00 Enrolled SR 1                                                                                                           
01 Establishing a Senate Special Committee on the Railbelt Electric System.                                                
02                                         _______________                                                                 
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE:                                                                                         
04      WHEREAS the Railbelt electric system is a system of six interconnected utilities                                   
05 providing generation, transmission, and delivery of electricity throughout the Railbelt                                 
06 corridor, spanning from Fairbanks in the north, to the Matanuska and Susitna valleys and                                
07 Anchorage, and south through the Kenai Peninsula to Kenai, Homer, and Seward; and                                       
08      WHEREAS the utilities in the Railbelt electric system cumulatively serve more than                                 
09 565,000 residents of the state who depend on reliable, safe, and economic service for                                   
10 residential, business, and industrial uses; and                                                                         
11      WHEREAS multiple studies have found substantial potential for improving reliability                                
12 and security and providing economic savings to rate payers should the utilities in the Railbelt                         
13 electric system work cooperatively and formally toward those goals; and                                                 
14      WHEREAS it is anticipated that the Regulatory Commission of Alaska will issue a                                    
15 report identifying a framework for the utilities in the Railbelt electric system to work                                
16 cooperatively toward the goals of improving reliability and security and providing economic                             
17 savings to rate payers, including recommendations for legislative action; and                                           
01      WHEREAS the Alaska State Legislature should consider the report from the                                           
02 Regulatory Commission of Alaska and evaluate improvements to the reliability and security                               
03 of the Railbelt electric system and methods to provide economic savings to rate payers;                                 
04      BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate that a Senate Special Committee on the Railbelt                                       
05 Electric System is established to review the report from the Regulatory Commission of Alaska                            
06 on the operation and regulation of the Railbelt electric system, consider the findings of the                           
07 Regulatory Commission of Alaska, and evaluate the recommendations of the Regulatory                                     
08 Commission of Alaska related to the Railbelt electric system; and be it                                                 
09      FURTHER RESOLVED that the President of the Senate shall determine the number                                       
10 of senators to be members of the committee and shall appoint the members and designate a                                
11 member to chair the committee; and be it                                                                                
12      FURTHER RESOLVED that the Senate Special Committee on the Railbelt Electric                                        
13 System may meet during and between sessions of the Thirty-First Alaska State Legislature                                
14 and is terminated on the convening of the First Regular Session of the Thirty-Second Alaska                             
15 State Legislature.