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Committee backs bill allowing PSC to seek receivership for troubled water or wastewater companies
Summary
House Bill 257 would permit the Public Service Commission to petition courts to place certain water or wastewater companies into receivership and requires a receiver to publish a transition and operational plan within 90 days; committee amendments were adopted and the bill was reported favorably.
The House Commerce Committee reported House Bill 257 as amended to permit the Public Service Commission (PSC) to petition a district court to place certain water or wastewater companies regulated by the PSC into receivership under specified circumstances.
Representative Saint Blanc, sponsor of the bill, said the measure gives the PSC a tool similar to existing authority held by the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Department of Health (LDH) for wastewater and water companies, respectively. "The bill will simply offer the commission that simple opportunity in certain circumstances," he said.
Brandon Frey, executive secretary of the PSC, told the committee the bill was drafted to align PSC authority with statutes already used by DEQ and LDH and to make the statutes consistent so courts see similar language across authorities. Frey summarized the adopted amendments: amendment set 26,682 changed references to "administrative orders" to "enforceable orders, judgments or actions," altered bond requirements for a receiver, made it easier to meet dissolution criteria and added that a receiver may purchase the company that was placed in receivership.
A second amendment set (27,20) added operational transparency requirements for appointed receivers: within 90 days of appointment, a receiver must submit to the PSC and publish in a manner accessible to affected customers a transition and operational plan.
Representative Cox asked how frequently receivership is used; Frey said it is not common and described the tool as appropriate for "bad actors" that let systems fall into disrepair. He noted PSC regulates relatively few water and wastewater systems because many public systems are government-owned and fall outside PSC jurisdiction. Frey said courts appointing receivers can speed recovery and transfer to new owners when operators abandon systems.
Representative Saint Blanc moved to report HB 257 as amended; the committee adopted the amendments and reported the bill favorably by voice vote with no objections recorded on the transcript.
