937. In
addition, the Commerce Committee reserves its authority to seek
conferees on any provisions of the bill that are within its
jurisdiction during any House-Senate conference that may be
convened on this legislation. I appreciate your commitment to
support any request by the Commerce Committee for conferees on
S. 1937 or similar legislation.
I request that you include this letter and your response in
your committee report on the bill and as part of the Record
during consideration of the legislation on the House floor.
Thank you for your attention to these matters.
Sincerely,
Tom Bliley,
Chairman.