AWC Legislative Bulletin - Volume 30, No. 11
March 16, 2007
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In this issue:
What You Need to Know Now
From the Director: SST Passes House
Energy & Telecommunications
Environment & Water
General Local Government
Infrastructure, Transportation & Economic Development
Land Use & Housing
Law & Justice
Municipal Finance
Personnel & Labor Relations
Online Legislative Advocacy Tools
AWC Legislative Contacts & Officers
Energy & Telecommunications
These bills are all still alive and relate to the problem of stolen metal property.
SHB 1987 specifies that a public or private landowner would not be liable for a person’s injuries caused by the theft of metal material from the property, nor would they be liable for injuries caused by a dangerous condition created by the theft when the landowner did not know of the dangerous condition. AWC signed in with support in the House committee.
ESHB 1251 and ESSB 5312 are identical bills except that an amendment was hung on the House bill that would allow prosecutors to seek a sentencing enhancement if damage to the victim greatly exceeded the value of the stolen property. Both bills have been referred to the appropriate policy committees and are awaiting hearing dates. AWC actively supports the passage of these bills.
PUD Retail Telecom Authority (SB 6102)
This bill was a pilot project that would affect only the Pend Oreille Public Utillity District (PUD) in eastern Washington. Pend Oreille is already operating a wholesale fiber optic backbone, and is located in a county considered to be very rural and without many telecommunications choices. The pilot project would have expired at the end of seven years and the PUD would have been required to submit annual progress reports to the legislature. The bill did not make it out of the Rules Committee before the cutoff date and therefore the issue is dead for this year.
Pole Attachment Fees (SHB 1857)
This bill also did not make it out of the House before the cutoff date so the issue is dead for this year. The bill would have required public utility districts to use a specified pole attachment rate structure and would have moved hearing disputes into an arbitration process.
Water Power License Fees (SSB 5881)
This bill is still alive and will be given a hearing in the House Agriculture & Natural Resources Committee on Thursday, March 22 at 10 am. The Department of Ecology is advancing this bill that will increase their license fees for the first time in many decades. Cities that operate dams will be affected by the new fee structure.
Allowing for the Net Meter Aggregation of Electricity (SHB 1140)
Under this provision, electric utilities would be required to provide meter aggregation for net metering customer-generators within their service territory upon request by the customer-generator. Meter aggregation means the administrative combination of readings from and billing for all meters, regardless of the rate class, on premises owned or leased by a customer-generator located within the service territory of a single electric utility.
There is a concern that by adding up all usage, customer-generators could potentially qualify for a different rate class with no real economies of scale. The language in the bill does not address what happens when there are different rate classes involved – for instance, when the net metered electricity is produced on a residential rate and may be applied to a commercial rate. The bill is scheduled for public hearing in the Senate Water and Energy & Telecommunications Committee Wednesday, March 21 at 3:30 pm.
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