HBA-EVB H.B. 3721 76(R)    BILL ANALYSIS


Office of House Bill AnalysisH.B. 3721
By: Bailey
State Affairs
4/7/1999
Introduced



BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE 

Under current law, the Office of Public Utility Counsel, an independent
state agency, represents Texas residential and small business telephone and
electric utility consumers in utility proceedings before the Public Utility
Commission (PUC), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the Federal
Communications Commission, and in state and federal courts. 

Deregulation of the telecommunications industry has brought about an
increasingly competitive environment and has significantly increased the
number of regulatory issues before the PUC as well as utility-related
litigation in both state and federal courts. To keep up with its workload
and to resolve regulatory issues more quickly, the PUC has expanded its use
of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) proceedings.  

Currently, the Office of Public Utility Counsel (office) lacks the
authority to represent residential and small commercial consumers in
alternative dispute resolution proceedings. H.B. 3721 authorizes the office
to represent residential and small commercial consumers in such proceedings
or in judicial proceedings in which the public utility counsel determines
that residential and small commercial consumers are in need of
representation. 

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 13.003(a), Utilities Code, as follows:

(a)(3) Authorizes the Office of Public Utility Counsel (office) to appear
or intervene, as a party or otherwise, as a matter of right on behalf of
residential consumers, as a class, in any proceeding before the Public
Utility Commission, including an alternative dispute resolution proceeding;
and small commercial consumers, as a class, in any proceeding in which the
counsellor determines that small commercial consumers are in need of
representation, including an alternative dispute resolution proceeding. 

(4) Authorizes the office to initiate or intervene as a matter of right or
otherwise appear in a judicial proceeding that involves an action taken by
an administrative agency in a proceeding, including an alternative dispute
resolution proceeding, in which the counsellor is authorized to appear; or
in which the counsellor determines that residential consumers or small
business consumers are in need of representation. 

SECTION 2. Emergency clause.
Effective date: upon passage.