BILL REQ. #:  H-3655.1 

Read first time 01/18/2006.   Referred to Committee on Technology, Energy & Communications.

     AN ACT Relating to protecting Washington businesses and consumers from rising oil costs; amending RCW 80.01.040; adding a new chapter to Title 80 RCW; creating a new section; and prescribing penalties.

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

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 1   The legislature recognizes that there is a need to assure that motor fuel and other petroleum products are available at fair prices to all consumers in Washington. Although oil companies are entitled to receive a fair return on their investments, they should be discouraged from using natural disasters, emergencies, or other events to dramatically increase profitability by raising prices to Washington consumers. The legislature further recognizes that prices and availability of petroleum impact the economy of the state and the quality of life for Washington residents. It is the intent of the legislature to require oil companies to disclose certain materially significant information in order to protect consumers and businesses from rising costs.

Sec. 2   RCW 80.01.040 and 1985 c 450 s 10 are each amended to read as follows:
     The utilities and transportation commission shall:
     (1) Exercise all the powers and perform all the duties prescribed therefor by this title and by Title 81 RCW, or by any other law.
     (2) Regulate in the public interest, as provided by the public service laws, the rates, services, facilities, and practices of all persons engaging in the transportation by whatever means of persons or property within this state for compensation, and related activities; including, but not limited to, air transportation companies, auto transportation companies, express companies, freight and freight line companies, motor freight companies, motor transportation agents, private car companies, railway companies, sleeping car companies, steamboat companies, street railway companies, toll bridge companies, storage warehousemen, and wharfingers and warehousemen.
     (3) Regulate in the public interest, as provided by the public service laws, the rates, services, facilities, and practices of all persons engaging within this state in the business of supplying any utility service or commodity to the public for compensation, and related activities; including, but not limited to, electrical companies, gas companies, irrigation companies, telecommunications companies, and water companies.
     (4) Facilitate the availability of information to consumers regarding the price and availability of petroleum products.
     (5) Make such rules and regulations as may be necessary to carry out its other powers and duties.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 3   The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
     (1) "Bulk quantities" means transactions of volumes exceeding the capacity of trucks or vehicles utilizing public roads, including but not limited to petroleum products transported via rail, ship, barge, pipeline, or other means.
     (2) "Class of trade" means a class of purchasers, such as motor fuel retailers or wholesale distributors, that purchase petroleum products from an oil company. Retail motor fuel outlets operated by an oil company, its subsidiary, or its affiliate shall be considered in the same class of trade as motor fuel retailers as defined in RCW 19.120.010(7). Class of trade does not include end users that purchase petroleum products for their own consumption.
     (3) "Commission" means the utilities and transportation commission.
     (4) "Oil company" means any person, firm, corporation, or entity engaged in the refining of crude oil into petroleum products within Washington state or the exporting of bulk quantities of petroleum products refined in Washington outside the boundaries of the state. "Oil company" includes any person, firm, corporation, or entity that controls or is controlled by an oil company, and includes any subsidiary or affiliated corporation in which the oil company or its shareholders, officers, agents, or employees hold more than twenty-five percent of the voting shares.
     (5) "Petroleum products" means gasoline, gasoline components, diesel, and residential heating oil.
     (6) "Price" means the net purchase price, after adjustment for commission, brokerage, rebate, discount, or any other adjustment. The value of petroleum products exchanged or transferred between oil companies or motor fuel delivered to a retail motor fuel outlet operated by the same oil company, its subsidiary, or its affiliate shall be considered the price.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 4   (1) Each oil company must file with the commission schedules in the form the commission prescribes, containing the following information:
     (a) All prices established, enforced, or to be charged in each location of the state that are set and known to the oil company before a sale, transfer, or assignment of petroleum products to any persons within any class of trade;
     (b) All recent intrastate transactions or export shipments of bulk quantities of petroleum products, including but not limited to the following information:
     (i) The date and location of the petroleum products;
     (ii) The type, volume, and price of the petroleum products;
     (iii) The parties involved in the transaction; and
     (iv) The port of exit and final destination of petroleum products exported out of the state;
     (c) The recent refining profit margins for each petroleum product refined in a refinery within the state of Washington; and
     (d) Any other information deemed necessary by the commission.
     (2) An oil company shall not charge, demand, collect, or receive compensation for any product at a rate or price that differs from the schedule that is effective on the date of the transaction.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 5   (1) No change shall be made in any price for petroleum products contained in a schedule filed by an oil company in compliance with section 4 of this act without filing prior notice to the commission, in the form the commission prescribes, stating the changes to be made to the schedule then in force.
     (2) The commission shall provide oil companies with the ability to file notices at any point in time throughout the year.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 6   (1) The commission shall:
     (a) Exercise all the powers and perform all the duties prescribed by this chapter;
     (b) Make rules necessary to carry out the purposes, powers, or duties assigned by this chapter;
     (c) Utilizing the best technology then readily available, provide public access to petroleum pricing and supply information; and
     (d) Regulate, make rules, or enforce this chapter consistent with the powers and duties granted to the commission and attorney general for public service companies under this title.
     (2) Nothing in this chapter shall be construed to give the commission the power to set or establish prices, rates, charges, or compensation of an oil company.
     (3) In all respects in which the commission has power and authority under this chapter, complaints may be made and filed with it, process issued, hearings held, opinions, orders, and decisions made and filed, petitions for rehearing filed and acted upon, and petitions for writs of review, to the superior court filed therewith, appeals or mandate filed with the supreme court of this state, considered and disposed of by the courts in the manner, under the conditions, and subject to the limitations, and with the effect specified in this title for public service companies generally.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 7   (1) Any oil company that violates or fails to comply with the provisions of this chapter is subject to a civil penalty of not less than two thousand dollars for each violation or failure to comply.
     (2) Each day upon which a violation occurs constitutes a separate violation for the purposes of subsection (1) of this section.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 8   (1) The attorney general may bring an action in the name of the state against any oil company to restrain and prevent the doing of any act prohibited or declared unlawful in this chapter. The attorney general may, in the discretion of the court, recover the costs of an action, including reasonable attorneys' fees. The court may make such additional orders or judgments as may be necessary to restore to any person in interest any moneys or property, real or personal, which may have been acquired by means of an act prohibited or declared to be unlawful in this chapter.
     (2) Nothing in this chapter limits the power of the state to punish any oil company for any conduct that constitutes a crime by statute or at common law.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 9   (1) Every oil company subject to regulation by the commission shall, by April 1st of each year, file with the commission a statement on oath showing its gross operating revenue from intrastate operations for the preceding calendar year.
     (2) Unless decreased as provided in subsection (3) of this section, every oil company subject to regulation by the commission shall pay to the commission a fee equal to one-tenth of one percent of the first fifty thousand dollars of gross operating revenue, plus two-tenths of one percent of any gross operating revenue in excess of fifty thousand dollars. The fee shall, in no case, be less than one dollar.
     (3) The percentage rates of fees as set forth in subsection (2) of this section may be decreased by the commission by general order entered before March 1st of such year.
     (4) All money collected under the provisions of this section shall within thirty days be paid to the state treasurer and credited to the public service revolving fund.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 10   This act may be known and cited as the petroleum consumers bill of rights act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 11   This act applies prospectively to all actions and conduct occurring after the effective date of this act.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 12   This act shall be liberally construed to give full effect to the objectives and purposes for which it was enacted.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 13   Sections 3 through 12 of this act constitute a new chapter in Title 80 RCW.

NEW SECTION.  Sec. 14   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.