HBA-NMO H.B. 1989 76(R) BILL ANALYSIS Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 1989 By: Hardcastle Energy Resources 3/16/1999 Introduced BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Current law requires gas utilities to report to or gain approval from the Texas Railroad Commission (railroad commission) for certain transactions. These statutes were adopted to address certain problems in the natural gas industry in the mid-1970s, and may now need revision because the marketplace is no longer subject to the same conditions. H.B. 1989 increases the minimum amount of a financial transaction involving a gas utility plant which triggers a reporting requirement, and repeals a provision that prohibits a gas utility from transferring gas rights without prior approval of the railroad commission. RULEMAKING AUTHORITY It is the opinion of the Office of House Bill Analysis that this bill does not expressly delegate any additional rulemaking authority to a state officer, department, agency, or institution. SECTION BY SECTION ANALYSIS SECTION 1. Amends Section 102.051, Utilities Code, to increase to $1 million, from $100,000, the total consideration of a sale, acquisition, or lease of a plant as an operating unit or system from which a gas utility is prohibited, unless it reports the transaction to the Texas Railroad Commission (railroad commission) within a reasonable time. SECTION 2. Repealer: Section 102.054 (Approval of Conveyance of Gas Reserve Rights), Utilities Code, which prohibits a gas utility from selling, conveying, banking, or assigning rights to a gas reserve to a utility or an interstate pipeline without the prior approval of the railroad commission. SECTION 3. Makes application of this Act prospective. SECTION 4. Effective date: September 1, 1999. SECTION 5. Emergency clause.