Bill Text: IL HB1563 | 2019-2020 | 101st General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Defines "underground" and "undergrounding". Provides that public utilities shall underground specified electric transmission lines under certain conditions. Provides that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall allow a public utility to recover from all retail customers in its service territory all reasonable and prudent costs that it incurs related to the undergrounding of such transmission lines. Provides that a public utility shall record and defer such costs as a regulatory asset to be included in the public utility's total rate base and amortized over a reasonable period that is equal to the expected life of such transmission line. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-29 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB1563 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2019-HB1563-Introduced.html

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101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2019 and 2020 HB1563 Introduced , by Rep. Fred Crespo SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
65 ILCS 5/Art. 11 Div. 15.5 heading new
65 ILCS 5/11-15.5-5 new
Amends the Illinois Municipal Code. Defines "underground" and "undergrounding". Provides that public utilities shall underground specified electric transmission lines under certain conditions. Provides that the Illinois Commerce Commission shall allow a public utility to recover from all retail customers in its service territory all reasonable and prudent costs that it incurs related to the undergrounding of such transmission lines. Provides that a public utility shall record and defer such costs as a regulatory asset to be included in the public utility's total rate base and amortized over a reasonable period that is equal to the expected life of such transmission line. Effective immediately.
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FISCAL NOTE ACT MAY APPLY
A BILL FOR
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AN ACT concerning local government.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Illinois Municipal Code is amended by adding
Division 15.5 to Article 11 as follows:
(65 ILCS 5/Art. 11 Div. 15.5 heading new)
DIVISION 15.5. UNDERGROUNDING UTILITY FACILITIES
(65 ILCS 5/11-15.5-5 new)
Sec. 11-15.5-5. Undergrounding utility facilities.
(a) As used in this Division and unless the context
requires otherwise, "underground" or "undergrounding" means
routing and constructing electric transmission lines and their
associated components below ground, consistent with sound
engineering and utility practices.
(b) In the interest of public health and safety,
reliability, and electric grid security, a public utility, as
defined by Section 3-105 of the Public Utilities Act, shall
underground any 138 kilowatt or greater electric transmission
line constructed after the effective date of this amendatory
Act of the 101st General Assembly where:
(1) such transmission line or any portion thereof is to
be located within 26,000 feet of an airport that is located

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in and owned by a municipality with a population greater
than 70,000 and less than 80,000 located in or contiguous
to a county with a population in excess of 1,000,000
inhabitants; or
(2) such transmission line is to be located in 4 or
more contiguous municipalities with a population density
of 1,000 per square mile or more as of the most recent
federal decennial census.
(c) The costs for undergrounding a new transmission line
shall not be allocated solely to the municipality or
municipalities in which it is underground; instead, the
Illinois Commerce Commission shall allow a public utility to
fully recover from all retail customers in its service
territory all reasonable and prudent costs that it incurs
related to the undergrounding of transmission lines. The public
utility shall record and defer such costs as a regulatory asset
to be included in the public utility's total rate base and
amortized over a reasonable period that is equal to the
expected life of the transmission line. Such regulatory assets
shall be collected from all ratepayers system-wide, and not
only from ratepayers in the corporate limits of the
municipality or municipalities within which the transmission
line is constructed.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.