05 LC 22
5800
House
Bill 562
By:
Representatives Parsons of the
42nd,
Forster of the
3rd,
Rogers of the
26th,
Crawford of the
127th,
Murphy of the
23rd,
and others
A
BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
AN ACT
To
amend Article 1 of Chapter 2 of Title 46 of the Official Code of Georgia
Annotated, relating to the organization and members of the Public Service
Commission, so as to define certain terms; to change provisions relating to
regulatory assessments on public service corporations and utilities; to increase
the annual sum of such assessments; to establish administrative fees for filing
certain matters; to repeal conflicting laws; and for other
purposes.
BE
IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF GEORGIA:
SECTION
1.
Article
1 of Chapter 2 of Title 46 of the Official Code of Georgia Annotated, relating
to the organization and members of the Public Service Commission, is amended by
striking in its entirety Code Section 46-2-10, relating to the payment of
special fees by corporations and utilities subject to the jurisdiction of the
commission, notice of the amount due, and procedure on default, and inserting in
lieu thereof the following:
"46-2-10.
(a)
As used in
this Code section, the term:
(1)
'Administrative filing fees' means the fees for filing certain matters with the
commission as provided for in this Code section. The administrative filing fees
are intended to reflect the incremental costs of handling the filed
matters.
(2)
'Public service corporation or utility' means any investor owned electric
company, telecommunications company, natural gas company, electing natural gas
distribution company, natural gas pipeline company, natural gas marketer,
railroad, or any other entity whose service or market is regulated or supervised
by the commission, regardless of whether such
entitýs
rates are regulated by the commission.
(3)
'Regulatory assessments' means the special fees collected under this Code
section by the state revenue commissioner. The regulatory assessments are
intended to reflect the normal recurring operating costs of the
commission.
(b)(1)
There shall be paid by all public service corporations
and
or
utilities
which
whose
services are subject to the jurisdiction
of the
Public
Service Commission
commission
a special fee in addition to all other fees required by law. Such fee shall be
fixed by the state revenue commissioner upon each of such public service
corporations or utilities according to the gross revenues of each such public
service corporation or utility resulting from intrastate service regulated by
the commission, as ascertained by the state revenue commissioner from reports
filed with the state revenue commissioner by such public service corporations
and utilities and from gross revenues reported for income tax
purposes, if
any, pursuant to Chapter 7 of Title 48,
and shall be apportioned among such public service corporations or utilities
upon the basis of such gross revenues so as to produce
a
an
annual revenue
of
$1,050,000.00 per annum
as provided in
this subsection. Notwithstanding any other
provisions of this Code section, the gross revenues of a
telephone
utility
telecommunications
company shall not include revenues of such
a utility received from the collection of interstate tolls, interstate access or
subscriber line charges, interstate call charges, amounts paid by a
telecommunications service provider to any other telecommunications service
provider for carrier access charges, or any charges for any unregulated
services. Any revenues collected by a
local
exchange company
public service
corporation or utility as a billing and
collection agent shall be excluded from the calculation of the gross revenues of
the local
exchange company
such
entity.
(b)(1)
Not later than December 1, 1994, the state revenue commissioner shall notify
each public service corporation or utility of the state of the amount due by it
under this Code section, and the fee shall be paid into the general fund of the
state by January 20, 1995. Such sum of $1,050,000.00 shall be available for
appropriation in an amount sufficient to cover the cost of operating the Public
Service Commission.
(2)(A)
Effective January 1, 1995, not later than April 1 of each year, the state
revenue commissioner shall notify each public service corporation or utility of
the state of the amount due by it under this Code section, and the fee shall be
paid into the general fund of the state by July 1 of such year. Such sum of
$1,050,000.00 shall be available for appropriation in an amount sufficient to
cover the cost of operating the
Public
Service Commission
commission.
(B)
Effective January 1, 2006, not later than April 1 of each year, the state
revenue commissioner shall notify each public service corporation or utility of
the state of the amount due by it under this Code section, and the fee shall be
paid into the general fund of the state by July 1 of such year. Such sum shall
be $3 million for the payments to be made July 1, 2006; $5 million for the
payments to be made July 1, 2007; $7 million for the payments to be made July 1,
2008; and $9 million for the payments to be made July 1, 2009, and each year
thereafter. Such sum shall be available for appropriation in an amount
sufficient to cover the cost of operating the commission.
(c)
The Public Service Commission shall charge and collect the following
administrative filing fees which shall be deposited into the general fund of the
state and which shall be available for appropriation to the
commission:
|
(1)
For filing a rate-making proceeding under Code Section 46-2-25:
|
|
|
(A)
For electric utilities with one million or more retail
customers
|
$400,000.00
|
|
(B)
For electric utilities with less than one million retail
customers
|
$200,000.00
|
|
(C)
For natural gas electing distribution
companies
|
$300,000.00
|
|
(D)
For natural gas local distribution
companies
|
$100,000.00
|
|
(E)
For other utilities
|
$35,000.00
|
|
(2)
For filing a fuel cost recovery proceeding under Code Section
46-2-26
|
$20,000.00
|
|
(3)
For filing a gas supply plan proceeding under Code Section
46-2-26
|
$120,000.00
|
|
(4)
For filing a territorial dispute under Part 1 of Article 1 of Chapter 3 of this
title
|
$10,000.00
|
|
(5)
For filing a capacity supply plan proceeding under subsection (e) of Code
Section 46-4-l55
|
$20,000.00
|
|
(6)
For filing an application for arbitration of terms and conditions of
telecommunications
interconnection
|
$20,000.00
|
|
(7)
For filing an application for financing authority under Code Section
46-2-28
|
$1,000.00
|
|
(8)
For filing an application for certificate of authority or certificate of public
convenience and necessity:
|
|
|
(A)
For a certificate of authority as a natural gas marketer under Code Section
46-4-153
|
$5,000.00
|
|
(B)
For a certificate of authority to provide local exchange service under Code
Section 46-5-163
|
$1,000.00
|
|
(C)
For all other certificates of authority and certificates of public convenience
and necessity
|
$200.00
|
(c)(d)
In case of default in payment by any public service corporation or utility of
the
fee
fees
provided for in this Code section, the state revenue commissioner shall proceed
to collect the same in the same manner as franchise taxes are
collected."
SECTION
2.
All
laws and parts of laws in conflict with this Act are repealed.