Brief(1)
H.B. 2552 would expand the pool of cities that are eligible to become members of the Kansas Municipal Energy Agency (KMEA) by deleting language that conditioned their eligibility upon the operation of generation facilities in 1976. Moreover, the bill would authorize the KMEA to sell electricity wholesale to marketers and brokers of electricity and to electric utilities, in addition to those member cities currently authorized by law.
Background
The introduced version of H.B. 2552 would have repealed several statutes concerning municipal parking authorities. The provisions of that bill were replaced by provisions of S.B. 491, as amended by the Senate Utilities Committee.
S.B. 491 was requested by Jim Widener, General Manager of KMEA. According to Mr. Widener, KMEA was organized in 1980 and currently has 40 member cities. KMEA provides its member cities the opportunity to participate in projects, such as power supply, interconnections, and financing. Mr. Widener informed the Committee that the restriction in existing law of the date governing a city's generating operations has made 58 municipal electric cities ineligible to join KMEA and thus participate in joint projects under its auspices. He also explained that the language was restrictive concerning the parties to whom KMEA could sell electricity. Under existing law, KMEA may sell only to member cities or utilities operating electric generating systems in 1976. However, brokers and other utilities are currently authorized to sell to Kansas municipal cities that are statutorily precluded from membership in KMEA. In addition to Mr. Widener, Louis Stroup, Jr., Executive Director of Kansas Municipal Utilities, spoke in support of the bill. There were no opponents in hearings of the Senate Utilities Committee or House Utilities Committee.
The Senate Committee amended S.B. 491 to clarify that KMEA could sell electricity wholesale to marketers and brokers, in addition to electric utilities.
The House Committee recommended S.B. 491 without further amendments to the House Committee of the Whole where no further action was taken.
The Division of Budget's fiscal note indicated the bill would have no impact on state revenues or expenditures.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supple-mental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/fulltext-bill.html.