[atlas:bill]

AN ACT Relating to public utility district ownership and operation of electric generation facilities; amending RCW 54.44.010 and 54.44.020; and creating a new section.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. It is the intent of the legislature to allow public utility districts to enter into joint agreements with other public and private entities to own and operate electric generation facilities.

Sec. 2. RCW 54.44.010 and 1975-'76 2nd ex.s. c 72 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

It is declared to be in the public interest and for a public purpose that cities of the first class, public utility districts, joint operating agencies organized under chapter 43.52 RCW, ((~~regulated electrical companies~~)) port districts, irrigation districts, sewer districts, water districts, and((,)) rural electrical cooperatives including generation and transmission cooperatives, investor-owned utilities, private nonutility power plant developers and operators, commercial or industrial customers of any public utility owning a plant under authority of this chapter, and direct service industrial customers of the Bonneville power administration be permitted to participate together in the development of nuclear and other ((~~thermal~~)) electric power facilities and transmission facilities as hereinafter provided as one means of achieving economies of scale and thereby promoting the economic development of the state and its natural resources to meet the future power needs of the state and all its inhabitants.

Sec. 3. RCW 54.44.020 and 1997 c 230 s 2 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2) of this section, cities of the first class, public utility districts organized under chapter 54.08 RCW, and joint operating agencies organized under chapter 43.52 RCW, any such cities and public utility districts which operate electric generating facilities or distribution systems and any joint operating agency shall have power and authority to participate and enter into agreements with each other and with ((electrical companies which are subject to the jurisdiction of the Washington utilities and transportation commission or the public utility commissioner of Oregon, hereinafter called "regulated utilities", and with)) port districts, irrigation districts, water-sewer districts, entities formed under chapter 39.34 RCW, investor-owned utilities, rural electric cooperatives, including generation and transmission cooperatives, private nonutility developers and operators including affiliates of regulated utilities, direct service industrial customers of the Bonneville power administration, and any commercial or industrial customer of any utility participating in a joint ownership under this chapter for the undivided ownership of any type of electric generating plants and facilities, including, but not limited to nuclear and other thermal power generating plants and facilities and transmission facilities including, but not limited to, related transmission facilities, hereinafter called "common facilities", and for the planning, financing, acquisition, construction, operation and maintenance thereof. It shall be provided in such agreements that each city, public utility district, or joint operating agency shall own a percentage of any common facility equal to the percentage of the money furnished or the value of property supplied by it for the acquisition and construction thereof and shall own and control a like percentage of the electrical output thereof.

(2) Cities of the first class, public utility districts organized under chapter 54.08 RCW, and joint operating agencies organized under chapter 43.52 RCW, shall have the power and authority to participate and enter into agreements for the undivided ownership of a coal-fired thermal electric generating plant and facility placed in operation before July 1, 1975, including related common facilities, and for the planning, financing, acquisition, construction, operation, and maintenance of the plant and facility. It shall be provided in such agreements that each city, public utility district, or joint operating agency shall own a percentage of any common facility equal to the percentage of the money furnished or the value of property supplied by the city, district, or agency, for the acquisition and construction of the facility and shall own and control a like percentage of the electrical output thereof. Cities of the first class, public utility districts, and joint operating agencies may enter into agreements under this subsection with each other, with regulated utilities, with rural electric cooperatives, with electric companies subject to the jurisdiction of the regulatory commission of any other state, and with any power marketer subject to the jurisdiction of the federal energy regulatory commission.

(3) Each participant shall defray its own interest and other payments required to be made or deposited in connection with any financing undertaken by it to pay its percentage of the money furnished or value of property supplied by it for the planning, acquisition and construction of any common facility, or any additions or betterments thereto. The agreement shall provide a uniform method of determining and allocating operation and maintenance expenses of the common facility.

(4) Each ((~~city, public utility district, joint operating agency, regulated utility, and cooperatives~~)) participant participating in the ownership or operation of a common facility shall pay all taxes chargeable to its share of the common facility and the electric energy generated thereby under applicable statutes as now or hereafter in effect, and may make payments during preliminary work and construction for any increased financial burden suffered by any county or other existing taxing district in the county in which the common facility is located, pursuant to agreement with such county or taxing district.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 4. If any provision of this act or its application to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remainder of the act or the application of the provision to other persons or circumstances is not affected.