Brief (1)
Sub. for SB 243 would exempt all electric generation facilities, other than nuclear generation facilities or additions to such facilities, from requirements of the Electric Generation Facility Siting Act.
Under existing law, all electric generation facilities proposed for construction by an electric utility subject to the Kansas Corporation Commission's jurisdiction are governed by the Siting Act requirements. (There are several exceptions which are outlined in the law.) The Siting Act currently requires an electric utility to obtain a permit from the Commission prior to:
The utility must file an application and certain documents and plans pertaining to the construction, operation, and maintenance of the proposed facility or addition. The Commission is required to publish notice and hold a public hearing to determine the necessity for the proposed facility or addition and the most reasonable location and size of the facility. The Commission's decision on the siting application must be based on whether or not a necessity exists for the electric generation capacity of a proposed facility or addition. After a decision is made that a necessity for the capacity exists, the Commission must decide whether the size and location of the generation facility proposed by the utility are the most reasonable. Once these decisions are made, the Commission may issue the siting permit.
Sub. for SB 243 would continue to apply the review and approval process described above to all applications filed with the Commission for siting of nuclear generation facilities. This process would not apply, however, to siting of any other type of generation facilities. All jurisdictional electric utilities seeking to recover from ratepayers costs of constructing new generation facilities would still be subject to rate proceedings before the Commission.
The bill would take effect upon publication in the Kansas Register.
Background
Sub. for SB 243 includes provisions of the introduced version of SB 257. The introduced version of SB 243 presented an alternative approach to amending the Electric Generation Facility Siting Act. The Senate Committee on Utilities held hearings on both bills and recommended the approach outlined above in the brief. The introduced version of SB 257 was subsequently amended to repeal most provisions of the Electric Transmission Siting Act. A substitute version of SB 257 was referred to the House Committee on Utilities.
Proponents of the introduced versions of both generation facility siting bills (SB 243 and SB 257) included spokespersons for: Western Resources; Kansas Electric Power Cooperative, Inc.; Sunflower Electric Power Corporation; Kansas City Power & Light Company; and Utilicorp United Inc. Certain conferees expressed preference for one bill or the other. The Kansas Municipal Energy Agency opposed, and several conferees proposed modifications to, the approach to amending the Siting Act, ultimately not endorsed by the Senate Committee. A spokesperson for Enron Corp. raised concerns with the absence of legislative measures to encourage nonutility generating companies to construct generation facilities in Kansas. The Chief of Energy Operations for the Kansas Corporation Commission presented background information regarding the Electric Generation Facility Siting Act but took no position on the bills.
The House Committee on Utilities held hearings on Sub. for SB 243 on March 8, 1999. The House Committee deliberated the bill on January 26, 2000, and recommended it with several technical amendments.
1. *Supplemental notes are prepared by the Legislative Research Department and do not express legislative intent. The supplemental note and fiscal note for this bill may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.ink.org/public/legislative/bill_search.html