HB 520: "An Act relating to the expenses of investigation, hearing, or public advocacy before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, to calculation of the regulatory cost charge for public utilities and pipeline carriers to include the Department of Law's costs of its public advocacy function, to inspection of certain books and records by the attorney general when participating as a party in a matter before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska; and providing for an effective date."
00 HOUSE BILL NO. 520 01 "An Act relating to the expenses of investigation, hearing, or public advocacy before the 02 Regulatory Commission of Alaska, to calculation of the regulatory cost charge for public 03 utilities and pipeline carriers to include the Department of Law's costs of its public 04 advocacy function, to inspection of certain books and records by the attorney general 05 when participating as a party in a matter before the Regulatory Commission of Alaska; 06 and providing for an effective date." 07 BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA: 08 * Section 1. AS 42.05.254(b) is amended to read: 09 (b) The commission shall by regulation establish a method to determine 10 annually the amount of the regulatory cost charge for a public utility. If the amount 11 the commission expects to collect under (a) of this section and under AS 42.06.286(a) 12 exceeds the authorized budgets [BUDGET] of the commission and the Department 13 of Law public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e), the
01 commission shall, by order, reduce the percentages determined under (h) of this 02 section so that the total amount of the fees collected approximately equals the 03 authorized budgets [BUDGET] of the commission and the Department of Law 04 public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e) for the fiscal 05 year. 06 * Sec. 2. AS 42.05.254(e) is amended to read: 07 (e) The commission shall administer the charge imposed under this section. 08 The Department of Revenue shall collect and enforce the charge imposed under this 09 section. The Department of Administration shall identify the amount of the operating 10 budgets [BUDGET] of the commission and the Department of Law public 11 advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e) that lapse 12 [LAPSES] into the general fund each year. The legislature may appropriate an 13 amount equal to the lapsed amount to the commission and to the Department of Law 14 public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e) for [ITS] 15 operating costs for the next fiscal year. If the legislature does so, the commission shall 16 reduce the total regulatory cost charge collected for that fiscal year by a comparable 17 amount. 18 * Sec. 3. AS 42.05.254(h) is amended to read: 19 (h) The commission shall by regulation establish a method to determine 20 annually the maximum percentage of adjusted gross revenue that will apply to each 21 regulated public utility sector and the maximum percentage of gross revenue that will 22 apply to the regulated pipeline carrier sector. Other [THE METHOD 23 ESTABLISHED SHALL ALLOCATE THE COMMISSION'S COSTS, OTHER] than 24 the cost of services provided to exempt utilities, the method established shall 25 allocate the commission's costs, and the Department of Law's certified costs of its 26 public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e), among the 27 regulated public utility sectors and the regulated pipeline carrier sector based on the 28 relative amount of the commission's annual costs and the Department of Law's 29 certified costs that is attributable to regulating each sector. For purposes of this 30 subsection, the Department of Law shall annually certify to the commission the 31 costs of its public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e).
01 * Sec. 4. AS 42.05.501 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 02 (b) When participating as a party under AS 42.04.070(c) or AS 44.23.020(e), 03 the attorney general shall at all reasonable times have access to, and may designate 04 any of the attorney general's employees, agents, or consultants to inspect and examine, 05 the accounts, records, books, maps, inventories, appraisals, valuations, or other reports 06 and documents, kept by public utilities or their affiliated interests, or prepared or kept 07 for them by others, that relate to any contract or transaction between them. 08 * Sec. 5. AS 42.05.651 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 09 (c) Notwithstanding the commission's discretion under (a) of this section to 10 allocate costs to parties, the commission may not require a state agency to pay any 11 costs allocated to the state agency. 12 (d) When the attorney general participates in an adjudicatory proceeding 13 before the commission under AS 42.04.070(c) or AS 44.23.020(e), the utility whose 14 filing is the subject of the proceeding shall pay the costs of experts retained by the 15 attorney general for the proceeding. The utility shall make payment directly to the 16 expert. If the utility fails to pay the costs of an expert, the costs may be recovered by 17 suit by the attorney general on behalf of the state and deposited in the general fund. 18 * Sec. 6. AS 42.05.671(c) is amended to read: 19 (c) A person may make written objection to the public disclosure of 20 information contained in a record under the provisions of this chapter or of 21 information obtained by the commission or by the attorney general under the 22 provisions of this chapter, stating the grounds for the objection. When an objection is 23 made, the commission may not order the information withheld from public disclosure 24 unless the information adversely affects the interest of the person making written 25 objection and disclosure is not required in the interest of the public. 26 * Sec. 7. AS 42.06.286(b) is amended to read: 27 (b) The commission shall by regulation establish a method to determine 28 annually the amount of the regulatory cost charge. If the amount the commission 29 expects to collect under (a) of this section and under AS 42.05.254(a) exceeds the 30 authorized budgets [BUDGET] of the commission and the Department of Law 31 public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e), the
01 commission shall, by order, reduce the percentage determined under (e) of this section 02 so that the total amount of the fees collected approximately equals the authorized 03 budgets [BUDGET] of the commission and the Department of Law public 04 advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e) for the fiscal year. 05 * Sec. 8. AS 42.06.286(c) is amended to read: 06 (c) The commission shall administer the charge imposed under this section. 07 The Department of Revenue shall collect and enforce the charge imposed under this 08 section. The Department of Administration shall identify the amount of the operating 09 budgets [BUDGET] of the commission and the Department of Law public 10 advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e) that lapse 11 [LAPSES] into the general fund each year. The legislature may appropriate an 12 amount equal to the lapsed amount to the commission and to the Department of Law 13 public advocacy function under AS 42.04.070(c) and AS 44.23.020(e) for [ITS] 14 operating costs for the next fiscal year. If the legislature does so, the commission shall 15 reduce the total regulatory cost charge [CHARGED] collected for that fiscal year by a 16 comparable amount. 17 * Sec. 9. AS 42.06.440 is amended by adding a new subsection to read: 18 (b) Subject to AS 31.05.035(c), when participating as a party under 19 AS 42.04.070(c) or AS 44.23.020(e), the attorney general shall at all reasonable times 20 have access to, and may designate any of the attorney general's employees, agents, or 21 consultants to inspect and examine, the accounts, records, books, maps, inventories, 22 appraisals, valuations, or other reports and documents, kept by an oil or gas pipeline 23 carrier or its affiliated interests, or prepared or kept for it by others, that relate to any 24 contract or transaction between them. Costs incurred in complying with a request to 25 review the records referred to in this subsection or to maintain those records in such a 26 manner as to make them conveniently available for review shall be borne by the party 27 controlling the records. 28 * Sec. 10. AS 42.06.445(d) is amended to read: 29 (d) A person may make written objection to the public disclosure of 30 information contained in a record filed under the provisions of this chapter or of 31 information obtained by the commission or by the attorney general under the
01 provisions of this chapter, stating the grounds for the objection. When an objection is 02 made, the commission shall order the information withheld from public disclosure if 03 the information adversely affects the interest of the person making written objection 04 and disclosure is not required in the interest of the public. 05 * Sec. 11. AS 42.06.610 is amended by adding new subsections to read: 06 (d) Notwithstanding the commission's discretion under (a) and (b) of this 07 section to allocate costs to parties, the commission may not require a state agency to 08 pay any costs allocated to the state agency. 09 (e) When the attorney general participates in an adjudicatory proceeding 10 before the commission under AS 42.04.070(c) or AS 44.23.020(e), the pipeline carrier 11 or pipeline whose filing is the subject of the proceeding shall pay the costs of experts 12 retained by the attorney general for the proceeding. The pipeline carrier or pipeline 13 shall make payment directly to the expert. If the pipeline carrier or pipeline fails to 14 pay the costs of an expert, the costs may be recovered by suit by the attorney general 15 on behalf of the state and deposited in the general fund. 16 * Sec. 12. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 17 read: 18 APPLICABILITY. (a) AS 42.05.651(c), enacted by sec. 5 of this Act, and 19 AS 42.06.610(d), enacted by sec. 11 of this Act, apply to orders issued by the Regulatory 20 Commission of Alaska regardless of whether the related proceeding under AS 42.05 or 21 AS 42.06 was begun before the effective date of this Act. 22 * Sec. 13. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 23 read: 24 RETROACTIVITY. The enactment of AS 42.05.651(c), made by sec. 5 of this Act, 25 and of AS 42.06.610(d), made by sec. 11 of this Act, is retroactive to May 30, 2003. 26 * Sec. 14. The uncodified law of the State of Alaska is amended by adding a new section to 27 read: 28 REVISOR'S INSTRUCTION. The revisor of statutes is instructed to change the 29 heading of AS 42.05.501 from "Inspection of books and records by commission" to 30 "Inspection of books and records." 31 * Sec. 15. This Act takes effect July 1, 2004.