HB 4361

substitute for
House BILL NO. 4361
A bill to amend 1939 PA 3, entitled
"An act to provide for the regulation and control
of public and certain private utilities and other services affected with a
public interest within this state; to provide for alternative energy suppliers
and certain providers of electric vehicle charging services; to provide for
licensing; to include municipally owned utilities and other providers of energy
under certain provisions of this act; to create a public service commission and
to prescribe and define its powers and duties; to abolish the Michigan public
utilities commission and to confer the powers and duties vested by law on the
public service commission; to provide for the powers and duties of certain
state governmental officers and entities; to provide for the continuance,
transfer, and completion of certain matters and proceedings; to abolish
automatic adjustment clauses; to prohibit certain rate increases without notice
and hearing; to qualify residential energy conservation programs permitted
under state law for certain federal exemption; to create a fund; to encourage
the utilization of resource recovery facilities; to prohibit certain acts and
practices of providers of energy; to allow for the securitization of stranded
costs; to reduce rates; to provide for appeals; to provide appropriations; to
declare the effect and purpose of this act; to prescribe remedies and
penalties; and to repeal acts and parts of acts,"
by amending section 10p (MCL 460.10p), as amended by
2016 PA 341.
the peoplE of the state of michigan enact:
Sec. 10p. (1) Each electric utility operating in this
state shall establish an industry worker transition program that, in
consultation with employees or applicable collective bargaining
representatives, provides skills upgrades, apprenticeship and training
programs, voluntary separation packages consistent with reasonable business
practices, and job banks to coordinate and assist placement of employees into
comparable employment at no less than the wage rates and substantially
equivalent fringe benefits received before the transition.
(2) The costs
resulting from subsection (1) include audited and verified employee-related
restructuring costs that are incurred as a result of 2000 PA 141 or as a result
of prior commission restructuring orders, including employee severance costs,
employee retraining programs, early retirement programs, outplacement programs,
and similar costs and programs, that have been approved and found to be
prudently incurred by the commission.
(3) In the event of
a sale, purchase, or any other transfer of ownership of 1 or more Michigan
divisions or business units, or generating stations or generating units, of an
electric utility, to either a third party or a utility subsidiary, the electric
utility's contract and agreements with the acquiring entity or persons shall must require
all of the following for a period of at least 30 months:
(a) That the
acquiring entity or persons hire a sufficient number of nonsupervisory
employees to safely and reliably operate and maintain the station, division, or
unit by making offers of employment to the nonsupervisory workforce of the
electric utility's division, business unit, generating station, or generating
unit.
(b) That the
acquiring entity or persons not employ nonsupervisory employees from outside
the electric utility's workforce unless offers of employment have been made to
all qualified nonsupervisory employees of the acquired business unit or
facility.
(c) That the
acquiring entity or persons have a dispute resolution mechanism culminating in
a final and binding decision by a neutral third party for resolving employee
complaints or disputes over wages, fringe benefits, and working conditions.
(d) That the
acquiring entity or persons offer employment at no less than the wage rates and
substantially equivalent fringe benefits and terms and conditions of employment
that are in effect at the time of transfer of ownership of the division,
business unit, generating station, or generating unit. The wage rates and
substantially equivalent fringe benefits and terms and conditions of employment
shall must continue
for at least 30 months from after the time of the transfer of ownership unless
the employees, or where applicable collective bargaining representative, and
the new employer mutually agree to different terms and conditions of employment
within that 30-month period.
(4) The electric
utility shall offer a transition plan to those employees who are not offered
jobs by the entity because the entity has a need for fewer workers. If there is
litigation concerning the sale, or other transfer of ownership of the electric
utility's divisions, business units, generating stations, or generating units,
the 30-month period under subsection (3) begins on the date the acquiring
entity or persons take control or management of the divisions, business units,
generating stations, or generating units of the electric utility.
(5) The commission
shall adopt generally applicable service quality and reliability standards for
the transmission, generation, and distribution systems of electric utilities
and other entities subject to its jurisdiction, including, but not limited to, standards
for service outages, distribution facility upgrades, repairs and maintenance,
telephone service, billing service, operational reliability, and public and
worker safety. In setting service quality and reliability standards, the
commission shall consider safety, costs, local geography and weather,
applicable codes, national electric industry practices, sound engineering
judgment, and experience. The commission shall also include provisions to
upgrade the service quality of distribution circuits that historically have
experienced significantly below-average performance in relationship to similar
distribution circuits.
(6) Annually, each
jurisdictional utility or entity shall file its report with the commission
detailing actions to be taken to comply with the service quality and
reliability standards during the next calendar year and its performance in
relation to the service quality and reliability standards during the prior
calendar year. The annual reports shall must contain that data as required by the commission,
including the estimated cost of achieving improvements in the jurisdictional
utility's or entity's performance with respect to the service quality and
reliability standards.
(7) The commission
shall analyze the data to determine whether the jurisdictional entities are
properly operating and maintaining their systems
and take corrective action if needed.
(8) By December 31, 2009, the
commission shall review its existing rules under this section and amend the
rules, if needed, under the administrative procedures act of 1969, 1969 PA 306,
MCL 24.201 to 24.328, to implement performance standards for generation
facilities and for distribution facilities to protect end-use customers from
power quality disturbances.
(9) Any standards
or rules developed under this section shall must be designed to do the following, as applicable:
(a) Establish
different requirements for each customer class, whenever those different
requirements are appropriate to carry out the provisions of this section, and
to reflect different load and service characteristics of each customer class.
(b) Consider the
availability and associated cost of necessary equipment and labor required to
maintain or upgrade distribution and generating facilities.
(c) Ensure that the
most cost-effective means of addressing power quality disturbances are promoted
for each utility, including consideration of the installation of equipment or
adoption of operating practices at the end-user's location.
(d) Take into
account the extent to which the benefits associated with achieving a specified
standard or improvement are offset by the incremental capital, fuel, and
operation and maintenance expenses associated with meeting the specified
standard or improvement.
(e) Carefully
consider the time frame for achieving a specified standard, taking into account
the time required to implement needed investments or modify operating
practices.
(10) Notwithstanding any law, administrative rule, or commission order,
an electric utility may do any of the following:
(a) Trim trees from the ground to the sky to save costs or improve
transmission or distribution line reliability.
(b) Maintain all vegetation for up to 15 feet from the outermost portion
of the wire that conducts electricity or whatever distance is considered
necessary to improve reliability.
(11) (10) The
commission shall also create benchmarks for individual jurisdictional entities
within their rate-making process in order to accomplish the goals of this
section to alleviate end-use customer power quality disturbances and promote
power plant generating cost efficiency.
(12) (11) The
commission shall establish a method for gathering data from the industrial
customer class to assist in monitoring power quality and reliability standards
related to service characteristics of the industrial customer class.
(13) (12) The
commission may levy financial incentives and penalties upon on any
jurisdictional entity which that exceeds or fails to meet the service quality and
reliability standards.
(14) (13) As
used in this section, "jurisdictional utility" or
"jurisdictional entity" means a jurisdictional regulated utility as
that term is defined in section 6q.