House Bill 1061

(As Passed the House)

AN ACT TO CREATE NEW SECTION 77-3-11.1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO MAINTAIN STATE JURISDICTION OVER THE INTEGRITY OF ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION INFRASTRUCTURE IN ORDER TO ASSURE LANDOWNER SAFEGUARDS, TRANSPARENCY AND OVERSIGHT OF CUSTOMER RATES, RELIABILITY AND RELIEF; TO PRESCRIBE THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE ISSUANCE OF A CERTIFICATE OF PUBLIC CONVENIENCE AND NECESSITY TO BUILD CERTAIN ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION FACILITIES IN A REGIONAL TRANSMISSION ORGANIZATION; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

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

SECTION 1. The following shall be codified as Section 77-3-11.1 of the Mississippi Code of 1972:

77-3-11.1. (1) In order to effectuate the policy contained in Section 77-3-2, to assure a local forum for landowner safeguards, transparency and oversight of customer rates, reliability and relief, an application filed under Section 77-3-11 or Section 77-3-14, for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to build, own, or operate a new transmission facility in a regional transmission organization can only satisfy the public convenience and necessity if such facilities will ultimately be owned by: (a) an entity over which the commission has the jurisdiction to set rates, as provided in Sections 77-3-5 and 77-3-33, (b) a "generation and transmission cooperative" or "G&T cooperative" as defined in Section 77-5-256, or (c) an entity that agrees to submit to commission jurisdiction over standards for service quality and customer service and, as to costs ultimately to be borne by Mississippi electric customers, agrees to recover through any applicable transmission tariff only those costs, including cost of capital, approved by the commission.

(2) Nothing in this section shall apply to applications filed before the effective date of this act, nor to any amendments or supplements to such application made thereafter. Nothing in this section is intended to require a certificate for facilities that the commission has determined by rule do not require certification to build, own, or operate.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its passage.