Z-0726.2

HOUSE BILL 2523


State of Washington	65th Legislature	2018 Regular Session

By Representatives Hudgins, DeBolt, Kloba, Tarleton, Smith, and Morris; by request of Utilities & Transportation Commission

Read first time 01/10/18. Referred to Committee on Technology & Economic Development.

AN ACT Relating to the annual reporting requirements for regulated utility and transportation companies; amending RCW 80.04.080 and 81.04.080; and prescribing penalties.

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

Sec. 1. RCW 80.04.080 and 1989 c 107 s 1 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Every public service company shall annually furnish to the commission a report in such form as the commission may require, and shall specifically answer all questions ((propounded)) posed to it by the commission((, upon or concerning which the commission may need information. Such annual reports shall show in detail the amount of capital stock issued, the amounts paid therefor and the manner of payment for same, the dividends paid, the surplus fund, if any, and the number of stockholders, the funded and floating debts and the interest paid thereon, the cost and value of the company's property, franchises and equipment, the number of employees and the salaries paid each class, the accidents to employees and other persons and the cost thereof, the amounts expended for improvements each year, how expended and the character of such improvements, the earnings or receipts from each franchise or business and from all sources, the proportion thereof earned from business moving wholly within the state and the proportion earned from interstate business, the operating and other expenses and the proportion of such expense incurred in transacting business wholly within the state, and proportion incurred in transacting interstate business, such division to be shown according to such rules of division as the commission may prescribe, the balances of profit and loss, and a complete exhibit of the financial operations of the company each year, including an annual balance sheet. Such report shall also contain such information in relation to rates, charges or regulations concerning charges, or agreements, arrangements or contracts affecting the same, as)). The commission may ((require; and the commission may, in its discretion, for the purpose of enabling it the better to carry out the provisions of this title,)) prescribe ((the period of time within which all public service companies subject to the provisions of this title shall have, as near as may be,)) a uniform system of accounts, and the manner in which such accounts shall be kept. Such detailed report shall contain all the required statistics for the period of twelve months ending on the last day of any particular month prescribed by the commission for any public service company. Such reports shall be made out under oath and filed with the commission at its office in Olympia on such date as the commission specifies by rule, unless additional time ((be)) is granted ((in any case)) by the commission.

(2) Any public service company that fails to file an annual report in the form and within the time required by the commission, including payment of any regulatory fee due, is subject to the following:

(a) Monetary penalties of:

(i) Two hundred fifty dollars for reports filed one to thirty days past the due date;

(ii) Five hundred dollars for reports filed thirty-one to sixty days past the due date;

(iii) One thousand dollars for reports filed sixty-one to ninety days past the due date; or

(b) Upon notice by the commission, cancellation or revocation of its operating authority and additional penalties pursuant to RCW 80.04.380 and 80.04.405.

(3) The commission may waive penalties when a public service company is able to sufficiently demonstrate that its failure to file an annual report in the form and within the time required was due to circumstances beyond its control. Requests for any such waiver must be received within fifteen days of the date a penalty is assessed.

(4) The commission shall have authority to require any public service company to file monthly reports of earnings and expenses, and to file periodical or special, or both periodical and special, reports concerning any matter about which the commission is authorized or required by this or any other law, to inquire into or keep itself informed about, or which it is required to enforce, such periodical or special reports to be under oath whenever the commission so requires.

Sec. 2. RCW 81.04.080 and 2007 c 234 s 5 are each amended to read as follows:

(1) Every public service company shall annually furnish to the commission a report in such form as the commission may require, and shall specifically answer all questions ((propounded)) posed to it by the commission. The commission may prescribe ((the period of time within which all public service companies subject to this title must have, as near as may be,)) a uniform system of accounts, and the manner in which the accounts must be kept. The detailed report must contain all the required statistics for the period of twelve months ending on the last day of any particular month prescribed by the commission for any public service company. The reports must be made out under oath and filed with the commission at its office in Olympia on a date the commission specifies by rule, unless additional time is granted by the commission.

(a) Monetary penalties of:

(i) Two hundred fifty dollars for reports filed one to thirty days past the due date;

(ii) Five hundred dollars for reports filed thirty-one to sixty days past the due date;

(iii) One thousand dollars for reports filed sixty-one to ninety days past the due date; or

(b) Upon notice by the commission, cancellation or revocation of its operating authority and additional penalties pursuant to RCW 81.04.380 and 81.04.405.

(4) The commission may require any public service company to file monthly reports of earnings and expenses, and to file periodical or special reports, or both, concerning any matter the commission is authorized or required, by this or any other law, to inquire into or keep itself informed about, or which it is required to enforce, the periodical or special reports to be under oath whenever the commission so requires.