S.B. No. 1613

	AN ACT
	relating to the application of the public meetings and public
	information laws to public power utilities.
	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
	SECTION 1.  Subsection (c), Section 551.086, Government
	Code, is amended to read as follows:
	(c)  This chapter does not require a public power utility
	governing body to conduct an open meeting to deliberate, vote, or
	take final action on any competitive matter, as that term is defined
	by Section 552.133 [in Subsection (b)(3). Before a public power
	utility governing body may deliberate, vote, or take final action
	on any competitive matter in a closed meeting, the public power
	utility governing body must first make a good faith determination,
	by majority vote of its members, that the matter is a competitive
	matter that satisfies the requirements of Subsection (b)(3). The
	vote shall be taken during the closed meeting and be included in the
	certified agenda or tape recording of the closed meeting. If a
	public power utility governing body fails to determine by that vote
	that the matter satisfies the requirements of Subsection (b)(3),
	the public power utility governing body may not deliberate or take
	any further action on the matter in the closed meeting]. This
	section does not limit the right of a public power utility governing
	body to hold a closed session under any other exception provided for
	in this chapter.
	SECTION 2.  Section 552.133, Government Code, is amended to
	read as follows:
	Sec. 552.133.  EXCEPTION: PUBLIC POWER UTILITY COMPETITIVE
	MATTERS. (a)  In this section, "public[:
	[(1)  "Public] power utility" means an entity providing
	electric or gas utility services that is subject to the provisions
	of this chapter.
	(a-1)  For purposes of this section, "competitive
	[(2)     "Public power utility governing body" means the
	board of trustees or other applicable governing body, including a
	city council, of a public power utility.
	[(3)  "Competitive] matter" means a utility-related
	matter that [the public power utility governing body in good faith
	determines by a vote under this section] is related to the public
	power utility's competitive activity, including commercial
	information, and would, if disclosed, give advantage to competitors
	or prospective competitors. The term:
	(1)  means a matter that is reasonably related to the
	following categories of information:
	(A)  generation unit specific and portfolio fixed
	and variable costs, including forecasts of those costs, capital
	improvement plans for generation units, and generation unit
	operating characteristics and outage scheduling;
	(B)  bidding and pricing information for
	purchased power, generation and fuel, and Electric Reliability
	Council of Texas bids, prices, offers, and related services and
	strategies;
	(C)  effective fuel and purchased power
	agreements and fuel transportation arrangements and contracts;
	(D)  risk management information, contracts, and
	strategies, including fuel hedging and storage;
	(E)  plans, studies, proposals, and analyses for
	system improvements, additions, or sales, other than transmission
	and distribution system improvements inside the service area for
	which the public power utility is the sole certificated retail
	provider; and
	(F)  customer billing, contract, and usage
	information, electric power pricing information, system load
	characteristics, and electric power marketing analyses and
	strategies; and
	(2)  does not [but may not be deemed to] include the
	following categories of information:
	(A)  information relating to the provision of
	distribution access service, including the terms and conditions of
	the service and the rates charged for the service but not including
	information concerning utility-related services or products that
	are competitive;
	(B)  information relating to the provision of
	transmission service that is required to be filed with the Public
	Utility Commission of Texas, subject to any confidentiality
	provided for under the rules of the commission;
	(C)  information for the distribution system
	pertaining to reliability and continuity of service, to the extent
	not security-sensitive, that relates to emergency management,
	identification of critical loads such as hospitals and police,
	records of interruption, and distribution feeder standards;
	(D)  any substantive rule or tariff of general
	applicability regarding rates, service offerings, service
	regulation, customer protections, or customer service adopted by
	the public power utility as authorized by law;
	(E)  aggregate information reflecting receipts or
	expenditures of funds of the public power utility, of the type that
	would be included in audited financial statements;
	(F)  information relating to equal employment
	opportunities for minority groups, as filed with local, state, or
	federal agencies;
	(G)  information relating to the public power
	utility's performance in contracting with minority business
	entities;
	(H)  information relating to nuclear
	decommissioning trust agreements, of the type required to be
	included in audited financial statements;
	(I)  information relating to the amount and timing
	of any transfer to an owning city's general fund;
	(J)  information relating to environmental
	compliance as required to be filed with any local, state, or
	national environmental authority, subject to any confidentiality
	provided under the rules of those authorities;
	(K)  names of public officers of the public power
	utility and the voting records of those officers for all matters
	other than those within the scope of a competitive resolution
	provided for by this section;
	(L)  a description of the public power utility's
	central and field organization, including the established places at
	which the public may obtain information, submit information and
	requests, or obtain decisions and the identification of employees
	from whom the public may obtain information, submit information or
	requests, or obtain decisions; [or]
	(M)  information identifying the general course
	and method by which the public power utility's functions are
	channeled and determined, including the nature and requirements of
	all formal and informal policies and procedures;
	(N)  salaries and total compensation of all
	employees of a public power utility; or
	(O)  information publicly released by the
	Electric Reliability Council of Texas in accordance with a law,
	rule, or protocol generally applicable to similarly situated market
	participants.
	(b)  Information or records are excepted from the
	requirements of Section 552.021 if the information or records are
	reasonably related to a competitive matter, as defined in this
	section. [Excepted information or records include the text of any
	resolution of the public power utility governing body determining
	which issues, activities, or matters constitute competitive
	matters.] Information or records of a municipally owned utility
	that are reasonably related to a competitive matter are not subject
	to disclosure under this chapter, whether or not, under the
	Utilities Code, the municipally owned utility has adopted customer
	choice or serves in a multiply certificated service area. This
	section does not limit the right of a public power utility governing
	body to withhold from disclosure information deemed to be within
	the scope of any other exception provided for in this chapter,
	subject to the provisions of this chapter.
	(c)  [In connection with any request for an opinion of the
	attorney general under Section 552.301 with respect to information
	alleged to fall under this exception, in rendering a written
	opinion under Section 552.306 the attorney general shall find the
	requested information to be outside the scope of this exception
	only if the attorney general determines, based on the information
	provided in connection with the request:
	[(1)     that the public power utility governing body has
	failed to act in good faith in making the determination that the
	issue, matter, or activity in question is a competitive matter; or
	[(2)     that the information or records sought to be
	withheld are not reasonably related to a competitive matter.
	[(d)]  The requirement of Section 552.022 that a category of
	information listed under Section 552.022(a) is public information
	and not excepted from required disclosure under this chapter unless
	expressly confidential under law does not apply to information that
	is excepted from required disclosure under this section.
	SECTION 3.  Subdivision (3), Subsection (b), Section
	551.086, Government Code, is repealed.
	SECTION 4.  This Act takes effect immediately if it receives
	a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as
	provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution.  If this
	Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this
	Act takes effect September 1, 2011.
	______________________________	______________________________
	President of the Senate	Speaker of the House
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1613 passed the Senate on
	April 7, 2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 31, Nays 0.
	______________________________
	Secretary of the Senate
	I hereby certify that S.B. No. 1613 passed the House on
	May 23, 2011, by the following vote:  Yeas 142, Nays 0, one
	present not voting.
	______________________________
	Chief Clerk of the House
	Approved:
	______________________________
	Date
	______________________________
	Governor