S 987 Session 111 (1995-1996)
S 0987 General Bill, By Leventis and Cork
Similar(H 4350)
A Bill to amend Title 58, Chapter 5, Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976,
relating to the regulation of gas, heat, water, sewerage collection and
disposal, and street railway companies, by enacting the Nuclear Waste Disposal
Consumer Protection Act, by adding Article 11 so as to provide that the Public
Service Commission shall regulate the rates charged by low-level radioactive
waste facility operators.
12/04/95 Senate Prefiled
12/04/95 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary
01/09/96 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ-82
01/09/96 Senate Referred to Committee on Judiciary SJ-82
A BILL
TO AMEND TITLE 58, CHAPTER 5, CODE OF LAWS OF
SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, RELATING TO THE REGULATION
OF GAS, HEAT, WATER, SEWERAGE COLLECTION AND
DISPOSAL, AND STREET RAILWAY COMPANIES, BY
ENACTING THE NUCLEAR WASTE DISPOSAL CONSUMER
PROTECTION ACT, BY ADDING ARTICLE 11 SO AS TO
PROVIDE THAT THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION
SHALL REGULATE THE RATES CHARGED BY LOW-LEVEL
RADIOACTIVE WASTE FACILITY OPERATORS.
Whereas, the low-level radioactive waste facility located at Barnwell
is operated on land owned by the State of South Carolina and
leased to a private operator; and
Whereas, the low-level radioactive waste facility located at Barnwell
is a monopoly enterprise licensed and sanctioned by the State of
South Carolina; and
Whereas, rates charged by the operator of the low-level radioactive
facility located at Barnwell are passed through to all South Carolina
ratepayers without benefit of price competition. Now therefore,
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South
Carolina:
SECTION 1. This act may be cited as the Nuclear Waste
Disposal Consumer Protection Act.
SECTION 2. Title 58, Chapter 5 of the 1976 Code is amended
by adding:
"Article 11
Low-Level Radioactive Waste
Facilities
Section 58-5-1205. This article may be cited as the Nuclear
Waste Disposal Consumer Protection Act.
Section 58-5-1210. As used in this article:
(1) `Commission' means the Public Service Commission.
(2) `Low-level radioactive waste' means radioactive waste not
classified as high-level radioactive waste, transuranic waste, spent
nuclear fuel, or by-product material as defined in Section 11e, (2)
of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, or as may be further defined by
federal law or regulation.
(3) `Low-level radioactive waste facility' or `facility' means a
parcel of land, together with the structures, equipment, and
improvements on or appurtenant to the land which is used or is
being developed for the treatment, storage, or disposal of low-level
radioactive waste.
(4) `Operator' means the person who operates a low-level
radioactive waste facility on property owned by the State.
Section 58-5-1220. The Public Service Commission has the
power and jurisdiction to regulate the rates charged by every
low-level radioactive waste facility operator in this State.
Section 58-5-1230. (A) The commission may:
(1) establish a standardized system of accounts to be kept by
operators of low-level radioactive waste facilities;
(2) classify and establish a standardized system of accounts
for each class; and
(3) prescribe the manner in which these accounts must be
kept.
(B) An order issued under this section takes effect at the
beginning of the fiscal year of the low-level radioactive waste
facility affected on not less than three months' notice.
Section 58-5-1240. The books and accounts kept by all operators
of low-level radioactive waste facilities are subject to the
examination of the commission at any time, but no examination
may be made by an agent or employee of the commission unless
authorized so to do by an order of the commission.
Section 58-5-1250. (A) Whenever an operator of a low-level
radioactive waste facility desires to put into operation a new rate,
toll, rental, charge, or classification, it shall give not less than thirty
days' notice of its intention to file and shall, after the expiration of
the notice period, file with the commission a schedule setting forth
the proposed changes. Subject to subsections (D) and (E), the
proposed changes must not be put into effect in full or in part until
approved by the commission.
(B) After the schedule has been filed, the commission, after
notice to the public as the commission may prescribe, shall hold a
public hearing concerning the lawfulness or reasonableness of the
proposed changes.
(C) The commission shall rule and issue its order approving or
disapproving the changes in full or in part within six months after
the date the schedule is filed.
(D) If the commission determines that, due to circumstances
reasonably beyond its control, it cannot issue an order within the
six-month period prescribed by this section, the commission, by
order, may extend the six-month period for an additional five days.
Any such order shall set forth the circumstances and make
appropriate findings concerning the need for the extended period.
If the commission rules and issues its order within the prescribed
or extended time and the operator of the low-level radioactive waste
facility appeals from the order by filing with the commission a
petition for rehearing, the operator may put the rates requested in its
schedule into effect under bond only during the appeal and until
final disposition of the case. The bond must be in a reasonable
amount approved by the commission, with sureties approved by the
commission, conditioned upon the refund, in a manner to be
prescribed by order of the commission, to the persons, corporations,
or municipalities entitled to the amount of the excess, if the rate or
rates put into effect are finally determined to be excessive; or there
may be substituted for the bond other arrangements satisfactory to
the commission for the protection of parties interested. During any
period in which an operator of a low-level radioactive waste facility
charges increased rates under bond, the operator shall provide
records or other evidence of payments made by the operator's
subscribers or patrons under the rate or rates which the operator has
put into operation in excess of the rate or rates in effect
immediately before the filing of the schedule.
All increases in rates put into effect under this section which are
not approved and for which a refund is required shall bear interest
at a rate of twelve percent per annum.
The interest commences on the date the disallowed increase is
paid and continues until the date the refund is made.
In all cases in which a refund is due, the commission shall order
a total refund of the difference between the amount collected under
bond and the amount finally approved.
(E) If the commission fails to rule or issue its order within the
time prescribed in subsection (C) or (D), the operator of the
low-level radioactive waste facility may put into effect the change
in rates the operator requested in the schedule. The change is to be
treated as an approval of the new rate schedule by the commission.
(F) After the date the schedule is filed with the commission, no
further rate change request under this section may be filed until
twelve months have elapsed from the date of the filing of the
schedule; however, this section does not apply to a request for a
rate reduction.
(G) Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, the
commission may allow rates or tariffs to be put into effect without
a hearing upon order of the commission when the rates or tariffs do
not require a determination of the entire rate structure and overall
rate of return or when the rates or tariffs do not result in a rate
increase to the operator of the low-level radioactive waste facility or
when the rates or tariffs are for experimental purposes.
(H) The commission's determination of a fair rate of return must
be documented fully in its findings of fact and based exclusively on
reliable, probative, and substantial evidence on the whole record.
Section 58-5-1260. Within ten days after the filing of a new or
changed schedule by a low-level radioactive waste facility operator
the commission shall give general notice of the new or changed
schedule by publication.
Section 58-5-1270. Applications and complaints may be made by
a corporation, public or private, person, or by any body politic,
commission, board, or municipal corporation by petition or
complaint in writing, setting forth an act or thing done or omitted,
with respect to which the commission has jurisdiction or is alleged
to have jurisdiction. An operator has the right to petition or
complain to the commission on any of the grounds upon which
complaints and petitions are allowed to be filed by other parties,
including the fairness, reasonableness, or sufficiency of a schedule,
classification, rate, price, charge, fare, toll, rental, or regulation of
the facility and the same procedures must be adopted and followed
as in other cases or the complaint may be served upon parties
designated by the commission.
Section 58-5-1280. The commission, upon its own motion, may
institute an inquiry into any subject matter within its jurisdiction in
like manner as though a petition or complaint had been filed with
it. Upon determining to institute an inquiry, the commission shall
enter an order to show cause, directing the person or corporation
whose affairs are the subject matter of the investigation to appear in
person or by counsel and show cause. The commission shall
thereafter proceed with the inquiry in like manner as though a
petition or complaint had been filed with the commission.
Section 58-5-1290. If the commission finds, after hearing, that
the rates, fares, tolls, rentals, charges, or classifications have been
fixed or established, demanded, observed, charged, or collected for
a service or that the regulations, or practices affecting the rates,
fares, tolls, rentals, charges, or classifications are unjust,
unreasonable, noncompensatory, inadequate, discriminatory, or
preferential or in any way in violation of a provision of law, the
commission, subject to review by the courts, shall determine the
just and reasonable fares, tolls, rentals, charges, or classifications,
regulations, or practices to be thereafter observed and enforced and
shall fix them by order as provided for in this article.
Section 58-5-1300. In connection with a determination under
Section 58-5-1290 the commission may consider all facts which in
its judgment have a bearing upon a proper determination of the
question, although not set forth in the complaint or application and
not within the allegations contained in the complaint or application.
Section 58-5-1310. The commission shall cause a record to be
kept of all proceedings before it on any formal investigation and all
testimony must be taken down by a competent stenographer,
designated by the commission, and a copy or transcript, verified by
the oath of the stenographer, must be furnished on terms fixed by
the commission to parties desiring it and must be received in
evidence with the same effect as if the stenographer were present
and testified.
Section 58-5-1320. The commission, at any time, upon notice
and opportunity to the low-level radioactive waste facility operator
affected to be heard, may rescind, alter, or amend an order or
decision made by it. An order rescinding, altering, or amending a
prior order or decision, when served upon the low-level radioactive
waste facility operator affected, has the same effect as provided in
this article for original orders or decisions.
Section 58-5-1330. Within twenty days after an order or
decision has been made by the commission any party to the action
or proceeding may apply for a rehearing in respect to any matters
determined in the action or proceeding and specified in the
application for rehearing, and a rehearing must be granted if in the
judgment of the commission there is sufficient reason demonstrated
for a rehearing. No cause of action arising out of an order or
decision of the commission accrues in any court to a corporation or
person unless the corporation or person shall have made application
to the commission for a rehearing within the time specified. The
application shall set forth specifically the ground on which the
applicant considers the decision or order to be unlawful. The
determination must be made by the commission within thirty days
after it is finally submitted. If, after the hearing and a consideration
of all the facts, including those arising since the making of the
order or decision, the commission is of the opinion that the original
order or decision, or any part of the order or decision, is in any
respect unjust or unwarranted or should be changed, the commission
may abrogate, change, or modify it, and if changed or modified, the
modified order must be substituted in the place of the order
originally entered and with like force and effect.
Section 58-5-1340. (A) Each low-level radioactive waste facility
operator shall obey and comply with all requirements of every
order, decision, direction, or regulation made or prescribed by the
commission made under this article or in relation to any other
matter in any way relating to or affecting the business of the
operator and shall do everything necessary or proper in order to
secure compliance with and observance of every order, decision,
direction, or regulation by all of the operator's officers, agents, and
employees.
(B) Notwithstanding subsection (A), decisions of the
commission may be reviewed by the Court of Common Pleas upon
questions of both law and fact. Within thirty days after the
application for a rehearing is denied or if the application is granted,
within thirty days after the rendition of the decision on rehearing,
the applicant may commence an action in the Court of Common
Pleas for Richland County against the commission as defendant to
vacate or set aside any order of the commission or enjoin the
enforcement of an order on the ground that the authorization,
consent, rate or rates, charges, fares, tolls, and schedules fixed in
the order are insufficient, unreasonable, unjust, or unlawful or that
the regulation, practice, act, or service fixed in the order is
unreasonable, unjust, insufficient, or unlawful.
(C) In an action brought for review, a copy of the complaint
must be served with the summons and no order of determination of
the commission reducing a rate, fare, charge, or toll may be in force
during the pendency of the action if the operator affected executes
and files with the clerk of court a bond undertaking in a sum the
court prescribes and approves conditioned to secure the refund to
customers of any sums that may be collected in excess of the rates,
fares, charges, or tolls that are finally adjudged to be lawful and
valid.
Section 58-5-1350. In an action to review an order or decision of
the commission, a transcript of the testimony taken, all exhibits or
copies of exhibits introduced, the pleadings, records, proceedings
and orders in the case, and any opinion or memorandum of the
commission concerning it, constitute the record of the commission
on the review. However, on review of an order or decision of the
commission the parties interested in the result and the commission
may stipulate that a certain question or questions alone and a
specified portion of the evidence may be certified to the court for
its judgment, in which case the stipulation and the question or
questions and the evidence specified constitute the record for
review.
Section 58-5-1360. A party to an action in the Court of Common
Pleas has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court in accordance
with existing law and procedure in such cases.
Section 58-5-1370. An operator of a low-level radioactive waste
facility who fails or refuses to accept the rate fixed by the
commission and instead charges, demands, or receives a greater
amount than that fixed by the commission is guilty of a
misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be fined in an amount not
less than ten thousand dollars or more than one hundred thousand
dollars. Each overcharge to any consumer constitutes a separate
offense.
Section 58-27-1380. (A) All expenses and charges incurred by
the commission in the administration of this article and in the
performance of its duties under this article must be defrayed by
assessments made by the Comptroller General against the operators
regulated under this article and based upon the gross revenues
collected by the operators from their business done wholly within
this State in the manner set out in Section 58-3-100 for
corporations.
(B) The commission shall certify to the Comptroller General
annually on or before August first the amounts to be assessed in the
format approved by the Comptroller General.
Section 58-27-1390. The commission may employ technical
administrative and clerical staff as it considers necessary to carry
out this article and to perform the duties and exercise the powers
conferred upon it by law in relation to low-level radioactive waste
facilities.
Section 58-27-1400. The commission shall include, as a
separate section or division of its annual report, a full and complete
account of its transactions and proceedings under this article for the
preceding calendar year and other pertinent facts, suggestions, and
recommendations as it considers of value to the people of the
State."
SECTION 3. This act takes effect upon approval by the
Governor.
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