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.