Bill Summary – FastDemocracy

Enrolled Copy                                                                       H.B. 181
               RAILROAD CROSSING MAINTENANCE AMENDMENTS
                                      2022 GENERAL SESSION
                                          STATE OF UTAH
                                 Chief Sponsor: Mike Schultz
                               Senate Sponsor: Curtis S. Bramble
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 LONG TITLE
 General Description:
        This bill amends provisions related to the duties of the Public Service Commission and
 the Department of Transportation pertaining to safety oversight of railroads and
 crossings.
 Highlighted Provisions:
        This bill:
        < amends provisions related to the duties of the Public Service Commission and the
 Department of Transportation pertaining to safety oversight of railroads and
 crossings to remove confusion caused by outdated references;
        < allows the Department of Transportation to allocate the costs of certain safety
 responsibilities between the relevant public agency and the railroad;
        < amends other provisions related to the safety and maintenance of railroads and
 crossings;
        < amends provisions related to railroad company participation and approval of
 proposed improvements to a railroad crossing; and
        < makes technical changes.
 Money Appropriated in this Bill:
        None
 Other Special Clauses:
        None
 Utah Code Sections Affected:
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 AMENDS:
        54-1-2, as last amended by Laws of Utah 1987, Chapter 92
        54-2-1, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2020, Chapter 217
        54-3-8, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2020, Fifth Special Session, Chapter 4
        54-4-1, as last amended by Laws of Utah 1975, First Special Session, Chapter 9
        54-4-2, as last amended by Laws of Utah 2019, Chapter 460
        54-4-14, as last amended by Laws of Utah 1975, First Special Session, Chapter 9
        54-4-15, as last amended by Laws of Utah 1999, Chapter 190
37
 Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Utah:
        Section 1. Section 54-1-2 is amended to read:
        54-1-2. Powers and duties.
        (1) The Public Service Commission shall succeed to all powers and discharge all duties
 and perform all the functions which by existing and continuing law are conferred upon and
 required to be discharged or performed by the Public Utilities Commission of Utah.
        (2) Whenever any existing and continuing law refers to or names the Public Utilities
 Commission of Utah or any officer, agent, or employee of such commission, the same shall be
 construed to mean, refer to, and name the Public Service Commission of Utah or the
 corresponding officer, agent, or employee of such Public Service Commission[; provided,
 however, that the Department of Transportation shall have jurisdiction over those safety
 functions transferred to it by the Department of Transportation Act].
        Section 2. Section 54-2-1 is amended to read:
        54-2-1. Definitions.
        As used in this title:
        (1) "Avoided costs" means the incremental costs to an electrical corporation of electric
 energy or capacity or both that, due to the purchase of electric energy or capacity or both from
 small power production or cogeneration facilities, the electrical corporation would not have to
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 generate itself or purchase from another electrical corporation.
         (2) "Clean coal technology" means a technology that may be researched, developed, or
 used for reducing emissions or the rate of emissions from a thermal electric generation plant
 that uses coal as a fuel source.
         (3) "Cogeneration facility":
         (a) means a facility that produces:
         (i) electric energy; and
         (ii) steam or forms of useful energy, including heat, that are used for industrial,
 commercial, heating, or cooling purposes; and
         (b) is a qualifying cogeneration facility under federal law.
         (4) "Commission" means the Public Service Commission.
         (5) "Commissioner" means a member of the commission.
         (6) (a) "Corporation" includes an association and a joint stock company having any
 powers or privileges not possessed by individuals or partnerships.
         (b) "Corporation" does not include towns, cities, counties, conservancy districts,
 improvement districts, or other governmental units created or organized under any general or
 special law of this state.
         (7) "Department" means the Department of Transportation created in Section 72-1-201.
         [(7)] (8) "Distribution electrical cooperative" includes an electrical corporation that:
         (a) is a cooperative;
         (b) conducts a business that includes the retail distribution of electricity the cooperative
 purchases or generates for the cooperative's members; and
         (c) is required to allocate or distribute savings in excess of additions to reserves and
 surplus on the basis of patronage to the cooperative's:
         (i) members; or
         (ii) patrons.
         [(8)] (9) (a) "Electrical corporation" includes every corporation, cooperative
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 association, and person, their lessees, trustees, and receivers, owning, controlling, operating, or
 managing any electric plant, or in any way furnishing electric power for public service or to its
 consumers or members for domestic, commercial, or industrial use, within this state.
         (b) "Electrical corporation" does not include:
         (i) an independent energy producer;
         (ii) where electricity is generated on or distributed by the producer solely for the
 producer's own use, or the use of the producer's tenants, or the use of members of an
 association of unit owners formed under Title 57, Chapter 8, Condominium Ownership Act,
 and not for sale to the public generally;
         (iii) an eligible customer who provides electricity for the eligible customer's own use or
 the use of the eligible customer's tenant or affiliate; or
         (iv) a nonutility energy supplier who sells or provides electricity to:
         (A) an eligible customer who has transferred the eligible customer's service to the
 nonutility energy supplier in accordance with Section 54-3-32; or
         (B) the eligible customer's tenant or affiliate.
         (c) "Electrical corporation" does not include an entity that sells electric vehicle battery
 charging services:
         (i) if the entity obtains the electricity for the electric vehicle battery charging service,
 including any electricity from an electricity storage device:
         (A) from an electrical corporation in whose service area the electric vehicle battery
 charging service is located; and
         (B) under an established tariff for rates, charges, and conditions of service; and
         (ii) unless the entity conducts another activity in the state that subjects the entity to the
 jurisdiction and regulation of the commission as an electrical corporation.
         [(9)] (10) "Electric plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property
 owned, controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the production,
 generation, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of electricity for light, heat, or power, and all
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 conduits, ducts, or other devices, materials, apparatus, or property for containing, holding, or
 carrying conductors used or to be used for the transmission of electricity for light, heat, or
 power.
          [(10)] (11) "Eligible customer" means a person who:
          (a) on December 31, 2013:
          (i) was a customer of a public utility that, on December 31, 2013, had more than
 200,000 retail customers in this state; and
          (ii) owned an electric plant that is an electric generation plant that, on December 31,
 2013, had a generation name plate capacity of greater than 150 megawatts; and
          (b) produces electricity:
          (i) from a qualifying power production facility for sale to a public utility in this state;
          (ii) primarily for the eligible customer's own use; or
          (iii) for the use of the eligible customer's tenant or affiliate.
          [(11)] (12) "Eligible customer's tenant or affiliate" means one or more tenants or
 affiliates:
          (a) of an eligible customer; and
          (b) who are primarily engaged in an activity:
          (i) related to the eligible customer's core mining or industrial businesses; and
          (ii) performed on real property that is:
          (A) within a 25-mile radius of the electric plant described in Subsection [(10)]
 (11)(a)(ii); and
          (B) owned by, controlled by, or under common control with, the eligible customer.
          [(12)] (13) "Gas corporation" includes every corporation and person, their lessees,
 trustees, and receivers, owning, controlling, operating, or managing any gas plant for public
 service within this state or for the selling or furnishing of natural gas to any consumer or
 consumers within the state for domestic, commercial, or industrial use, except in the situation
 that:
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         (a) gas is made or produced on, and distributed by the maker or producer through,
 private property:
         (i) solely for the maker's or producer's own use or the use of the maker's or producer's
 tenants; and
         (ii) not for sale to others;
         (b) gas is compressed on private property solely for the owner's own use or the use of
 the owner's employees as a motor vehicle fuel; or
         (c) gas is compressed by a retailer of motor vehicle fuel on the retailer's property solely
 for sale as a motor vehicle fuel.
         [(13)] (14) "Gas plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, and personal property owned,
 controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the production, generation,
 transmission, delivery, or furnishing of gas, natural or manufactured, for light, heat, or power.
         [(14)] (15) "Heat corporation" includes every corporation and person, their lessees,
 trustees, and receivers, owning, controlling, operating, or managing any heating plant for public
 service within this state.
         [(15)] (16) (a) "Heating plant" includes all real estate, fixtures, machinery, appliances,
 and personal property controlled, operated, or managed in connection with or to facilitate the
 production, generation, transmission, delivery, or furnishing of artificial heat.
         (b) "Heating plant" does not include either small power production facilities or
 cogeneration facilities.
         [(16)] (17) "Independent energy producer" means every electrical corporation, person,
 corporation, or government entity, their lessees, trustees, or receivers, that own, operate,
 control, or manage an independent power production or cogeneration facility.
         [(17)] (18) "Independent power production facility" means a facility that:
         (a) produces electric energy solely by the use, as a primary energy source, of biomass,
 waste, a renewable resource, a geothermal resource, or any combination of the preceding
 sources; or
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         (b) is a qualifying power production facility.
         [(18)] (19) "Large-scale electric utility" means a public utility that provides retail
 electric service to more than 200,000 retail customers in the state.
         [(19)] (20) "Large-scale natural gas utility" means a public utility that provides retail
 natural gas service to more than 200,000 retail customers in the state.
         [(20)] (21) "Nonutility energy supplier" means a person that:
         (a) has received market-based rate authority from the Federal Energy Regulatory
 Commission in accordance with 16 U.S.C. Sec. 824d, 18 C.F.R. Part 35, Filing of Rate
 Schedules and Tariffs, or applicable Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders; or
         (b) owns, leases, operates, or manages an electric plant that is an electric generation
 plant that:
         (i) has a capacity of greater than 100 megawatts; and
         (ii) is hosted on the site of an eligible customer that consumes the output of the electric
 plant, in whole or in part, for the eligible customer's own use or the use of the eligible
 customer's tenant or affiliate.
         [(21)] (22) "Private telecommunications system" includes all facilities for the
 transmission of signs, signals, writing, images, sounds, messages, data, or other information of
 any nature by wire, radio, lightwaves, or other electromagnetic means, excluding mobile radio
 facilities, that are owned, controlled, operated, or managed by a corporation or person,
 including their lessees, trustees, receivers, or trustees appointed by any court, for the use of that
 corporation or person and not for the shared use with or resale to any other corporation or
 person on a regular basis.
         [(22)] (23) (a) "Public utility" includes every railroad corporation, gas corporation,
 electrical corporation, distribution electrical cooperative, wholesale electrical cooperative,
 telephone corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewerage corporation, heat
 corporation, and independent energy producer not described in Section 54-2-201 where the
 service is performed for, or the commodity delivered to, the public generally, or in the case of a
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 gas corporation or electrical corporation where the gas or electricity is sold or furnished to any
 member or consumers within the state for domestic, commercial, or industrial use.
         (b) (i) If any railroad corporation, gas corporation, electrical corporation, telephone
 corporation, telegraph corporation, water corporation, sewerage corporation, heat corporation,
 or independent energy producer not described in Section 54-2-201, performs a service for or
 delivers a commodity to the public, it is considered to be a public utility, subject to the
 jurisdiction and regulation of the commission and this title.
         (ii) If a gas corporation, independent energy producer not described in Section
 54-2-201, or electrical corporation sells or furnishes gas or electricity to any member or
 consumers within the state, for domestic, commercial, or industrial use, for which any
 compensation or payment is received, it is considered to be a public utility, subject to the
 jurisdiction and regulation of the commission and this title.
         (c) Any corporation or person not engaged in business exclusively as a public utility as
 defined in this section is governed by this title in respect only to the public utility owned,
 controlled, operated, or managed by the corporation or person, and not in respect to any other
 business or pursuit.
         (d) Any person or corporation defined as an electrical corporation or public utility
 under this section may continue to serve its existing customers subject to any order or future
 determination of the commission in reference to the right to serve those customers.
         (e) (i) "Public utility" does not include any person that is otherwise considered a public
 utility under this Subsection [(22)] (23) solely because of that person's ownership of an interest
 in an electric plant, cogeneration facility, or small power production facility in this state if all of
 the following conditions are met:
         (A) the ownership interest in the electric plant, cogeneration facility, or small power
 production facility is leased to:
         (I) a public utility, and that lease has been approved by the commission;
         (II) a person or government entity that is exempt from commission regulation as a
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 public utility; or
         (III) a combination of Subsections [(22)] (23)(e)(i)(A)(I) and (II);
         (B) the lessor of the ownership interest identified in Subsection [(22)] (23)(e)(i)(A) is:
         (I) primarily engaged in a business other than the business of a public utility; or
         (II) a person whose total equity or beneficial ownership is held directly or indirectly by
 another person engaged in a business other than the business of a public utility; and
         (C) the rent reserved under the lease does not include any amount based on or
 determined by revenues or income of the lessee