Bill Text: NJ S1627 | 2016-2017 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Permits a joint meeting by the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees to review and veto utility rate increases approved by BPU.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2016-02-16 - Introduced in the Senate, Referred to Senate Economic Growth Committee [S1627 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2016-S1627-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Senator JEFF VAN DREW
District 1 (Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland)
SYNOPSIS
Permits a joint meeting by the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees to review and veto utility rate increases approved by BPU.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning oversight of rate increases permitted by the Board of Public Utilities and supplementing Title 48 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. a. Notwithstanding any law, rule, or regulation to the contrary, an order of the Board of Public Utilities ("board") approving the petition of a public utility to increase existing or establish new individual rates, joint rates, tolls, charges, or schedules thereof, or commutation, mileage or other special rates, or change or alter any existing rate classification of customers, shall not take effect until the 90th day following adoption.
b. The board shall, not later than the third business day following its adoption of an order subject to the provisions of subsection a. of this section, transmit a copy of that order to the membership of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee or their respective successors. The board shall include in the transmittal a statement indicating the amount of the increase, the basis on which the approval was given, and an estimate of the impact of the increase on ratepayers.
c. After receiving a copy of a board order approving a rate increase pursuant to subsection b. of this section, the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Budget Committee may convene a special joint meeting on the rate increase, and may request that the board and any affected public utility appear before the joint committee to justify the increase. At the conclusion of the meeting, the joint committee may, upon adoption of an appropriate resolution by a majority of the membership of each of their respective committees, veto any increase. If no such veto resolution is adopted on or before the 90th day following adoption by the board, the order shall take effect according to its terms.
2. This act shall take effect six months following the date of enactment.
STATEMENT
This bill provides that an order of the Board of Public Utilities (board) establishing a rate increase or a new rate shall not take effect until 90 days following adoption.
The board shall transmit to the membership of the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees a copy of the order increasing existing or establishing new rates. The transmittal shall take place within three business days of the adoption of the order and shall indicate the amount of the rate increase, the reason for allowance of the rate increase, and an estimate of the impact of the rate increase on ratepayers.
Upon receiving the board's order, the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees may hold a special joint committee meeting on the rate increase. At the conclusion of the meeting, the joint committee may veto the rate increase with a resolution receiving a majority vote of the membership of each committee. If a veto resolution is not passed by the 90th day following adoption by the board, the order shall take effect according to its terms.
